THK VlOTOKlAJS NATURALIST. 171 



You will remember in our trip to Wollomai I gave you the date 

 of arrivals of the birds in spring. Now we may come to the history 

 of the egg and the final departure of the birds, both young and old, 

 in autumn. After the pure white egg is deposited by the female, 

 she goes to sea for a week to recruit and grow fat and saucy, 

 while her lord takes his domestic turn and sits steadfastly on the 

 egg. He goes out the following week, and they proceed, turn and 

 turn about, for eight weeks, till the precious chick is hatched. 

 The young are fed in the burrows for about three months, till 

 about the middle of April. Just fancy what a strange existence 

 for the happy, or unhappy, chick, to be reared in a sandy burrow 

 for three long months, and to be alone every day from dawn till 

 dark ! The young are curious-looking objects, clothed in long, 

 dark down, with black bill and eyes, and feet to match. At a 

 certain stage a young bird will weigh about 3^ lbs., and be 

 heavier than either of its parents, who at this stage desert it and 

 proceed to sea for good. The youngsters will then thrive on 

 their own fatty nature for a week or so ; quills and feathers 

 sprout, and the birds becoming hungry, and having learnt to 

 stretch their own new wings, proceed to follow their parents. 

 Quitting Bass Strait, all will disperse for the winter over the 

 milder waters of the Pacific, some of the birds wandering even 

 up to Japanese waters before returning in crowds to Phillip 

 Island again the following nesting season. How marvellous, 

 without chart or compass to roam the western Pacific from north 

 to south, and without calendar to return to land again almost 

 to a day to lay ! 



From the rises near our camp you may see in the distance, 

 looking westward, what is locally known as the Pyramid — a 

 pinnacle of rock rising from an outlying reef. To reach the 

 spot you have to take the road, which runs out from the back of 

 Cowes, for about six miles. Close by, on Red Cliff, about 

 150 ft. above the sea, is a rookery, formerly about two acres in 

 extent, but which has somewhat sunk in size by over-raiding by 

 egging parties. The authorities have wisely prohibited egging 

 here for the next few years. 



I will now conclude with the third and last group of pictures. 

 Up betimes in the morning, we head away westerly towards the 

 Nobbies, which are 12 miles distant from Cowes. The shire 

 council is to be commended for the good roads it has constructed 

 to all the more interesting parts of the island. On the way we 

 pass a native garden of grass-trees ; the flowers, nectar laden, 

 were attracting numbers of insects — a paradise for the ento- 

 mologist. Bowling merrily along, we perceive the native timber 

 — nowhere tall — thins out, giving place to open, undulatory rises 

 of coarsely grassed land, while the hollows hold tea-tree tracts, 

 and an occasional swamp or lagoon. The only cultivations 



