THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXIV, 



footed, and narrowly escaped treading on a Stingray. These fish 

 have a penchant for frequenting shallow water, and the sting of 

 their whip-like tail is both dangerous and painful. Arriving at 

 the petrelry or rookery, burrows apparently made by rats were 

 seen right in the sand dune at the water's edge. Into the first 

 one I introduced my hand, and having pushed my arm up about 

 1 8 inches I suddenly felt something wriggling. ]NIy first 

 inclination was to withdraw my arm in response to the stimula- 

 tion of the thought that it was a venomous reptile, but I was 

 aware that no snakes inhabit the island, although a small species 

 of lizard is found there, so, reassured, I seized the soft, wriggling 

 object, and carefully pulled it out of its burrow. It was a very 

 young White-faced Storm-Petrel, resembling a ball of slaty-grey 

 fluffy down, out of which peeped a pair of little beady black eyes, 

 from just behind a slender black beak, surmounted by the tube 

 nostrils peculiar to the petrel family. 



Replacing the tender little creature back in its burrow, 

 several more burrows were investigated, when I found young 

 birds in all stages of development. Some with white feathers 

 appearing on the abdomen; as yet they were still little fluffy balls 

 of down above, like unto the first young one found. Then the 

 next stage of growth was the development of white feathers on 

 the face, in addition to those on the abdomen, with the outer 

 wing feathers or primaries developing strongly, as also the tail 

 feathers, whilst the down was still adherent to the back, flanks, 

 and top of head. Then a further development again was seen in 

 the more mature bird, whose body was not so fat and soft, the 

 muscular tissue being more pronounced. This bird had all its 

 feathers fairly well developed and with but slight traces of down 

 showing in single threads through parts of its feathers. It had, 

 I afterwards ascertained, been deserted by its parents, and left to 

 its own devices. Such birds, after a time — roughly speaking, about 

 a week — gradually lose all their down, while their wing feathers, 

 especially the primaries, elongate until they are able to get enough 

 leverage to fly. Each night the bird, which is left to starve by its 

 parents, takes to roaming about the rookery, prompted by the 

 pangs of hunger. It does not die, since it assimilates its heavy 

 lining of fat, accumulated during its inactive and indolent life in 

 the younger state in the burrow, where it is fed by its parents 

 nightly with about two teaspoonfuls of an oily, fishy paste. The 

 starveling, owing to its nightly meanderings around the rookery, 

 gains confidence, and also muscular development both in the 

 wings and legs, since many of them can be observed at night 

 time running and flapping about in the scrub and mesembrian- 

 themum growing about the rookery. After about a week of this 

 life, having gradually acquired sufficient strength and experience, 

 they undertake a nightly flight with the adult birds, who, no 



