370 PUFFININ.E. 



one hundred feet above the water, backwards and forwards, in and out, a clear sailing flight, no 

 motion of the wings being perceptible, and they extended from the water for a distance of about 

 half a mile out, and all over the dense sea of tropical vegetation. It was now getting dusk, and 

 as we watched one here and there would drop like a stone into the apparently compact mass of 

 foliage. I know well the nocturnal habits of the Petrels, but how a bird can manage to Hnd 

 where it should descend and its own particular nesting-burrow in the dark, has forever remained 

 a mystery to me. As the birds were only engaged in clearing out the old burrows, at the time 

 of my visit, subsequently, at my request, Mr. William Whiting forwarded to the Australian 

 Museum, on the 27th February, 191 1, three living birds, for the purpose of a group being made, 

 and at the same time noting the proper colour of the bill, legs and feet. 



The preceding figure is reproduced from a photograph taken by my colleague, Mr. E. A. 

 Briggs, in November, 1913. 



Mr. William Whiting, writing from Lord Howe Island on the 17th February, 191 1, 

 remarks:—" The ' Mutton Bird ' of Middle Beach arrives here towards the end of September, 

 and immediately start cleaning out old holes and making fresh ones. All work is done after 

 dusk. The birds usually commence to lay about the 15th of November, one egg only. The 

 male bird fishes during the day, and relieves the female at night, when she goes to sea looking 

 for food. The nesting-holes in the ground average from three to four feet in length. Some 

 burrows run to seven feet, but that is according to the nature of soil where the burrow is 

 situated. If sandy, the burrow is deep; if clay, the hole is shallow. After the young are 

 hatched they are fed on squid by the parent birds, who both come in after dusk to feed them. 

 The young bird comes to the top of the burrow when old enough, and the parent bird emits the 

 contents of its stomach into the young bird's mouth. The young birds have about an inch of 

 fat over the body until near the 20th of April, when the parents stop feeding them. This is 

 evidently to get the young birds fit for flight. No birds are found here after the loth May. 

 Both old and young migrate, but I cannot obtain any information w-here they go. It is not 

 unusual to find pumice-stone, pieces of Nautilus shell, etc., in the crops or stomachs of the birds. 

 Some of the nesting burrows are very cosy, and are lined with portion of palm leaves, fibre, 

 etc. In April the young are collected at night, when at top of the hole, skinned, gutted and 

 used by the islanders for different purposes. They make e.\cellent pies, and when salted and 

 smoked taste just like kippered herrings. Before the regular steamer service called here this 

 bird was one of the principal sources of food supply to the islanders. Old birds are of no value, 

 not even for fish bait. Birds, when coming to land, close their wings and drop like a stone 

 lietween the palm trees, and the noise of meeting mother earth can be heard a considerable 

 distance away. It is nothing to find birds stuck in forks of palm trees, having in falling like a 

 stone struck a palm fork, and not being able to extract themselves die. These birds cannot 

 rise from the land ; they have proper tracks to the edge of cliff, where they can get a take 

 off. When a bird is handled it immediately vomits squid." 



From Broome Hill, South-western Australia, Mr. Tom Carter wrote me under date 9th 

 April, 191 1 : — " On the 22nd December, igio, I received two live birds (Piiffinus carncipcs)hom 

 Breaksea Island. On dissecting them I found they were females, and both had finished 

 laying. .\\\ the eggs I have of the 'Mutton bird' were found on Breaksea Island, nine 

 miles out from Albany. All eggs sent me were taken in November and December. I have 

 been on Breaksea Island, in the non-breeding season, and saw (and fell into) any number of 

 burrows, which appear to be often four feet or more in length, and are to be found from near 

 sea ie\el to two hundred or more feet above it. The summit of the island is nearly four hundred 

 feet above sea-level. Many of the burrows were in dense, almost impenetrable scrub. Rabbits 

 abound on the island, so doubtless their burrows are utilised as laying holes. In March, 1910, 

 I observed great numbers of burrows on another island nearer the coast, but no birds were 

 present. Many of them had been used by the Little Penguin." 



