THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



143 



it had been dropped I'lum a lieiglit of a 

 few inches rather than laid on the ground. 

 This egg measured 71 x 45 mm., and was, 

 I believe, dropped by one of the Alutton 

 Birds. The eggs of the Wedge-tailed 

 Shearwater are mucli smaller, averaging 

 about 60 X 40 mm. This was only one of 

 many instances which have come under my 

 observation of dead Shearwaters coming 

 ashore in large nund)ors. The mortality 

 occurs generally in the latter end of Oc- 

 tober or early November, and many 

 hypotheses have been advanced to account 

 for the phenomenon. Starvation, disease, 

 sudden storms, and conflicts with the 

 Wedge-tailed birds have all been suggest- 

 ed to account for the untimely death of 

 the Mutton birds. Recent reference has 

 been made by a New Zealand writer to 

 similar occurrences on that coast. There 

 is room here for careful obsei'vation and 

 investigation. 



No trace of the ■ breeding place of the 

 Fluttering Petrel could be found on Brush 

 Island, although a very thorough search 

 was made. 



North of Brush Island there are a few 

 islets close to the mainland, and at the 

 entrance to Jervis Bay there is Bowen 

 Island, formerly a haunt of the Wedge- 

 tailed Shearwater. I visited this island., 

 but discovered nothing worth recording. 



Off Port Kembla there is a fairly large 

 island, called Rabbit Island. Here I 

 found both the Penguins and Wedge- 

 tailed Shearwaters breeding. A little fur- 

 ther north, and about three miles out to 

 sea from Wollongong, there are two islets, 

 one called Pig Island. The group, in- 

 eluding Rabbit Island, which is in three 

 divisions, is known as The Five Islands. 

 On Pig Island I found the White-faced 

 Storm Petrel breeding in numbers, their 

 burrows being driven in the shallow sandy 

 soil under the thick growth of mesem- 

 brianthemum and convolvulus which 

 covers the higher part of the island. This 

 was the most northern record of the 

 breeding of this species at the date of my 

 first visit, October, 1909. Penguins and 

 Wedge-tailed Shearwaters were also 

 breeding on this island 



When Dr. Danysz was experimenting 

 with the rabbits on Broughton Island, one 



of his staff" informed me that a Storm 

 Petrel was breeding on that island. This 

 information, and Gould's description of 

 tlie ^^'ilite-winged Petrel (Aestrelata leu- 

 eoptera), which he wg.s informed bred on 

 Cabbage Tree Island, at the mouth of Port 

 Stephens, led me to organise an expedi- 

 tion to the Port and adjacent islands. 

 Mr. C. Hedley, Assistant Curator of the 

 Australian Museum, Dr. Hamlyn Harris, 

 and several other friends made up the 

 party. We went by steamer to Nelson's 



Young White-winged Petrel in nest. 

 (Cabbage Tree Island.) 



Photo— A. F. Basset Hull. 



I)ay on the 15th October, 1910, and char- 

 tered a motor launch to take us to 

 Broughton Island, twelve miles north of 

 the Port, where we arrived about 9 a.m., 

 and landed on a sandy beach. Climbing 

 the steep sandhills and walking a quarter 

 of a mile to the centre of the island, I 

 found a number of small burrows in a 

 sandy hillock with a north-easterly aspect. 

 Investigation proved these to be the bur- 

 rows of the White-faced Storm Petrel, the 

 birds sitting on their single eggs, most 

 of which were quite fresh. Numerous 

 fragments or skeletons of dead Petrels 

 were lying about, the victims of Hawks 

 and some domestic cats left by the Danysz 

 experiment staff. Thus the northern re- 

 cord of this Petrel was extended by about 

 150 miles. 



Broughton Island is nearly two miles 

 in length, hilly, and with a steep cliff 

 at tlie eastern end, descending to a nar- 



