374 FULMAKIS.K. 



our way up the ^,'ully. The birds made no attempt to fly ; most of them had to be forcibly 

 removed from the nest, when they used their hooked beaks to advanta<;e upon our hands. A 

 few would shullle oif their nests when our hands came to close quarters with them, but 

 that only appeared to be the case when there was a convenient '^et away for them between 

 rocks. The nest was composed of about a handful of small pieces of decayed palm leaves. 

 Although I did not go quite to the top of the island, we found the nests slightly more numerous 

 the higher we went ; this at first seemed extraordinary, because the bird on land is about the 

 most helpless one imaginable. In such a thick-topped foliage scrub, and open beneath, one 

 would naturally think the I'etrels come on land at the water's edge, and work their way up, 

 but after watching them very closely, and noticing several birds caught fast in the branches of 

 small trees from ten to twenty feet from the ground, it is only leasonable to believe they fly 

 right into the very spot where their nest is situated. 'J'o get back to the water again, they must 

 undoubtedly shuffle their way down the side of the island the best way they can, because it 

 appeared to be quite impossible for them to lly out through the tree tops, or even off the land at 

 all. We threw many of them up in the air, and in every case they simply fluttered back to 

 eartli like a very badly wounded bird. In every instance where we found an egg in the nest, 

 there was only a single bird, but where there was no egg there was generally a pair of birds. 

 When disturbed they usually utter a peculiar plainti\e chattering cry, and occasionally this 

 can be heard far up the side of the island where they have not been disturbed at all. Although 

 most of the eggs bad only been laid a day or two, there was every appearance of the Petrels 

 having some great enemy on tlie island, as numerous broken egg shells were to be seen 

 everywhere, but fortunately few dead birds. I would say from the appearance of these destroyed 

 eggs that the enemy was either a rat or a snake. This island a few years ago was on fire, and 

 as in all probability this happened during the summer, doubtless a great number of these little 

 Petrels were destroyed." 



Only one egg is laid for a sitting. The eggs are oval in form, pure white, the shell being 

 close-grained, dull and lustreless. Two specimens, showing their variation in size, and taken by 

 Mr. Thos. P. Austin on the 4th December, 1910, on Cabbage Tree Island, measure: — Length 

 (A)2-ii X 1-52 inches; (l!)r92 x 1-37 inches. Three eggs in Mr. .Austin's collection, talcen 

 by him on the same date, measure respectively: — Length (A) 1-91 x 1-37 inches; (B) 1-94 

 X 1-52 inches; (C) 2-11 x i-4« inches. 



Sub-family FULMARIN^. 



C3-en.VLS I=ISI03Sr, Lnrrpnh: 



Prion brevirostris. 



Sli(it;'f'-BIL[jED I'laox. 



Prion arirl, Gould, Ann and Mag. Nat. Hist., Vol. XIII., p. SGH (1844) (descr. nulla.): /-/., 

 Handhk. Bds. Austr., Vol. IT., p. 473(1811.5); «alviii, Cat. lids. Brit. Mus., Vol. XXV., 

 p. 436(189G;: Sharp.- Hand-l. I'.ds., Vol. I., p. 128 (18'.I9). 



Prion hrerirostris^ Gould, Pi'oc. Zool. Soc, IS.5.5, p. S8, pi. 93. 



Adult malk. — (!i'ui"ral colniir nhnvi' hluish-grii/ : iiuin/s /ilii is/i-i/ni/ : li-.tsfir u/ijier ivimj coverts 

 aiul a banil ilonrii. Ilic tiniu) iciileuiiKj oul. on ihf (ijiiritl portina of lli,' xra/inliira hroiruisli-black ; 

 outer webs and tipx of the four otUer primaries blackisli, faint (jreijisli irkile un the. iimer ivebs, except 

 at the lips : tail-feathers bluish.-gre.y, browitislMack at the tips ; forehead, crown of the head, a iiarrow 



