NESTS A\D EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. goQ 



eastern portion, near the centi-e of Little Ban-ier, or Haiituni Island, 

 in October, 1882, my dog set a biuTow; and on digging into it, I was 

 sui-prised at finding a pair of these Petrels also on this island. They 

 came ashore to clean out their burrows, which process is accomphshed 

 with their bill and feet, as I have already described in a previous 

 paper. I measured several of their burrows, and found the average 

 width at the entrance from foiu' inches to six inches in diameter, and from 

 four to eight and even twelve feet from the entrance to the chamber, 

 of which I alwaj-s found two in each biUTow, from six inches to a foot 

 high. In each chamber is a hollow filled with leaves, moss, or fine 

 grass. I found these buiTows even in the stiSest clay, winding about 

 roots and stones. I often worked half-a-day and then had to give it up 

 without success. Male and female mutually assist at cleaning out or 

 making fresh bun'ows. After sunset they begin to call hke ' ti, ti, ti,' 

 repeated rapidly, which is the signal to assemble for their departure to 

 theii" ocean haimts, from which they do not retiu'n till before suiuise. 

 This process goes on nightly till their burrows are cleaned out and the 

 nest made. I built a hut in the centre of the Little Barrier, near one 

 of these burrows, on piu-jiose to make a close observation of these rare 

 birds. Tlie 1st November, when they returned as usual, early in the 

 morning, I noticed that they made a pecuUar noise in their biu-rows ; 

 in about half-an-hour one came out and stopped for a moment, then 

 flew away, and did not return till after simset, when he flew several 

 times round above the burrow, then went off again, not retiu-ning till 

 the next night, when he went into the burrow and made the same 

 gurgling noise as before ; after a while a bird came out and flew away, 

 which returned before siuirise and went into the burrow. After some 

 time one came out and again flew away. I then examined a burrow, 

 and found a bird sitting on an egg; on dissecting the bird I foimd it 

 was a female. I never found more than one egg, and always the female 

 sitting on it ; the male I have found not far off in a burrow by himself. 

 Wlien the yoimg are hatched, male and female rear them together and 

 defend them pluckily. The young are full-grown in March." 



SUB-F.\MILY FULM.^RIN^ : FuLMARS. 



683. — OssiFR.^GA GiGANTEA, Gmeliu, (624) 



GIANT PETREL. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vii., pi. 45. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus;, vol. xxv., p. 422. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Layard ; Kidder and Coues : Smith- 

 sonian Miscell. Coll., vol. xiii., p. (1878) ; Buller : Birds 

 of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 227 (1888); Verrill : Trans. 

 Connect. Ac, vol. ix., p. (1895). 



Geographirnl Distrihution. — Seas of New South Wales, Victoria, 

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

 Sovithern Ocean in general ; north to about 30 deg. south latitude. 



