Vol. XXVIII. 

 igi2 



1 Gabriel, Notes on the Mutton-birds of Bass Strait. 207 



hundred million birds. If, however, we work out his calculated 

 measurements, we find his estimate too low, and that it will 

 bear the addition of an extra thirty-two million birds ! So he 

 was well within the mark. Secondly, we have the fact of the 

 inhabitants of the Furneaux Group of islands, at the eastern 

 end of the Strait, annually killing no less than 800,000 of these 

 birds for food and sale, this harvest being practically their 

 principal means of livelihood. Then, again, the islands of the 

 Hunter Group, though in a lesser degree, yearly supply a 

 large number of young birds for food. And, lastly, the 

 rookeries on Phillip Island provide a large number of eggs and 

 birds — fortunately not many of the latter — to the residents and 

 fishermen of Western Port. 



, Now, I have repeatedly been asked the question — With all 

 this drain, are the birds getting less ? After an experience and 

 close observation of nearly thirty years, I must emphatically 

 say — " No." And my reasons for saying so are, shortly, as 

 follows : — 



The residents of the Furneaux Group gather annually no 

 less than 200,000 birds from Humpy or Chappel Island alone. 

 They gather very few eggs there, iDut take some of the old 

 birds during the egging time instead ; yet, in spite of this 

 seemingly suicidal policy, every year the birds appear as 

 numerous as ever. The same can be said of the Hunter Group, 

 where there are several rookeries. When representatives of 

 our Club visited the Kent Group in November, 1890, we landed 

 on North-East Island on the 23rd of that month, and found 

 all the available nesting sites occupied by these birds. They 

 were so thickly placed that when in one instance I lifted up 

 a bush I found three birds on eggs within a space of less than 

 a square yard. And yet on 25th November, only two days 

 after, three fishermen — Mr. Carstairs and his two sons — landed 

 on that little island and gathered no less than ninety-three 

 dozen eggs. These eggs Mr. Carstairs assured me were found 

 on the surface of the ground, and were, of course, deserted. 

 They had no need to molest the birds in the burrows or under 

 the bushes in any way ; and in all probability many more eggs 

 might have been found for several days after. 



Now, it stands to reason that the natural instinct of these 

 excess-laying birds would lead them to hunt for fresh grounds. 

 North-East Island is very small, and has but a limited space 

 suitable for these birds. At the most one thousand birds 

 would more than crowd the available ground ; yet we find that 

 over eleven hundred have had to part with their eggs on 

 account of being unable to find nesting-places. 



Let us come nearer home, to the Phillip Island rookeries. 

 Year after year, for over thirty years, to my knowledge, the 



