BIRDS OF TASMANIA. 161 



mock, several islets of the Hunter Group, and others. Its food, as 

 far as we know, consists of minute aninialculue gathered from the 

 surface of the ocean. 



During a visit, extending over nearly a fortnight, paid to Ninth 

 Island, on the North-East Coast of Tasmania, in September, 1909, 

 I had exceptional opportunities for observing the White-faced 

 Storm-Petrel. Before going to the island I had been informed 

 that large numbers of this species nested there. So, naturally, I 

 expected to witness some interesting sights when the birds came 

 in to clean out their burrows. Nor was 1 disappointed. On arriving 

 on the island on the 22nd September, a keen search was made for 

 evidences of the burrows of this tiny Petrel. I w^as not long in 

 discovering signs that the birds had commenced to come in to 

 clean out their homes in preparation for the breeding season. How 

 long prior to my arrival they had been coming in it was impossible 

 to say. As I afterwards discovered, not only were the burrows 

 driven under the tussock-grass almost everywhere, but also in the 

 soft soil on the top and sides of the island. An investigation 

 showed that in these latter places the burrows were from 2 feet 6 

 inches to 3 feet in length ; many were curved, some almost forming 

 the letter L. The nesting chamber was some 6 inches in diameter, 

 with a few fragments of vegetable debris on the floor. 



It was my custom every evening, after watching the Little 

 Penguins landing on some part of the island, to spend some hours 

 on the various rookeries armed with a powerful acetylene lamp, 

 watching the various birds. I found that by walking slowly and 

 as noiselessly as possible, I could move with impunity, and observe 

 the birds cleaning out their burrows, courting, fighting, &c. I 

 found that the first White-faced Storm-Petrel arrived each even- 

 ing punctually at 6.50. By 8 o'clock the majority of the birds had 

 arrived and were in their burrows hard at work " spring cleaning." 

 It was a very pretty sight watching them alight and seek out their 

 homes; they cannot walk after the manner of ordinary birds, but 

 flit over the ground, just tipping it with their toes. They gave one 

 the impression of being full of springs. As soon as a bird arrived 

 at the entrance of its burrow it would come to a stop and dart 

 suddenly out of sight. Even with hundreds of birds of this species 

 round, not a sound was heard while they were on the wing, but 

 when in their burrows a mouse-like squeaking, only slightly louder, 

 could be heard. With many hundreds of birds underground, the 

 noise was distinctly audible. From the 22nd to the 25th, Storm- 

 Petrels were only fairly numerous ; then a curious thing occurred — 

 not a single bird put in an appearance for three nights. On the 

 29th they reappeared in vast numbers, and continued every night 

 while I was on the island. 



No prettier sight can be imagined than hundreds, perhaps 

 thousands, of these dainty creatures passing and repassing in the 

 rays of the lamp, coming from darkness into light and disappearing 



12 



