204 Hull, Avifauna of New South Wales Islands. P 



Er 



Jan. 



old nests of grass and twigs in the chambers at the end of these 

 burrows. 



Other birds seen on these islets were Hirundo ncoxcna (a nest 

 containing eggs being built in the cave on the southern islet), 

 Haliaetus leucogaster, Phalacrocorax carbo and P. gouldi, Demi- 

 egretta sacra, HcBmatopus longirostris, H. unicolor, Corvits ausiralis, 

 and Pelecanus conspicillatus (ii birds on the spit). 



A storm coming up, we returned to port, and landed in a down- 

 pour of rain and hail. 



There are several other islets between Bateman's Bay and 

 Ulladulla, but the weather was not favourable on the following 

 day, so we went up the Clyde River beyond Nelligen, landing on 

 two " islands " on the way. The birds seen included Platycercus 

 elegans, Acanthochcera carnnculata, Oriolus Sagittarius, Cacomantis 

 rufulus, DiccBum hirundinaceiim, Malurus cyanochlamys, Alcyone 

 azurea, Melithreptus atricapillus, Neositta chrysoptera, Collyriocincla 

 harmonica, Strepera gracidina, and Edoliisoma tennirostre. 



The results of this trip were, therefore, the extension of the 

 recorded breeding range of Puffinus sphcnurus 70 miles further 

 south (Five Islands, off WoUongong, being my previous most 

 southerly record), and the addition of another breeding-place of 

 Pelagodroma marina intermediate between the Five Islands and 

 Port Phillip. 



My first visit to Montague Island, in 1907 (September), had a 

 disastrous ending so far as my photographs were concerned, all 

 the negatives going to the bottom of the sea when we were 

 capsized on Narooma bar. I therefore decided to pay another 

 visit to this island to replace the pictures, and on the gth October, 

 1911, accompanied by my son and Mr. H. Hamilton, left Sydney 

 by the Merimbula, arriving at the island early on the morning 

 of the loth. Mr. Glover, the principal lighthouse-keeper, enter- 

 tained us hospitably until the 13th, during which time I made 

 observations on the following species : — 



Larus novae-hollandiae. — As on my former visit, these birds 

 were breeding in vast numbers, and their colonies had extended in 

 all directions, so that the northern island was almost entirely 

 encircled with nesting groups. Mr. Williams, second keeper, in- 

 formed me that the birds left the south island, where they con- 

 gregate prior to nesting, on the 28th August. This is later than 

 the date recorded by Mr. Bailey in 1908 — viz., 15th August — and 

 earlier than those of 1907 and 1909, when they started in. the 

 first week in September and the 5th September respectively. 

 They were a fortnight making their preparations, and the first 

 egg was laid on 12th September, 1911. By the 14th idem they 

 were in full swing. When we paid them a visit on the loth 

 October there were many nests containing young birds in down. 

 Most of the nests contained three eggs, although not a few con- 

 tained only two or one young bird and one egg. In only three 

 cases were four eggs noticed, and the clutches of five and six seen 

 on former occasions by myself and Mr. Bailey were not in evidence 



