8 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXIV. 



waded across the lagoon to the hut to obtain something to cat, 

 for which I was quite ready, having had nothing to eat since the 

 previous noon. All attempts to light a fire, however, failed, 

 owing to the gale scattering the embers in all directions, so 1 

 had to be content with a cold snack. Rolling myself in my 

 blanket, I had a rest for a couple of hours, and then once more 

 proceeded to the rookery to watch for any further developments 

 in the habits of the birds, but, except for an occasional sight of 

 an adult bird leaving the rookery, nothing unusual happened. 



At daylight I examined the rookery on the smaller island, and 

 found that it was about eight acres in extent, and was situated in 

 the south-west corner. After photographing the adult White- 

 faced Storm-Petrels in different characteristic poses, I determined 

 to try and ascertain the extent of the rookeries, and found 

 another in the north-east corner of the main island. This, I 

 noticed, had almost been destroyed by guano-getters, who had 

 carted away at least three-fourths of the rookery for manure, 

 until, at the instance of this Club, the Government some little 

 time ago proclaimed it a reserve. The portion of the rookery 

 now remaining covers about two or three acres. Thus the total 

 acreage of the rookeries is not more than ten or eleven acres at 

 the outside. Allowing one tenanted burrow to a square yard, 

 the number of birds nesting on Mud Island works out therefore 

 at 48,000, which, perhaps, may be slightly over-estimated. 



Walking around the island I noticed that it was very much 

 like the coral atolls of the South Seas, with their placid interior 

 lagoons. It is three miles in circumference, and is composed of 

 sand, shell, and mud, which covers a conglomerate of shells and 

 sand of the texture of limestone. The surface of the sand dunes 

 are freely covered with Samphire, Salicornia australis, Currant 

 Bush, iStyjjhelia richei, Pig-face Weed, Mesembrianthemum 

 cequilaterale, Native Spinach, Tetragona expansa, Cushion Bush, 

 CaloceijJudus brownii, several salt-bushes, and a few stunted 

 acacias, Acacia longifolia, whilst growing in the swampy parts 

 was a long, coarse grass. 



In one of the sand dunes I found portions of the skeletons 

 of an animal which 1 thought at first sight might have belonged 

 to some extinct island form, but closer examination proved them 

 to be the remains of sheep that had been slaughtered by the 

 guano-getters for food. Unfortunately the guano-getters have 

 left a pest behind — a pest which if not checked may in time 

 exterminate the Petrels. I refer to the rat, and evidences of the 

 destructive work of either rats or Gould's Harrier, Circtis gouldi, 

 were observed, for portions of freshly killed Petrels were noticed 

 in several places. 



The land birds found on the island include the Domestic 

 Sparrow, whose nest was found in nearly every acacia tree, 



