SEA BIRDS' HAUNTS 



77 



Mud Island, in Port Phillip Bay, is famed among 

 Australian naturalists as a breeding haunt of the 

 White-faced Storm-Petrel [Pelagodroma marina]. I 

 have camped on the island several times, and spent 

 nights on the rookeries. The main rookery is at the 

 south-east end of the island, among Blue-bush scrub. 



WHITE - CAPPED ALBATROSS. 



and there are many thousands of burrows. The soil 

 is loose, and it is easy to destroy a burrow by a care- 

 less step. To reach this rookery, one must wade 

 across a shallow lagoon. 



One moonlight night I saw the Petrels come in 

 from the sea. First two or three arrived, then a 

 score, and presently the air was full of dusky forms, 

 which moved swiftly but silently as moths. All day 



