882 NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



669. — PuFFiNUs TENUiROSTRis, TeniiiuiR-k. — (636) 

 p. hreviraiidus, Brandt. 



SHOET-TAILED PETREL (MUTTON BIRD). 



TigurL. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vii., pi. 56. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxv., p. 3S8. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Davies : Tasmanian Journal, vol. it., 

 p. 13 {1846); Gould: Birds of .Australia (1848), also Hand- 

 book, vol. ii., p. 464 (1865) ; Elwes : Ibis, p. 397 (1859) ; Legge : 

 Proc. Roy. Soc, Tasmania, p. 132 (18S8); BuUer : Birds of 

 New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 231 (1S88); North: Austn. Mus. 

 Cat., p. 360, also app. {18S9) ; Montgomery : Proc. Roy. Soc, 

 Tasmania, p. i (ibgi), also (1896): Campbell: Victorian 

 Naturalist (1894). 



Geographical Disfrihufio/i. — Seas of South Queensland, New South 

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

 Zealand and northward over the Pacific to Japan, and eastward to 

 Samoa.. 



Ne.'if. — A burrow in the gi'ouiid, scraped out in an oblique direction, 

 and extending from 1 to 7 feet in length. Every season these holes 

 are cleansed or biuTowed deeper. Some particular patches of groimd 

 are so honey-combed with burrows as to resemble a vast rabbit waiTen. 

 Occasionally eggs are deposited under bushes or tussocks of grass. 



Efff/.i. — Clutch, one ; inclined to oval in shape, occasionally more 

 elliptical; texture of shell somewliat coarse; surface minutely pitted, 

 slight trace of gloss on some examples ; colour, piu'e white. Dimensions 

 in inches of selected specimens — Phillip Island: 3-0 x r94 (elongate); 

 Chappell Island : 2-82 x 1-98 (roundish) ; New Year's Islands : 2-8 x 1-8 

 (small). Average weight about 31 ozs. 



OJnervations. — The Sooty or Short-tailed Petrel, more familiarly 

 knovni as the Mutton Bird, in siunmer has its gi-eat breeding home 

 chiefly on the smaller islands in Bass Strait, where it is known by the 

 native name " Yolla. " This dusky-coloured bird is also found in New 

 Zealand, where it is abundant, and breeds in the Hauraki Gulf. 

 According to Sir Walter Buller, in New Zealand this Petrel sometimes 

 retires inland to a distance of fifty miles to breed, and the Kaimanawa 

 Ranges in the Taupo-Patea countiy are cited as a locality. Retiring 

 inland is a notable exception to the rule, for nowhere in Australia or 

 Ta.smania docs this Petrel select breeding quartci-s except on small 

 islands adjacent to the coast or to large islands. 



In winter the Mutton Birds roam over the wnriiier waters of the 

 Pacific, where they have been recorded as far north as Japan, and as far 

 east as Samoa. At one time it was tliought that when these birds 

 and their young mysteriously disappeared they departed southward. 

 But if we reflect for a moment, it seems hardly likely these birds would 

 betake themselves to the region of frozen seas and cndiu'e the long 



