May, 1907.] THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 1 1 



Utility is it as a colour protection ? Are these spotted eggs laid 

 only by old birds ? The burrows that were frequented by the 

 young were free from excreta, which is evidently cleared away 

 nightly by the parent birds. It was noticed that a fair proportion 

 of the Storm-Petrels that had reached the adult stage had de- 

 parted. Mr. Joseph Gabriel informs me that some years ago 

 both the White-faced Storm-Petrels and Mutton-birds did not 

 breed one season ; they were found dying in thousands, their 

 carcasses being washed up along the shore. This mortality was 

 attributed to the scarcity of " whales' food," a species of crustacean 

 found floating on the surface of the sea, and which forms the 

 principal diet of these birds. These birds can be seen in 

 hundreds of thousands at a time feeding upon these Crustacea, 

 and it has been recorded that a vessel steamed for many miles 

 through a flock of Mutton-birds that thickly covered the sea for 

 miles on either side as they fed upon " whales' food." Little 

 Ternlets were observed hovering about with small fish in their 

 beaks, uttering meanwhile angry cries as if we were in close 

 proximity to their young, but search around did not reveal any 

 of their nestlings. The island is the home of thousands of crabs, 

 whilst the shells lining the beach would delight the eye of a 

 conchologist, and the members of this Club visiting Mud Island 

 came to the conclusion that it is undoubtedly a most wonderful 

 place for the study of bird life, and yet so close to the great 

 metropolis. 



During my visits I was enabled to add twelve species to the 

 list of birds recorded by Mr. S. P. Townsend in his paper 

 descriptive of a trip to Mud Island, which appeared - in the 

 Victorian Naturalist for April, 1903 (vol. xix., p. 166), viz. : — 



Silver-eye ... ... Zosterops coerulescens 



Pectoral Rail ... ... Hypolaenidia philippinensis 



House-Swallow ... Hirundo neoxena 



Australian Swift ... Micropus pacificus 



Spur-winged Plover ... Lobivanellus lobatus 



White-capped Albatross ... Thalassogeron cautus 



Gannet ... ... Sula serrator 



Black Duck ... ... Anas superciliosa 



Teal ... ... ... Nettion castaneum 



Tippet Grebe ... ... Podiceps cristatus 



Little Penguin ... .. Eudyptula minor 



Starling (introduced) ... Sturnus vulgaris. 



I am informed that the Delicate Owl, Strix delicatula, has also 

 been seen on the island, which makes a total of 40 species of 

 indigenous birds recorded for Mud Island. 



For the following notes on the vegetation of the island I am 

 indebted to Mr. A. G. Campbell, who made a brief visit to the 



