Vol. vn. 



1908 



] Armstrong, A Visit to the Furneaux Group, Bass St. 183 



to the fact that on some islands it breeds at dififerent seasons to 

 families on other. islands ; for instance, on Little Chalky I saw 

 a very large rookery on 7th November; it was not in use, 

 though from the appearance of the nests I should say young 

 had left it within three months. My boatman informed me 

 that the birds laid there in June ; this was confirmed by another 

 resident. On Black Reef and Rabbit Island there were also 

 small rookeries of the same age, whereas on Cat Island and 

 Beagle Reef there were three colonies breeding in November. 

 This is strange to happen in one region ; in fact, Beagle and 

 Black Reefs are only a itw miles apart, yet birds of the same 

 species breed in two different seasons. I tried to ascertain if 

 the birds on Chalky laid again in the summer, but could get no 

 reliable information. 



On Beagle Reef we met the White-faced Storm-Petrel. Many 

 burrows of this little bird were situated in sandy grounds 

 amongst tussocks ; the burrows were large enough to allow the 

 insertion of your hand and arm, and were about i y^, feet long. 

 We took several fresh eggs ; some of the eggs were minutely 

 freckled on the thicker end. In each case where there was an 

 egg the bird was in the hole. 



Th'at night we lay up at Green Island. Early on the morning 

 of the 1 6th we pulled away in the dinghy to an outlying reef. 

 On landing we saw a sight that made our hearts rejoice as the 

 " Village Blacksmith's " — over 200 Crested Terns were nesting 

 on a space of about 20 feet square on the middle of the island; 

 their eggs, in all colours — brown, spotted, blotched, and Chinese- 

 lettered- — lay in great profusion on the bare ground, about a foot 

 apart, in some cases in a slight hollow (a mere pretence at a 

 nest), in others just on the flat ground. The clutch in every 

 case was one. Near, about a dozen Silver Gulls had built their 

 nests on some saltbushes, and three clutches of the Black 

 Oyster-catcher were noted. Sterna bergii and Lams hovcb- 

 Jiollandice seem to be fond of each other's company, as later the 

 same day we saw on an island south of Prime Seal other small 

 colonies of both nesting together. We explored two or three 

 more islands that day, on one of which (Rabbit) we saw the 

 only pair of Reef-Herons (blue phase) met with on the cruise. 

 We anchored for the night at the settlement. At 6 in the 

 morning of the 17th I went ashore, and on the same strip of 

 sandy beach where on the 7th I had seen the l^ied Oyster- 

 catchers' and three Red-capped Dottrels' nests I now picked up 

 nine eggs of the Red-caps (four pairs and a single egg). One 

 bird had evidently chosen a too low situation (all the others 

 were just above high water mark) for its nest, as I found the 

 eggs 4 feet apart and slightly water-marked. I also saw these 

 eggs on Kangaroo. The weather, which had till now been fine, 

 turned squally and wet, so we bore up for Harold Walker's 



