32 Hull, The Montague Island Gulleyy. [j^^, ™Oci. 



do they visit the north island. In the lirst week of September* 

 they make ready, and on one day all rise high in the air, making a 

 " terrible clatter." They circle round and round for about an hour, 

 and then, as if at a given signal, they dart like lightning down on 

 the north island, and at once set about selecting nesting places and 

 constructing nests. It is a week from the time they alight on the 

 GuUery until the first eggs are laid. Giving a rough estimate, Mr. 

 Bailey considers that about fifteen thousand pairs of Gulls nest on 

 Montague Island each year. After the young birds are taught to 

 fly, and become strong enough to follow their parents, they start 

 ok, always going north, and by the end of January there is not a 

 bird left on the island. From that date until the middle of the 

 following July there is not a Gull to be seen on or about the island. 



Here is room for some interesting speculation. Do the birds fly 

 north and gradually complete circumvolution of the whole con- 

 tinent ? Or do they merely follow the coast line for a certain 

 distance, and then return, keeping to the mainland beaches, and 

 having reached a point south of the island, when the coastal currents 

 begin to run north again, turn round and move north with the 

 current ? The latter seems to me the more feasible solution. 



To return to our observations, this first group we inspected had 

 been visited a few days before by a party from Bermagui, who 

 took a number of eggs for eating. Consequently the nests were in 

 many cases empty, while others contained only one or two eggs. 

 A little farther on, however, we found another group of nests con- 

 taining for the most part three eggs, but quite a large number 

 contained four, and during our stay on the island we found one 

 clutch of five, and four of no less than six eggs. So far as I was 

 able to judge, the larger clutches were from the one bird. The 

 sitting female appeared to resent any attempt at intrusion on the 

 part of any other bird, and the nests, although sometimes rather 

 close together, were mostly deep, and surrounded with quite a 

 framework of interlaced grass. In fact, some of the nests were 

 very elaborate structures, although out on the shingly slopes they 

 were merely deep indentations, with a ridge of pebbles and a few 

 straws or fragments of dry seaweed round the eggs. Again, on the 

 rocky headlands the eggs were deposited in natural hollows in the 

 rocks, but nowhere did I see any so placed that they could roll 

 from one nest to another. 



The Gulls were easily disturbed at first, but soon returned to 

 their nests, and if we remained still for a few minutes they would 

 settle down again on their eggs. The groups or Gulleries are 

 mostly situated close to the edge of the slopes on the landward 



* This year ( 1 90S) Mr. Bailey informed me that the Gulls started earlier. When 

 he " turned in " about 11 p.m. on the 14th August the birds were making an " awful 

 clatter," so he was not surprised on coming out in the morning (i5th) to see the north 

 island "just one white mass." The first eggs, ten single specimens in as many nests, 

 were laid on the 23rd August ; on the 25th a great number of nests contained eggs, 

 but not more than two in any case. On the 30th a few nests contained three eggs, 

 and on the 13th September one nest containing five eggs was noticed. 



II 



