210 Hvhi., Avifauna of New South Wales Islands. [,sfX"rii 



the Wedge-tailed Petrels and Penguins occupying the greater 

 part of the island, where the sand-dunes and tussocky grass gave 

 them fine cover. This island is high and rocky on the eastern side, 

 and a narrow neck, surf-swept in heavy weather, separates it from 

 a second lower and more rocky island ; while off the extremity of 

 this second island lies a high, rocky islet, almost inaccessible. Mr. 

 Rohu had managed to land on the islet in February, 1914, and 

 there found a few Wedge-tailed Petrels with young birds in their 

 nesting burrows in a small patch of soil. Among them he found 

 one young bird which had a whitish breast, and he also shot and 

 secured an adult white-breasted bird on the water in the \'icinity. 

 These birds were disposed of by Mr. Rohu as Puffinus gavia, the 

 then accepted designation of the White-breasted Petrel, of which 

 several specimens had been picked up dead or dying near Sydney. 

 We were unable to effect a landing on the islet, and a search in a 

 very large number of burrows on Rabbit Island failed to disclose 

 anything l)ut Penguins and Wedge-tailed Petrels. 



1 had long wished to \isit Brush Island, lying about midway 

 between Ulladulla and Bateman's Bay. On my xdsit to the 

 latter place in 191 1 * I had made inquiries as to means of access 

 to and probable inhabitants of this island. The local tradition 

 was strong on Quail. " Flocks of 'em," was the genera] tale, and 

 " Pengwins — stacks of 'em." After several attempts to arrange 

 a trip during the three following years, I at last got off with Mr. 

 Henry Grant on 4th December, 1915. Our journey was from 

 Sydney to Nowra by train, thence to Ulladulla via Milton by motor. 

 We arrived at the seaport on Saturday evening, in time for a 

 stroll along the ocean beach before tea. After inspecting the 

 laimch we had engaged to take us out to the island on the fol- 

 lowing day, we walked south, and at once came upon several dead 

 Petrels in rather advanced stages of decomposition. A glance 

 was sufficient, however, to show that they were not Wedge-tails, 

 the tail feathers being short and square. Further search resulted 

 in our finding an almost perfect specimen, slightly decomposed on 

 the under side only. The species was easily identifiable as 

 Puffinus brevicaudus, Gould ; but, after taking measurements, I 

 found that it was larger than typical specimens of the Tasmanian 

 " Mutton-Bird," but not quite so large as the dark-plumaged bird 

 I found at Cabbage-tree Island in 1910 and named P. inter- 

 medins.^ After tea we walked along the sandy beach of the 

 harbour, finding many more dead Petrels of the same species, 

 most of which had e\adently been dead for many days. By great 

 good fortune we found one awash in the surf, apparently quite 

 recently dead, and this specimen Mr. Grant subsequently skinned. 



Day broke on Sunday dull and cloudy, with a drizzling rain, 

 which ceased shortly after we left the port at 6 a.m. Another 

 dead Petrel was seen floating off the breakwater, and the fisher- 

 man who owned the launch told us that they had been coming 



* Emu, vol. xi., p. 202 (1912). I Enm, vol. xi., p. 98 (191 1). 



