250 



THE ANIMALS OF NEW ZEALAND 



evening- of November 2-lth, they flew in from the sea in large 

 flocks. An incident related by Captain Waller, of the Westralia, 

 illustrates the gregariousness of these birds. He reports that on 

 one occasion, while on the passage from New Zealand to 

 Australia, he steamed for thirty miles through flights of mutton 

 lairds, which extended for three or four miles on each side of 

 the vessel. Occasionally they settled on the water to feed, and 

 then they covered the surface, and looked like a reef of black 

 rocks. They were on their way to the Victorian coast, to find a 

 nesting-place in their rookeries. The nests are made in the soft 

 •earth. 



New Zealand Mutton Bird. 



The New Zealand Mutton Bird.— Ol 



Pujjinus grisc us. 



Sooty brown, the under wing-coverts pale grey, each feather with a 

 dark shaft. Bill horn colour; legs and feet brown. Length of the wing, 

 12 in.; of the tarsus, 2.4 in. Egg — 2.65 in. in length. North Atlantic and 

 North Pacific; also the Straits of Magellan, New Zealand, Chatham and 

 Auckland Islands. 



