Mr. R. Elwes on the Short-tailed Petrel. 397 



last he found it necessary to i*esort to stratagem, and to en- 

 deavour to " stalk " the bu-d. This a newly made ditch and 

 bank, one extremity of which approached within a few yards of 

 the water's edge, enabled him to do successfully. On raising 

 his head above the bank, just before he tired, he perceived the 

 Stilt within twenty yards of him, knee-deep in the water, in the 

 midst of a cloud of gnats and midges, at which he was snapping 

 right and left, much after the manner (to use Pearson's own 

 simile) of a dog when teased by the flies in hot weather. 



The bird, fortunately but little injured by the shot, was 

 brought to me on the following morning, and on subsequent 

 dissection proved to be a female. The ovarium contained several 

 eggs, the largest of which was about the size of a pea. The 

 stomach was crammed with beetles and gnats in a half-digested 

 state, the elyti^a of the former showing that different species had 

 been captured. After the first pleasurable sensations on pos- 

 sessing and examining in the flesh a perfect specimen of so rare 

 a visitor had passed away, I could not help being struck with the 

 remarkable tenuity of the tips of the mandibles, as well as by 

 the more obvious peculiarity from which the bird has derived its 

 name (the extraordinary length of its legs) ; but after listening 

 to the simple story of George Pearson and his son, I perceived 

 that the mystery was solved, and that here was a new instance 

 of the wonderful adaptation of means to an end, of structure 

 to habits, such interesting examples of which are continually 

 presenting themselves to the observant naturalist. 



XL. — Note on the Breeding and Mode of Capture of the Sho?-t~ 

 tailed Petrel, or Mutton Bird (Puffinus obscurus), in the islands 

 in Bass's Straits. From the Journal of Robert Elwes. 



The little settlement on Vansittart's or Gun-carriage Island, 

 one of the Flinders's Islands group in Bass's Straits, lies in a 

 cove, on one side sandy, but on the other closed in by huge 

 granite rocks, behind which the sealers have built their houses, 

 and which serve also to shelter their boats from the sea. Tucker's 

 (the chief settler's) house was comfortable enough. His wife 



