8/8 



A'ESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



My gxiide for the day on the island (Rottnest) is one of the native 

 prisoners named " Nuukey, " from the Murchison district, who is a 

 branded murderer. A gentle canter of about tliree miles brings 

 us to the foot of a hill, where stands the lighthouse, about 

 two hundred feet above searlevel, the tower being fifty-tliree 

 feet high. We keep the track to the right, continuing along 

 the centre of the island, which is pear-shaped, and are heading 

 as it were tOiwards the neck. The track is veiy undulatoiy, 

 cliiefly through thick acacia scrub decorated with wreaths of flowering 

 clematis. The Singing Honeyeaters axe heard everywhere. Another 

 three miles and we anive at a narrow, cliffy, sandstone point about 

 one hundred and twenty feet above the sea. This is the West End, 

 or Cape Vlaming, named after the discoverer of Rottnest, who at the 

 same time — Christmas, 1697 — discoveixd Swan River. From this bold 

 point of vantage we look down on either hand upon miniatiue bays 

 with steep shores, near wliich a gentle swell is breaking over low flat 

 reefs. Securing the horses, Nimkey and I descend the weather face of 

 the cape to the Mutton Bird biUTOws. He eschews my Mutton Bird 

 ci'ook, and prefers digging out the bvuTows with his hands, like a dog. 

 We withdraw many birds, but are unsuccessfvil with the eggs, only 

 procuring one. However, the identification of the bird is important, 

 and it proves to be the Wedge-tailed Petrel, hitherto vmi'ecorded for 

 the island. We return to quarters by noon. 



Although on the western coast the Wedge-tailed Petrel appears to 

 lay its eggs about the end of November and the beginning of December, 

 Dr. Metcalfe states that on Norfolk Island he has seen noarly-fledgcd 

 young on the 27th October, and fi-esh eggs in January. 



667. — PuFFiNus AssiMiLis, Gould. (635) 



p. nug(i.i\ Solandcr. 



ALLIED PETREL. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vii., pi. 59. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxv., p. 384. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Gould : Birds of .\iistralia, Hand- 

 book, vol. ii., p. 45q (i,S65) ; Reischek : Trans. New Znland 

 Inst., vol. xviii., p. 95 (1SS5); Crowfoot (Metcalfe): \h\^, p. 

 269 (iSSs) ; Duller : Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 239 

 (1888); North: Austn. Mus. Cat., app., pi. 21, fig. 3 (iS.Sq). 



Geagraphical Diitrihufioii. — Seas of South Queensland, New South 

 Wales, Victoria, South and West Australia and Tasmania; also New 

 Zealand, and northward in the Atlantic to the vicinity of Madeira. 



Nest.— A rabbit-like bun-ow, from 1 to 4 feet in length ; similar to 

 those of the other Puffini; sometimes under stones or rocks. 



T!ggs. — Clutch, one ; broad oval in shape; texture of shell somewhat 

 fine; siu'face minutely pitted, and witli or witlion( a faint trare of 



