510 Mr. C. F. Cole on a 



birds, wliicli be^an to make their appearance at dusk. The 

 birds^ circling high over that part of the rookery where 

 their chosen burrow was situated^ gradually reduced their 

 height, and, skimraing over and around the rookery, 

 uttering their short purring notes, suddenly alighted close 

 to the opening of the burrow, which they immediately 

 entered. 



If interfered with, or if an attempt was made with the 

 hands to prevent them entering, they would inflict nasty 

 skin-wounds with the sharp curved unguicorn at the tip of 

 the upper mandible. 



Temporary darkness setting in before the rising of the 

 moon, the swish of wings, the purring notes, the flajjping of 

 wings upon the ground, and the scrambling of the birds to 

 enter the burrows were the predominating sounds. The 

 moon eventually made its appearance above the crest of the 

 roolcery peak and exposed to view thousands of these birds, 

 which, as they kept crossing and recrossing the moon^s disc, 

 made an impressive sight. 



Although the eve of November 2-1 is the usual date for 

 the great incoming flight of these birds to deposit their 

 eggs, thousands must have been laid in the burrows of the 

 Babel Island rookery during the night of November 23. 



Securing and examining many of the birds before they 

 entered the burrows, I found them to be in every case the 

 female bird, each carrying the egg well down in the oviduct. 

 Inserting the tip of one of my fingers slightly into the cloaca 

 I could distinctly feel the hard shell of the egg. Returning 

 to camp with four female birds, each carrying an egg well 

 down in the oviduct, I placed them in a deep barrel used 

 by the bird-hunters for salting purposes, the depth of the 

 barrel preventing their escape. Being aw^akened next 

 morning at daybreak by the cry of numerous Mutton 

 Birds, I hastily arose, to find thousands of them departing 

 from the rookery. 



On visiting the rookery after breakfast I found that a 

 large percentage of the burrows examined contained an egg, 

 aud each was occupied by a male bird. Mentioning this 



