2IO Gabriel, Notes on the Mutton-hirds of Bass Strait. [^'Mardf' 



of the rookery is that it is a remarkable sight. The Mutton-birds of 

 Bass Strait, hke the Gannets of Cat Island, are famous among natu- 

 ralists in all parts of the world. The question of Cape Woolamai and its 

 bird inhabitants will be considered by the Bird Observers' C\uh.—Htra/d, 

 29th November, 191 1. 



For purpose of reply, these can be taken together. On 24th 

 November last, accompanied by Mr. A. J. North, of Sydney, 

 I paid a visit to Mm-ray's Rookery, where the first thing we 

 found was a dying bird. Indignantly, we at once made in- 

 quiries, without satisfactory results. Two eggers, Messrs. W. 

 Walton and G. Lock, were at work, and, knowing these men 

 were incapable of such destruction, it remained a puzzle to 

 us for the time. The bird had not been ripped open for its 

 egg, but had a longitudinal tear along its neck. We collected 

 three eggs that day. At night we saw the birds coming in, 

 but they were principally the male birds, to do the final 

 cleaning-out of the burrows. The birds, as in iqio. were two 

 days late. 



On the following Tuesday I was grieved to read the Age 

 report about the alleged cruelty to the birds. I was up in 

 arms at once, and made it my business to make every inquiry, 

 with the following result : — Mr. M'Phee and party, five in all, 

 who were on Cape Woolamai, saw no cruelty. Mr. W. Walton 

 and party, three in all, indignantly commenting upon the 

 report, said that in the rookery which they were working they 

 saw nothing to object to. Mr. Walton says •— ^" A man is a 

 fool to cut open a bird for its egg. being loss of time. He could 

 gather three or four other eggs while doing it ; besides, if you 

 put the bird back in the hole you get an egg next day." The 

 police constables from San Remo and Cowes were on the 

 rookeries, but in plain clothes and with crooks, so as to allay 

 suspicion. I met the Cowes man going home, and spoke to 

 him afterwards. He said he saw no cruelty. Mr. M'Phee tells 

 me that several others were on the watch at Cape Woolamai, 

 but who they were he did not know. 



That there are dead birds lying about the rookeries I do not 

 deny ; but there are also barbed-wire fences. To these. I feel 

 sure, can be attributed the death and mutilation of a very large 

 number of the birds thus found. My friend, Mr. J. Walton, 

 told me that " he was on the Cape Rookery at night, gathering 

 stray eggs with the aid of a lantern, and that this year the birds 

 were thicker than ever ; they were running about his feet like 

 rats, and were constantly flying against himself and lantern. 

 When daylight appeared he found seven birds impaled on the 

 barbed-wire." This remark did away with our mystery of 

 Murray's Rookery. 



Again, on Burton's Beach, while in company with Mr. A. J. 

 North and a resident friend, we picked up two dead birds, 



