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NESTS AND EGGS OE AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



Nest. — A very deep buiTow, generally under a mound of herbage 

 in a hill side. Near the entrance to the burrow there is usually a small 

 pool of fresh water (Kidder and Coues). The nest (proper) is built of 

 mud and pieces of plants arranged in the form of an inverted saucer, 

 3 or 4 inches high, slightly hollowed out at the top. A space is left 

 between its base and the sides of the nesting chamber (Eaton). 



Eggs. — Clutch, one ; elongate in fonn or lengthened oval ; textui'e 

 of shell coai-se ; siu'face slightly glossy ; colour, piu'e white, which soon 

 becomes soiled by dirt in the nest. The heavy or muslry odoiu" present 

 more or less on all Petrels' eggs is exceedingly pronounced in this 

 instance. Dimensions in inches of examples from Kerguelen Island : 

 (1; 3-46 X 2-14, (2) 3-24 x 2-05. 



Ohfervafions. — Tliis large, dark-coloured Petrel, with conspicuous 

 white markings about its face, is a flyer over the southern seas, and has 

 been noted off New South Wales and Tasmania. There has been a 

 little difficulty about detennining the species on account of the variation 

 in some indi\'iduals of the facial markings, especially under the chin. 

 The bird is sometimes called the White-chinned Petrel. On account of 

 the rank odour emitted by the bird it is also called the " Stinker " 

 by whalers. 



The Rev. A. E. Eaton, who accompanied the British Transit or 

 Venus Expedition to Kerguelen Island, 1874-5, states, with reference 

 to the Spectacled or White-chinned Petrel : " In Kerguelen Island a 

 hole similar to a deserted rabbits' earth, excavated in wet ground, with 

 water standing (in early summer) an inch or two deep within the 

 entrance, especially if it is in a slope near the sea, may be regarded as 

 a burrow most likely to be that of a White-cliinned Petrel. If it is 

 occupied by the birds there will probably be some green shoots of 

 Acana, clipped off from plants near its mouth, dropped by them in the 

 water. During the season, when the birds are pairing, before their 

 egg is laid, they make an extraordinaiy cackle in the nest chamber ; 

 the sound of approaching footsteps, or a thump upon the gi-ound some 

 distance away from the nest, and even a shout at the mouth of the 

 burrow, will cause them to commence in the daytime. During the night 

 this call is uttered by the female sitting on her nest or in the entrance 

 of the tunnel, and she can be heard at a distance of a quarter-of-a-milo 

 when there is a calm. Much trouble may be saved in digging out the 

 nest by sounding with a spade along the course of the burrow until the 

 situation of the nest^chambcr is ascertained. This is spherical and 

 tolerably large. Being in most instances near the ground, care must 

 be taken in the removal of its roof, or the bird's back may be broken 

 by the spade while she is sitting upon her ogi^s!^. As soon as the chamber 

 is laid open it is well to catch the hen by her beak and drag her out 

 of the hole while she is still dazzled by the light, giving her no time to 

 use her claws. On being released .she usually makes no attempt to 

 fly, unless she is purposely chased down the hill ; but after waddling 

 away a few yards .she returns to her buiTow (or to where its entrance 

 used to be before it was dug into .nnd choked with rinds) and begins at 



