AND OTHER BIRDS 41 



thousand. ])ii'ds of this breed visiting the ishiiid, 

 at any rate there never seemed to be in the sky 

 at one period, more than a few score. 



The vast immbers we had been led to expect 

 were disapiiointingly absent. The influx, too, 

 of such birds as did appear varied in numbers 

 from night to night. Each evening, too, the 

 hours of arrival differed, on one occasion none 

 arriving until half-past eight. 



Our expei'ience of the spring and early sum- 

 mer of 1911 on the Mutton Bird islands made 

 easily credible what I afterwards heard, — that 

 the birding season of 1912 was the worst ever 

 known in the trade. The majority of burrows in 

 fact were too wet to be used. 



The Mutton Bird digs deeper than any of the 

 other Petrels to be found in these parts, and 

 often the termination of his tunnel was soft bog 

 or even sometimes a shallow pool of foul, 

 stagnant water. 



The paucity of occupied burrows may have, 

 in part, accounted for our inability to discover 

 a sitting bird, or the deplorable weather may 

 have postponed the nesting operations of the 

 entire breed. We failed, at any rate, to obtain 

 an egg, although in one bird handled the unlaid 

 egg could be felt ready within a day or two for 

 obtrusion. 



At this date the caterwauling so noticeable 

 on Piko-mamaku-iti a month j^revious had, 

 except in a few instances, ceased. Probably, 

 therefore, such birds as intended to nest had 

 selected partners. 



The Kuaka came in from the ocean later than 

 during October, and not as before in such vast 

 numbers for so brief a period of time. In all 



