THE BLACK PETREL 255 



except its bill, which was bluish white in the middle and a dirty 

 horn yellow at the base. The female lays only one egg at a 

 time. There was an egg in the nest we had discovered, and a 

 chick, which had just thrust its head through the shell, was 

 chirping plaintivel.y. The egg was placed in the nest again, and 

 the struggling bird was set upon it, evidentlj^ to her great satis- 

 faction. 



As far as is known, these birds are not found out of New 

 Zealand seas. They seem to be more numerous in Hauraki Gulf, 

 Auckland, than in any other part, and they have not been 

 recorded from Canterbury. Large numbers resort to the Little 

 Barrier, and to other islands close by, where they breed. When 

 Mr. Eeischek visited the Little Barrier in 1882, he saw several 

 black petrels. One of the nests he inspected was evidently in the 

 same place as the nest I saw, 25 years later. He states that when 

 the birds are not breeding, two of them are often found associated 

 in one hole, but when the nest contains an egg, the female alone 

 is left in charge. In November, he has seen the old birds working 

 together clearing out the hole they had selected and adapting it 

 to their requirements, and afterwards collecting dry leaves and 

 pieces of moss to place in the chamber, or depression at the end of 

 the burrow. The late Mr. T. Kirk has found black petrels on 

 several islands in the Hauraki Gulf. He says that they are 

 always tame, and that they allow themselves to be seized in their 

 burrows without resistance. Mr. Reischek, however, states that 

 he has always found them to be exceedingly fierce, and that is the 

 impression I received from my acquaintance with these birds. 



]\Ir. Reischek states that he has seen them performing feats 

 of expert climbers. With their sharp claws, bills, and wings, they 

 climb trees out of the perpendicular, from which they fly away. 



In former years, before the island had been declared a sanc- 

 tuary, Maoris visited it to collect these birds in April and May, 

 for food supplies. All that kind of thing, however, has been put 

 a stop to as far as the Little Barrier is concerned, and no 

 "mutton birding" is carried on there now on any pretence 

 whatever.* 



* From a paper on "The Little Barrier Island," by J. Drummond, read before the 

 Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, October '2nd, 1907. 



