4 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE MUTTON BIRDS, ETC. 



cated by those that crowded after them. I am thankful to 

 say this custom does not obtain at the present time. On 

 every occasion when I could take the opportunity I used to 

 take up my position upon the rookery to watch for that won- 

 derful silent rush of birds after dusk. It never ceased to 

 charm as well as to astonish. 



I will proceed now to give you some statistics regarding 

 the numbers of these birds, based on personal enquiries from 

 those who live by this industry. On Chappell Island on 

 Sunday morning, March 8, after morning service, I collected 

 all the heads of families of the half-castes, and extracted the 

 information I am about to put before you. But first to 

 prepare you for some astonishing figures, I quote what has 

 been said already on this question. Mr. Davies writes that 

 so great were the numbers of the birds returning to Green 

 Island that " night is ushered in a good ten minutes before 

 the usual time." And again — " I have actually sailed 

 through them from Flinders Island to the Heads of the 

 Tamar, a distance of 80 miles." And Flinders calculates that 

 he passed through a flock which must have been 40 

 miles long. We have fallen upon degenerate days. 

 There are whole islands absolutely deserted now which 

 formerly swarmed with these interesting and lovely 

 creatures. Witness Gun Carriage, or Vansittart Island, as 

 it is called. Not a single petrel ever breeds there now, 

 because of the culpable negligence and cruel thoughtlessness 

 of settlers in old days. They put cattle on the island, and I 

 confess that my indignation rises when I think of the slow 

 agonies endured by thousands of these defenceless young 

 birds crushed to death in their holes under the heavy tread 

 of bullocks. I stand amazed both at the cruelty of such 

 conduct, and at the want of foresight among the farmers. 

 For when once the cattle are regularly placed on one of 

 these islands the birds desert it in a body ; and there is no 

 expedient by which they can be attracted back again. So 

 far as it is known they depart never to return. When it is 

 borne in mind that a man and his family can earn about <£4 

 10s. a day for nine weeks in an industry on which he 

 actually spends nothing, which only needs that it should be 

 left severely alone until the moment for catching the birds 

 has come, you will wonder how anyone can be so infatuated 

 as to turn, say, some 20 head of cattle on an island which 

 might otherwise produce 100,000 birds annually, to be sold 

 at an average of 10s. a hundred. This infatuation has not 

 ceased. The islands, some of them, are being ruined at this 

 moment, and I earnestly trust that my voice, together with 

 that of others, will succeed in saving a wonderful industry 

 before it goes the way that the sealing industry has nearly 

 gone, through sheer neglect of the dictates of common sense. 



