902 



NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



the parents leave them in the biuTow from before sunrise until after 

 sunset, while they go to seek food. On their return they circle round 

 their burrow as before, stopping at the entrance to call, which the 

 young bu'ds immediately answer. .After entering, they make a 

 whimpering noise. The old birds leave and return several times in a 

 night. Once or twice only have I foimd adult bii'ds in the burrow 

 during the day, when they had their young : the reason being that, 

 not having left the burrow before dayhght, they are afraid to leave 

 till evening. If they iind their burrows disturbed they will not go in. 

 " The natives are vei-y careful when taking the young ' Taikos not 

 to disturb the burrows. They make expeditions in May to the islands 

 whei'e these Petrels are breeding. In former times each tribe had 

 their grounds, which they visited every year, and defended obstinately 

 against the intruder. The birds were taken out with a flexible stick, 

 pointed at one end and spht, wliich they pushed into the burrow till 

 the bird was felt, when they twisted the stick round in the down and 

 puUcd out the bird gently, then bit the head to kill it. Tliey then took 

 the bird's bill to cut the skin imder the crop, and pulled out the oil-bag, 

 which was thrown away, as the oil would spoil the Uesh for food. They 

 pluck each bird as they get it, and when a lai-ge niunber are ob- 

 tained, caiTy them to the camp, where they singe the down off over a 

 fire; then they roast the bird until the fat is extracted, and, placing 

 them in a vessel made of totara bark, they cover them with the fat to 

 keep them air-tight. When presei-ved in this manner they keep a length 

 of time. I saw the natives very often preserving them during my 

 reseaixhes in the King Countiy, beginning of 1882, and have eaten and 

 found them excellent. If the natives disturb any of the Petrels' 

 burrows, they always restore them. These birds, which were very 

 numerous on the Little Barrier Island dming the breeding season, 

 I foimd on my last visit (Ai^ril and May, 1885) had become veiy scarce, 

 but I found the remains of many which pig and dogs had destroyed. ' 



677. — CEsTRELATA MACKoPTEHA, Suiitli. — (627 aud 628) 

 Pterudroma atlantica, Gould. 



GREAT-WINGED PETREL. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. x.w., p. 399. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — BuUer : Birds of New Zealand (1873), 

 also vol. ii., p. 246 (1888); Reischek : Trans. New Zealand 

 Inst., vol. xviii., p. 90 (1885) ; Campbell : Victorian Naturalist 

 (1889). 



GeM/rnphical Distrihution. — Seas of New South Wales, Victoria 

 (probably), aud Tasmania; also New Zealand and Southern Ocean in 

 general. 



Xesl. — A hole or biu-row, usually at the base of a cliff. In com- 

 panies, sometimes four or five pairs of birds having nests witliin the 



