358 PUFFININ*. 



A single egg is laid for a sitting. They vary from oval to an ellipse in form, the shell being 

 close-grained, smooth and usually lustrous, but one specimen now before me, taken by Mr. 

 E. D. Atkinson, from a small island off the north-west coast of Tasmania, in November, i8go, 

 has a pronounced lustre. Typically they are pure white, but some specimens are freely spotted 

 and dusted with dull red or pinkish-red on end, these luarldngs frequently assuming the form of 

 an indistinct cap or zone. Two eggs taken on Swan Island, near Qneenscliff, \'ictoria, in 

 November, 1878, measure :— Length (A) 1-45 x i-o8 inches; (B) 1-38 x 1-03 inches. Two 

 eggs taken by Mr. Joseph Gabriel, on the 6th December, 1893, measure :— Length (A) 1-42 x 

 i-oi inches; (B) 1-39 x rofa inches. An egg taken by Mr. E. I"). Austin, on a small island 

 oif the north-west coast of Tasmania, measures: — Length 1-35 x 1-07 inches. An egg taken by 

 Mr. A. F. B. Hull, on Tom Thumb Island off the coast of Wollongong, in the Illawarra District, 

 New South Wales, measures: — Length 1-5 x i-oi inches. 



October and the three following months constitute the usual breeding season in Eastern 

 Australia and Tasmania. 



Family PUFFINID^. 



Sub-family PUFFININ^. 



C3-erLi:Ls I="U"I^I^IIsrxJS, /irissin. 



PufTlnus chlororhynchus. 



\Vi:Dt_^E-TAILED I'ETliKL. 



Pulfinuis chloror/iync/iiig, Less,, Traiti- d'Orn., p. 012 (1831); Salvin, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XXV., 

 p. 372(1S9G;; Sharpe Haiid-1. Bds., Vol. L, p. 123 (1899). 



Puffiims sphi'Hurny:, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. VII., pi. .')8 (1848). 



ThieUus gp/ien>irun, Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. II., p. 406 (1805). 



Adult malk. — Geiieral colunr above sooly-hroicn ; qiiills aiid tail-J'ra/hers blackis/i-broirn ; fore- 

 head, chili, throat, similar but trit/i a distinct greyish icash gradually blending into sooty-brown on 

 the sides of the iieck ; retnainder of tlie under surface dusky-brmmi, lighter upon the upper parts ; bill 

 deej) bluish-black, darker at tli.e tip : legs and feet flesh-colour, the nails white ; iris dark bro?vu. 

 Total length in thejlesh 17 inches, wing 11, central tail-feathers 5-75, outer tail-feathers 3-5, bill 15, 

 tarsus :'. 



Adult kemalk. — Siinilar in plumage to the male. 



Disti'ibiition. — Eastern and Western Australian Seas, Lord Howe Island. 



/T^HE Wedge-tailed Petrel inhabits the Eastern and Western Australian Seas, also the 

 -L Tasman Sea, the precincts of New Zealand and Lord Howe Island. Its range extends 

 over the whole of the eastern coastline of Australia, I have noted it all along the coast of New 

 South Wales, from Twofold Bay in the south to Point Danger in the north, and have received 

 a specimen procured by Dr. Macgillivray, in November, iqto, on Raine Islet, lying offthe north- 

 eastern coast of Queensland, where also it was recorded by the members of the Challenger 

 Expedition. During a trip from Sydney to Lord Howe Island, in October, 1910, it was 

 frequently noted in the intervening seas and especially in the neighbourhood of Mutton Bird 

 Island, lying some little distance off the eastern coast of Lord Howe Island. It is the 

 commonest of all species on the New South Wales and Queensland coasts, and has been found 

 breeding on many of the small contiguous islands. 



During easterly gales in New South Wales these birds are frequently driven over the land. 

 .\s is well known Petrels are nocturnal in habits. A living bird was brought to me that had 



