Vol. X. 

 igii 



1 Hull, Nest and Egg of White-winged Petrel. 253 



October, iqio ; singly, for the most part concealed under the fallen 

 fronds of the cabbage palm. On the 2nd November there were 

 more birds, nearly all in pairs, and many were in crevices amongst 

 the rocks ; they were evidently mating. On 4th December large 

 numbers of bird^ were found sitting, each on one eg^, and all nests 

 were more or less in the open — e.g., there was no semblance of a 

 burrow, such as is constructed by its nearest ally, (E. cooki, Gray. 

 In some instances several nests were found in close proximity under 

 large masses of dead fronds, and deep in natural crevices amongst 

 the stones, but there was no evidence of any scratching out of soil 

 to form the nesting-place. 



The eggs vary greatly in dimensions and shape ; the major axis 

 varies from 1.76 to 2.12, and the minor axis from 1.36 to 1.54, the 

 average dimensions of 31 measured specimens being 1.96 x 1.46 

 inches. 



Further Remarks on the Finding of the Nest and 



Egg of CEstrelata leucoptera. 



By a. F. Basset Hull, R.A.O.U., Sydney. 



In his " Handbook to the Birds of Australia," p. 454, John 

 Gould, in dealing with his CEstrelata leucoptera, or White-winged 

 Petrel, expressed the opinion that his bird was different from the 

 CE. {Procellaria) cooki of G. R. Gray. His specimen was 

 obtained while breeding on Cabbage Tree Island, at the mouth 

 of Port Stephens, and he was informed that the bird bred there 

 in abundance. He added : — " The Australian seas abound with 

 Petrels, the investigation of the various species of which, their 

 habits and economy, as well as their places of abode, will serve 

 to occupy the attention of ornithologists for years to come." 



On the 30th December, 1906, my friend Mr. R. N. Cadden, 

 who was on the staff of the Danysz Rabbit Inoculation Station 

 at Broughton Island, writing to me with reference to Petrels' 

 eggs, said : — " It is too late to procure good Mutton-Birds' or 

 Storm Petrels eggs now." 



At the time I was not aware that any Petrel other than the 

 Mutton-Bird {Puffimis sphemirus) was known to breed so far 

 north, but I stored up the remark for future investigation. My 

 discovery of Pelagodroma inarma breeding on an islet off 

 Wollongong in 1909 revived my interest in the matter, and I 

 decided to make an expedition to the islands in the vicinity of 

 Port Stephens this season, in order to determine, first, what 

 species of Storm-Petrel bred on Broughton Island, and, second, 

 whether Gould's White-winged Petrel still frequented the type 

 locality of the species. 



Accompanied by Mr. C. Hedley, F.L.S., Assistant Curator of 

 the Australian Museum, Dr. Hamlyn Harris, F.Z.S., Director of 



