Vol. X. 

 igio 



1 Iredale, Bird Life on the Kermadec Islands. II 



especially noted as certainly identified. In 1887 Cheeseman 

 also saw the same birds on the sea around Sunday Island, and 

 surmised that the Albatross bred on the outlying islets. The 

 latitude to a great extent precludes the possibility, and very 

 rarely are Albatrosses seen in Sunday Island waters. Nothing 

 was seen to support any such idea, and the only record I have is 

 that of a Wandering Albatross {Diomedea exulans) which had 

 been washed up previous to our arrival, but whose remains still 

 persisted on the Denham Bay beach. The Cape Pigeon, with 

 its characteristic colouration, was not noted near Sunday Island, 

 neither did I see it on the outward or homeward trip. 



The White-faced Storm-Petrel {Pelagodroma marina) has 

 been recorded as breeding upon the group, but we did not find 

 its nesting place. I met with two specimens washed up in 

 October, and one, being perfectly fresh, was dissected, and proved 

 to be a female, in which the eggs were of large size. It is 

 therefore extremely probable that it does breed on some of the 

 outlying islets. 



Two species of Puffinus commonly bred, one on both Sunday 

 and Meyer Islands, the other on Meyer Island alone. The 

 former bird was the Wedge-tailed Petrel {P. chlororJiynchus). 

 It was recorded by Cheeseman as carneipes, Gould, at the same 

 time as he noted cJdororJiyncJms from one young specimen. 

 From specimens sent to him by Cheeseman, Hutton, in 1891, 

 showed that only cldororJiyncJius occurred. Hutton, however, 

 recorded tenuirostris, Temm., from one skin received. This 

 latter I believe to have been a bird washed up during the 

 winter months. I did not see any bird which could have been 

 that species, but still it could have been easily overlooked had it 

 bred among the large colonies of chlorojdiyncJms that existed. 

 P. cJdororJiynchus arrives at the island about the middle of 

 October, the earliest bird I observed being handled on the i8th. 

 They frequent the north and east coasts in immense numbers, 

 fewer colonies existing on the south coast, whilst very i^v^ birds 

 bred in the West Bay, though on the north-west promontory they 

 were very numerous. They were altogether absent from the 

 crater. Hard-set eggs were noted on the 4th January, and the 

 young were generally flying about the middle of May. About 

 nightfall they come in from the sea, usually silently. After dark 

 they fly overhead for a short time, calling to one another in a 

 most mournful tone. This call suggests the idea of much 

 misery, and is very weird. The bird's chief characteristic, as 

 noted by myself, was its extreme quarrelsomeness. Its pugnacity 

 was featured by extraordinary vindictiveness, and, moreover, it 

 seemed ever ready for a fight. Its quarrels commenced with a 

 question asked in a low tone ; the answer came in the same 

 one ; then its voice was raised each time until it ended in a high 

 shriek, and then the snarling and biting commenced. As a 



