8 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE MUTTON BIRDS, ETC. 



nothing gained by the taking of the eggs, whereas the 

 number of birds is materially lessened. Formerly they were 

 eaten in large numbers. Mr. Davies states that an officer of 

 the old settlement on Flinders saw a woman eat 52 eggs in 

 one day. As they are as large as ducks' eggs that was a 

 first-rate performance. 



(c.) That a fixed day should be gazetted before which 

 no one should be allowed to touch a bird. Persons differ 

 whether it should be March 15 or any date up to 

 March 20. There is great need for such an order. Families 

 on Chappell Island have no recognised spaces on the rookery. 

 They begin upon the same day, each near his own hut, and 

 work outwards and upwards as they please. If one man 

 begins too early the others are compelled to work in self- 

 defence. There* is no need to fix the close of the season. 

 The birds arrange that by flying clean away about the middle 

 of May, and not returning till September. 



(d.) No fatting should be permitted. Fatting means 

 taking the immature bird before it is ready for saltiug, and 

 boiling it down for the oil. As 200 birds make about a 

 gallon or so of oil, which brings 3s., and as those 200 birds a 

 week or two later would sell when salted for «£1, the un- 

 wisdom of the former operation is obvious. 



(e.) No cattle or sheep should be permitted on these 

 islands. Big Dog Island may be an exception, but there is 

 no question the other little islands should be protected. T 

 know how many in this colony are enrolling children in 

 Bands of Mercy in order to teach them to be gentle and kind 

 to all animals. I have heard of a " Dicky Bird Society," 

 which exists for similar purposes. I invoke the aid of all 

 such in the cause of the gentle and inoffensive " yolla " — 

 that is the native name for the sooty petrel or mutton bird. 

 I invoke the aid also of all who have been fascinated by the 

 exquisitely graceful flight of these birds as they soar and 

 wheel round the passenger steamers that ply round our 

 coasts. The mode of killing them for the industry is 

 painless ; one twist of the neck and they are dead. A single 

 pressure on a gland in the stomach after death and the oil 

 escapes at the mouth and is caught in a vessel. This is 

 legitimate, and not barbarous, for we must kill in order to 

 eat. But it shocks all our finer feelings to think of cattle 

 trampling upon hundreds of young birds, which die and rot 

 uselessly in their holes. 



(/.) An order should be issued against fires, except between 

 May and September. It is, of course, difficult, but not 

 impossible, to get the grass to burn in winter. At any 

 other season it means ruin to the industry and death to the 

 petrels. 



