Vol. X. 

 iqii 



] Hull, Nesl and Egg of CEslrelaia leucopteva. 257 



this point proved difficult, but was successfully accomplished, 

 and in the shades of the palms many more sitting birds were 

 found. I may here remark that in the first gully Mr. Austin 

 took two perfectly fresh eggs from a nest, but no bird was sitting 

 on them, and I assume that their occurrence together was 

 accidental. Many broken eggs or shells with large ragged 

 holes in them were found. The launch man who accompanied 

 us attributed these broken eggs to snakes, but as we saw no 

 sign of any reptile other than a very small lizard, I am inclined 

 to charge the bush-rats with the robberies, as their nests were to 

 be seen amongst the vines, and the ragged holes in the eggs 

 bore the appearance of having been nibbled out. Occasional 

 dead birds were seen, but these probably were killed by becoming 

 entangled in the vines. In this connection I may mention that 

 we found a Penguin at the entrance to its burrow amongst the 

 tussocks, with one leg securely held by tangled grass, which had 

 become wound round it. A soft-shelled egg was lying under- 

 neath the bird, which was alive but very thin. We released her, 

 to her apparent satisfaction. 



Leaving Cabbage Tree Island about lo a.m., we proceeded to 

 Broughton Island, and landed in Esmeralda Cove, a beautiful 

 sheltered bay behind a huge sugarloaf rock, on which some 

 Cormorants {P/mlacrocorax carbo) were apparently nesting in 

 an inaccessible place. After lunch and a bathe, we inspected the 

 Storm-Petrels' burrows, and found several tenanted by young 

 birds in down, and a few with adult birds sitting on nearly 

 hatched eggs. Beyond a few Harriers and one White-bellied 

 Sea-Eagle, we saw nothing more of interest on this island. 



On the return journey we noticed a number of" Shearwaters" 

 (a much more suitable name than " Mutton-Birds ") of the 

 P. splienurus species, and amongst them were a few more robust 

 birds with whitish or yellowish bills. These may prove to be 

 P. carneipes (Gould), but further search is necessary to ascertain 

 whether they breed in the vicinity. I took a male bird of 

 another species on Cabbage Tree Island, but have not yet 

 established its identity. 



On the 6th December we went up Port Stephens to a small 

 island, also called Cabbage Tree, about 12 miles from the 

 entrance to the port. Here we were fortunate enough to find 

 an extensive Nankeen Night-Heronry, some hundreds of nests 

 being lodged in the branches of the large ironwood trees 

 {Sideroxyloii mistrale) or native plum. These nests for the 

 most part contained one or two young birds in varying stages 

 of growth, from the just hatched to full-fledged birds able to 

 fly. A fair number of nests contained eggs, chiefly clutches of 

 two or three, but two were found containing four eggs each. As 

 the two and three sets were mostly partially incubated, it may 

 be considered that they formed the full intended clutch in each 



