894 



NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



robbed by the Maoris, who systematically visit the breeding grounds 

 when the young birds are sufficiently plump and fat for the calabash. 



Sir Walter proceeds to state that " Mr. Kennedy infonns me that 

 when engaged on a survey of the Kaimanawa Ranges, his native work- 

 men caught numbers of these bii'ds m their burrows. On their first 

 arrival at the brcecUng gi'ound the yoimg birds were very small, but in 

 the month of April they had attained their full-size and were veritable 

 lumps of fat. 



" It sometimes breeds in the hills at the back of Wellington, and 

 I once met with the bird on the coach road in the Nguaranga Gorge. 



" There are some nesting grounds of this species on Whale Island, 

 in the Bay of Plenty. I visited these breeding places about the middle 

 of January, and found the nestlings still occupying their deep burrows, 

 but they were well gi'own, with black quills and tail feathers sprouting 

 vigorously through their thick downy mantle of slaty-gre)'. 



" These birds are at all times more nocturnal than diurnal, and when 

 hovering overhead at night utter a frequent call-note, like ' tee-tee-tee,' 

 from which the Maori name is deiivcd. 



" There are several well-known breeding places on the south-east 

 coast of Otago, and on Stewart Island. ' 



Years ago I received eggs of the Sombre Petrel from the late 

 Mr. T. H. Potts, and more recently (1896) I received an egg, together 

 with its parent, from Macquarie Island, where Mr. Joseph Burton 

 infonns me these birds breed in burrows under tussocks of gi'ass on 

 the mountain sides, laying he latter part of November. 



672. — PuFFiNus GAViA, Forster. 

 FORSTER PETREL. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxv., p. 381. 



Previous Description of Eggs. — Reischek : Trans. New Zealand Inst., 

 vol. xviii., p. 93 (1SS5). 



Genciraphical Distribution. — Seas of New South Wales and South 

 Australia, and probably other parts of Australia, including Tasmania; 

 also New Zealand. 



Ne.'yt. — A buiTow, 4 to 5 inches in diameter at the entrance and 

 1^ to 3 feet in length; the egg chamber at the terminus being IJ feet 

 broad by 1§ feet high, vrith a few leaves on the floor as a lining. 

 (Reischek). Like most Puffins, this species nests in colonics or rookeries, 

 their burrows, like a huge rabbit warren, covering many acres of ground. 



Egr/s. — Clutch, one ; oval in shape, or more pointed at one end ; 

 texture of shell comparatively fine ; surface slightly glossy ; colour, pure 

 white. Dimen.sions in inches : 2'2 x 1'55. 



