BIRDS OF TASMANIA. 167 



of this species consists of " whale food," an oily substance con- 

 sisting of animalculifc, found floating on the surface of the water. 



Botli birds appear to assist in the task of cleaning out the 

 burrows. When the burrows have all been cleaned out and some 

 fresh ones scratched — do not get within the line of fire when a 

 Mutton-Bird is making the sand liy — the birds disappear and do 

 not return until the laying season. 



During the camp-out of the Australasian Ornithologists' Union 

 on Phillip Island in November, 1902, I had the opportunity of 

 witnessing the birds coming in to lay — an experience even more 

 remarkable than that of seeing them coming in to scratch out. 

 The din made by some thousands of birds is something that once 

 heard can never be forgotten. It is, as Donald Macdonald has 

 remarked, incessant, variable, but always harsh and unearthly. 

 Its uncanniness baffles description. 



As the first streak of dawn appears the birds emerge quietly 

 from their burrows, and as they cannot rise directly from off 

 the ground, start out from the edge of a cliff or some slight 

 eminence so as to get the wdnd under their wings. The departure 

 is as silent as the arrival is clamorous. 



I omitted to mention that the birds commence to come in for 

 laying purposes just a few minutes after sunset. Just at this 

 time of the year heavy gales usually blow, which are known as 

 " Mutton-Bird gales." Only one bird of a pair goes to sea in the 

 morning, as a rule, the other remaining in the burrow. 



On Phillip Island, which is under the jurisdiction of Victoria, 

 egging is allowed, and some 20,000 or more eggs are taken every 

 season of a few weeks, the bulk finding their way to the Melbourne 

 market, where they are sold as fresh duck eggs. They are all 

 right as an article of diet so long as they are not boiled. The eggs 

 are raked out of the burrows by means of a piece of looped wire at 

 the end of a stick. It takes a good deal of practice to locate and 

 draw an egg out. 



On the Tasmanian islands egging is forbidden under a penalty, 

 only the birds being taken. A few- years since, however, this was 

 not so. The ]\Iutton-Birding season lasts from 20th March until 

 20th May. The principal " birding " islands are Chappell, Babel, 

 Little Dog and Big Dog Islands, Green Island and Little Green 

 Island. Vigorous, but unfortunately unavailing, protest has been 

 made within late years by white and half-caste residents on some 

 of the islands regarding the damage done to a number of rookeries 

 by sheep and cattle. The owners of these animals are supposed 

 to remove them off the rookeries in time for the birds to get their 

 homes in order for the nesting season. Unhappily, the stock is too 

 often left on, in defiance of the regulation, until after the birds 

 return, and they, finding the burrows trampled in as fast as they 

 clean them out, leave in despair, perhaps never to return. It is a 

 matter for regret that the bulk of the residents of the Strait 



