The Zoologist— May, 1866. 209 



from one to three or four birds, and as many eggs ; one is the general 

 rule. At least three-fonrlhs of the birds lay under the bushes, and 

 the eggs are so numerous that great care must be taken to avoid 

 treading upon them. The natives from Flinders generally live for sQnie 

 days on Green Island, at this time of the year, for the purpose of col- 

 lecting the eggs, and again in March or April for rearing the young 

 birds. * * * Besides Green Island, the principal rookeries of 

 these birds are situated between Flinders Island and Cape Barren, and 

 most of the smaller islands in Furneaux's group. The eggs and cured 

 birds form a great portion of the food of sealers, and, together with 

 the feathers, constitute the principal articles of their traffic. The 

 mode by which the feathers are obtained has been described to me as 

 follows : — 



" The birds cannot rise from the ground, but must first go into the 

 water, in effecting which ihey make numerous tracks in the beach 

 similar to those of a kangaroo ; these are stopped before morning, with 

 the exception of one leading over a shelving bank, at the bottom of 

 which is dug a pit in the sand ; the birds finding all avenues closed- 

 but this, follow each other in such numbers that, as they fall into the 

 pit, they are immediately smothered by those succeeding ihem. It 

 takes the feathers of forty birds to weigh a pound ; consequently 

 sixteen hundred must be sacrificed to make a feather bed of forty 

 pounds weight. Notwithstanding the enormous annual destruction of 

 these birds, I did not, during the five years that I was in the habit of 

 visiting the Straits, perceive any sensible diminution in their number. 

 The young birds leave the rookeries about the latter end of April, and 

 form one scattered flock in Bass's Straits. I have actually sailed 

 through them from Flinder's Island to the heads of the Tamar, a 

 distance of eighty miles. They shortly afterwards separate into dense 

 flocks, and finally leave the coast. The old birds are very oily, but 

 the young are literally one mass of fat, which has a tallowy appearance, 

 and hence I presume the name of ' mutton bird.' To this 1 may add 

 that the young birds are very good when fresh, and the old birds after 

 being skinned and preserved in lime are excellent eating. It will be 

 seen that I have alluded in forcible terms to the great abundaucfe of 

 this species, in confirmation of which I annex the following extract 

 from Flinder's Voyage, vol. i, p. 170: — 



"'A large flock of gannets was observed at daylight, and they were 

 followed by such a number of the sooty petrels as we had never seen 

 equalled. There was a stream of from fifty to eighty yards in depth, 



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