90 Transactions. — Zoology. 



oil-bag, which was thrown away, as the oil would spoil the flesh 

 for food. They pluck each bird as they get them, and when a 

 large number are obtained carry them to the camp, where they 

 singe the down off over a fire ; then they roast the bird until 

 the fat is extracted, and, placing them in a vessel made of totara 

 bark, they cover them with the fat to keep them air-tight. 

 When preserved in this mauner they keep a length of time. I 

 saw the Natives very often preserving them during my researches 

 in the King Country, beginning of 1882 ; and have eaten and 

 fouud them excellent. If the Natives disturb any of the Petrels' 

 burrows, they always restore them. These birds, which were 

 very numerous on the Little Barrier Island during the breeding 

 season, I found on my last visit (April and May, 1885), had 

 become very scarce, but I found the remains of many which pigs 

 and dogs had destroyed. 



I procured specimens, as you see here : adult, young of 

 different ages, and egg. 



Art. XIV. — Observations on Gould's Petrel (Huttou), Procellaria 

 gouldi (Ohi), their Habits and Habitats. 



By A. Reischek, F.L.S. 

 [Read before the Auckland Institute, 21th July, 1885.] 



These Petrels are common on the coast of New Zealand. I saw 

 them in large flocks out at sea, where they remain from March 

 till August ; in the latter month they come ashore to their old 

 breeding places, which they use annually as long as they are 

 not molested. These birds breed in colonies : their burrows are 

 sometimes very close to one another; on the Little Barrier Island 

 (or Hauturu Island) I measured a piece of ground 36 feet in 

 circumference, in the centre of which were six burrows. Then- 

 breeding resorts are always on the cliffs along the coast, and 

 some are very difficult to approach, dug out by these Petrels even 

 in hard sandy formation or clay. In August, male and female 

 begin to clean out their old burrows, or dig fresh ones if the 

 former have been disturbed, in a similar manner to the Pro- 

 cellaria parkinsoni. The burrows are from l£ feet to 4 feet 

 apart ; the entrance 6 to 10 inches in diameter, the passage 

 in most cases winding, and from 2 to 4 feet deep. The 

 chamber is from 1\ feet to 2 feet wide, and from U inches to 

 1 foot high ; in it is a deepening, with a few leaves and grass, 

 which forms the nest. In the beginning of September the 

 female lays one white egg, the size of that of a common fowl ; 

 they very seldom lay two eggs. The female hatches the egg, 

 and the male roams about the ocean in the daytime — sometimes I 

 found them ashore, in a separate burrow from that of the female. 



