2<4 Hull, Nest and Egg of CEstrelata leiicopieva. [ 2i^"jan 



the Brisbane Museum, and several other friends, I left Sydney 

 on the 15th October last, and reached Nelson's Bay, at the 

 entrance to Port Stephens, at daylight on the i6th. Here a 

 launch was in readiness, and by 9 o'clock we had covered the 12 

 miles of ocean and reached Broughton Island. A short walk 

 brought us to a sandy hillock with a north-easterly aspect, and 

 here we soon discovered the small burrows of a Petrel, which on 

 investigation proved to be those of Pelagodroma viarina. Many 

 ,burrows contained birds sitting on perfectly fresh eggs ; a few 

 eggs were about half incubated, while other burrows contained a 

 bird but no Q.g%. None of the eggs taken was spotted with 

 reddish, as was the case with a fair proportion of the eggs taken 

 the previous year off WoUongong. There were many hundreds 

 of burrows, and in the accompanying photograph no less than 

 five entrances to burrows can be detected. Numerous fragments 

 or skeletons of dead Petrels were lying about, and we were 

 informed by the launch proprietor that some domestic cats 

 which had been liberated on the island were responsible for 

 much slaughter of these innocents, I am inclined to think that 

 several Harriers I saw hovering about the locality were the real 

 offenders, the remains having the appearance of being picked 

 rather than chewed. Some Greek fishermen who reside on the 

 island, on being questioned as to birds breeding there, said that 

 a large Mutton-Bird with a white breast was to be found on the 

 western end of the island. A long journey to the spot, how- 

 ever, revealed only a number of burrows, some of which were 

 inhabited by Puffinus spJienunis^ engaged in cleaning out their 

 habitations for the following month's operations. 



After lunch we returned to the entrance to Port Stephens, 

 where Cabbage Tree, Boondelbah (or Big), and Little Islands 

 form a triangle. Landing on the first-named, we immediately 

 discovered a number of Penguins {Endyptula minor) occupying 

 shallow burrows or ensconced in crevices under the rocks on the 

 shore. These birds were sitting on fresh or partly incubated 

 eggs, or had one or two young ones in varying stages of growth. 

 This was an interesting discovery, and constituted another 

 " farthest north " record of a breeding-place of this species, my 

 previous record being off WoUongong (Tom Thumb Island), 

 140 miles south of Port Stephens (October, 1909). Above, 

 and closely approaching the Penguins' zone, were numerous 

 burrows of Puffimis sphenunis, some of which were inhabited by 

 the birds, but no eggs had been laid. 



The western or shoreward side of Cabbage Tree Island is 

 densely covered with vegetation, consisting chiefly of the cab- 

 bage palm {Livistona australis), with a few large native plum 

 {Sideroxylon australe) trees, and vines innumerable,forming a very 

 tangled growth, through which it was difficult to force a way. 

 After struggling through a belt of tangled scrub. Dr. Harris and 



