NESTS AND EGGS OF AVSTRAUAN BIRDS. 895 



Observations. — Previous to the compilation of tlic Veniacular List 

 of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, this 

 Peti-el's name did not appear on any Australian list. Specimens of the 

 Forster Petrel, taken off the AiLstralian eoiist, ;u-e in both the Sydney 

 and Adelaide Museums. 



This Petrel is also found in New Zealand seas. Accorchug to 

 Sir Walter Buller, its habits are sociable, and flocks may often be 

 seen in the daytime disporting themselves in the sea, making short 

 fliglits just above the surface, then flopping into the water, splashing 

 and chasing one another in their playful gambols, and when tii-ed of 

 their fun, rising and rapidly chsappcaring from view in a compact body, 

 generally taking a zig-zag course, sliowing .simultaneously the dark 

 plumage of the upper sm"face, then the wliite cuider parts. 



Whale Island is one of the favourite breeding grounds of the Forster 

 Petrel, the places selected being the stony scrub-covered slopes near 

 the summit, as well as the holes and crevices among the rocks far above 

 high-water mark. The adjacent little island of Notoki, Karewa Island, 

 in the Bay of Plenty, and the numerous islands in the Hauraki Gulf are 

 also nesting gi'ounds. 



The egg in my collection, received from Mr. Edward P. Sealy, was 

 taken in the Bay of Islands, season 1896. This Petrel lays duiing 

 October, and in its natural economy much resembles the ordinary 

 Mutton Bird. 



673. — Priofinus cinereus, Gmelin. — (626) 

 Fii/mfirus! t/elidus^ Gmelin. 



BROWN PETREL. 



Figure. — Gould; Birds of Australia, fol , vol. \ii , pi 47. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. x.w., p. 390. 



Previous Description of Eggs. — *Gould : Birds of Australia, Hand- 

 book, vol. ii., p. 447 (1865); Campbell: Victorian Naturalist 



Gengraphical Distr Unit ion. — Seas of New South Wales, Victoria, 

 South and West Austraha, and Tasmania ; also New Zealand and 

 Southern Ocean in general. 



Nesf. — (On Macquaine Island). — In burrows under tussock grass, 

 mostly high up on the mountain sides. 



Hf/gs. — Clutch, one ; roundish or broad oval in shape ; texture of 

 shell close but somewhat coarse ; sm-face very slightly glossy ; colour, 

 pure wliite when first laid, but soon becomes soiled with brownish earthy 

 stains. Dimensions in inches : (1) 2-8 x 2-04 (2) 2-79 x 1-98 

 (3) 2-73 X 1-96. 



*No dimensions given. 



