9i6 



NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



Ohxervations. — Banks Dove Petrel may be constantly seen in the 

 southern sea^^ over the same latitudes as its congeners. However, it has 

 been noted as far north as the Equator. 



It is like the other members of its genus, bat most I'esembles 

 P. (hsolatus, and has been seen in company with that bird; but, as 

 Gould points out, the Banks bird may be distinguished by its larger size, 

 and by the more bluff and darker-coloured head. Banks Petrel and the 

 Dove Petrel are frequently found in company. 



Sir Walter Buller states that in the winter of 1878 he had occasion to 

 visit the Wellington west coast after a north-west gale had been blowing 

 for several, days, when he found a large number of Prions had been killed 

 by the tempest and their bodies washed ashore. " It is an ill wind that 

 blows nobody good." Sir Walter was fortunate in obtaining during one 

 day twenty fresh birds. Of these twelve (7 i^and 5 2) were referable to 

 Prion turtur (desolatusj, and eight (4(?and 4^) to jP. hnn/y-ni. 



The eggs I have described are from Macquarie Island, where the 

 Banks Prions commence to arrive in, August. Fresh eggs may be col- 

 lected at the end of November and the beginning of December. The 

 nesting biuTows are in the drier ground on the bare sides of hills, and the 

 egg chamber is devoid of lining of any kind. The call notes uttered in 

 tue burrows resemble a dove-like " coo-coo-coo." The birds appear to be 

 diurnal. Silently they leave in thousands at daylight, fly up and down 

 the coast in flocks, and return at dusk. 



688. — Prion desol.\tus, Gmelin. — (641) 

 P. turtiir. Smith. 



DOVE PETKEL OR PRION. 



Fii^ure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vii., pi. 54. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxv., p. 434. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Saunders : Trans. Roy. Soc, vol. 

 clxviii , p. 165 (187H) ; Kidder and Cones ; Smithsonian Miscell. 

 Coll., vol. xiii,, p. 16 (1878) : Travers: Trans. New Zealand Inst., 

 vol. v., p. 220 (1873) ; Campbell : Victorian Naturalist (1887) ; 

 Buller : Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 210 (18S8) ; North : 

 Austn. Mus. Cat., app. (i8go) ; Hall : Ibis, p. 30 (igoo). 



Geogra phical Distribution. — Seas of South Queensland, New South 

 Wales, Victoria, South and West Australia and Tasmania; also New 

 Zealand and the Southern Ocean in general between 35 deg. and 60 dog. 

 south latitude, but has been found as fax south as the Ice Barrier in 

 latitude 66 deg. 30 min. 



Nest. — A rat-like hole, usually imderground, but sometimes under 

 rank herbage, or even in a rock cievice, the floor of the egg cliambcr 

 being lined with a few stalks of grass or portions of sea-weed. 



Eyy.i. — Clutch, 011c ; clliptically inclined in shape ; texture of shell 

 comparatively fine ; surface slightly glossy ; some specimens have limy 



