071 the Habits of the Muttoii-hird. 209 



family SittinsB; b^^t is very remarkable, especially as_, in its 

 colouring, it is quite aberrant from its kindred. Mr. De Vis 

 has made it the type of a new genus, and quite rightly so. 

 There can be no possible doubt, however, as to the bird being 

 allied to the Nuthatches {Sltta) ; it comes, in fact, very near 

 the Australian genus Sittella. From this it differs principally 

 in the bill, which is much shorter than the head, and has 

 the culmen straight, and not curved upward, as in Sittella. 

 The wing is very like that of the members of this genus, 

 and has, like them, a light (white) patch about the middle 

 of the inner web of the quills ; but the tail is rather differently 

 shaped, being graduated'^, and not square. The feet do not 

 show any important features, being quite Sittine ; their 

 colour, in De Vis^s description of the genus, is stated to be 

 crimson, but in the description of the species (p. 381), and 

 on the original label of Signor Giulianetti, the feet are 

 described as yellow. The whole bird appears to be more 

 strongly built than the Sittella. The plumage is peculiar, 

 not only in colouring, but also in being particularly soft. 



The male bird has not yet been described, but possibly it 

 will prove to be more brightly coloured than the female, 

 especially about the face. 



XVIII. — On the Habits of the Mutton-bird of Bass Strait, 

 Australia (Puffinus tenuirostris). By the Rt. Rev. H. H. 

 Montgomery, D.D., Bishop of Tasmania. 



For many years, as episcopal duties have called me to the 

 Furneaux Islands in Bass Strait, I have given attention 

 to the habits of what is locally called the ''Mutton-bird.^' 

 This Petrel is now adequately protected by an Act of the 

 Tasmanian Parliament ; and although some 400,000 young 

 birds are salted down for consumption in a good year, chiefly 

 by half-castes, yet there is no chance of the extinction of this 

 species under present conditions. The day may come, indeed, 



* By a misprint in the original description (/. c. p. 330) the tail is said 

 to be obtusely " granulated," instead of " gi-aduated." 



