462 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



from Flinder's Island to the heads of the Tamar, a distance of 

 eighty miles. They shortly afterwards separate into dense 

 flocks, and finally leave the coast. The old birds are very 

 oily, but the young are literally one mass of fat, which has a 

 tallowy appearance, and hence I presume the name of Mutton 

 Bird." To this I may add that the young birds are very 

 good when fresh, and the old birds after being skinned and 

 preserved in lime are excellent eating. 



It will be seen that I have alluded in forcible terms to the 

 great abundance of this species, in confirmation of which I 

 annex the following extract from Flinder's Voyage, vol. i. 

 p. 170:— 



** A large flock of Gannets was observed at daylight, and 

 they were followed by such a number of the Sooty Petrels as 

 we had never seen equalled. There was a stream of from 

 fifty to eighty yards in depth, and of three hundred yards or 

 more in breadth ; the birds were not scattered, but were 

 flying as compactly as a free movement of their wings seemed 

 to allow ; and during a full hour and a half this stream of 

 Petrels continued to pass without interruption, at a rate little 

 inferior to the swiftness of the Pigeon. On the lowest 

 computation I think the number could not have been less than 

 a hundred millions. Taking the stream to have been fifty 

 yards deep by three hundred in width, and that it moved at 

 the rate of thirty miles an hour, and allowing nine cubic yards 

 of space to each bird, the number would amount to 151, 50 0,000. 

 The burrows required to lodge this quantity of birds would 

 be 75,750,000 ; and allowing a square yard to each burrow, 

 they would cover something more than 18^ geographic square 

 miles of ground." 



The following highly interesting note respecting this species 

 is from the personal observation of R. Elwes, Esq., of Norfolk, 

 and is here transcribed in confirmation of the statements 

 given above, and to show that even so recently as 1859 the 

 bird appeared to be as numerous as ever : — J 



