NATATOIIES. 461 



attempt to describe it. On the morning of the 25th the 

 male birds take their departure, returning again in the even- 

 ing, and so they continue to do until the end of the season. 

 . . . Every burrow on the island contains, according 

 to its size, from one to three or four birds, and as many 

 eggs ; 07ie is the general rule. At least three-fourths of the 

 birds lay under the bushes, and the eggs are so numerous, 

 that great care must be taken to avoid treading upon them. 

 The natives from blinders generally live for some days on 

 Green Island at this time of the year for the purpose of col- 

 lecting the eggs, and again in March or April for curing the 

 young birds Besides Green Island, the princi- 

 pal rookeries of these birds are situated between Flinder's 

 'Island and Cape Barren, and most of the smaller islands in 

 Furneaux's group. The eggs and cured birds form a great 

 portion of the food of sealers, and, together with the fea- 

 thers, constitute the principal articles of their traffic. The 

 mode by which the feathers are obtained has been described 

 to me as follows : — 



" The birds cannot rise from the ground, but must first go 

 into the water ; in effecting which, they make numerous tracks 

 to the beach similar to those of a kangaroo ; these are stopped 

 before morning, with the exception of one leading over a shelv- 

 ing bank, at the bottom of which is dug a pit in the sand ; the 

 birds, finding all avenues closed but this, follow each other in 

 such numbers, that, as they fall into the pit, they are imme- 

 diately smothered by those succeeding them. It takes the 

 feathers of forty birds to weigh a pound ; consequently six- 

 teen hundred must be sacrificed to make a feather-bed of 

 forty pounds weight. Notwithstanding the enormous annual 

 destruction of these birds, I did not, during the five years that 

 I was in the habit of visiting the Straits, perceive any sensi- 

 ble diminution in their number. The young birds leave the 

 rookeries about the latter end of April, and form one scattered 

 flock in Bass's Straits. I have actually sailed through them 



