134 



THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



Tlie almost finished group, as it will appear in the Museum. One 



parent bird has been feeding the speckled chicken in the nest, and 



resents the intrusion of the other, which is likewise intent upon 



contributing its quota to the family food supply. 



Phoito — G. C. Glutton. 



Some had eggs, others were feeding white 

 fluffy young, just hatched, while others 

 tended to the wants of fully fledged 

 chickens as large as themselves. These 

 were almost always sheltered securely 

 from the weather in crevices or holes 

 formed by lava bubbles in tlie basaltic 

 cliffs. The cavities were sometimes almost 

 hidden from view by a luxuriant grow^th 

 of gi-ass which made them quite cosy, not- 

 withstanding the lack of an>i;hing in the 

 ■way of a nest to keep the chicken or the 

 egg oft" the hard bare rock. The parent 



birds were greatly dis- 

 turbed at our approach, 

 and squawked at us 

 harshly, while ruffling 

 up their beautiful plum- 

 age so that their black- 

 tipped feathers showed 

 strikingly amongst their 

 dress of palest pink 

 satin. They did not at- 

 tempt to leave the nest, 

 however, even when 

 robbed of their single 

 brown or speckled egg, 

 and though provided 

 with sharp pointed bills 

 with serrated edges, 

 they used them so in- 

 effectively that we had 

 no difficulty in grasp- 

 ing an^' holding them 

 while investigating the 

 nests. 



Often as we climbed 

 the cliffe, the noise of 

 our approach to a nest 

 was so smothered in 

 the roar of the surf on 

 the rocks below that we 

 found the parent bird 

 or the young fast 

 asleep. The brooding- 

 birds slept with their 

 heads a little tilted 

 backward, not tucked 

 under a wing, as might 

 be supposed, but the 

 young lay sprawled out 

 in any old position. 

 Their necks were gener- 

 ally stretched out up- 

 on the ground, doubt- 

 of the large an-.ount 

 of food contained within the gullet, for 

 the young Boatswain Bird grows apace, 

 and requires much food to build up its 

 rapidly increasing frame. One we dis- 

 turbed had two half digested squid placed 

 end on end in its throat which were so 

 large that we wondered how it had man- 

 aged to stow them away so successfully. 

 On one occasion, while watching a young 

 bird in its nest, we saw its mother alight 

 and proceed to feed it, regardless 

 of our presence. She allowed it to insert 



less because 



