144 



THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



Black-browed Albatross rising from sea 

 outside Sydney Heads. 



Plioto — b\ Uegotarai.* 



row neck between the main island and 

 Little Broiigbton Island. The latter is 

 difficult of access, but on a later occasion 

 I managed to effect a landing and carried 

 out an investigation of the numberless 

 burrows, which proved to be those of the 

 Wedge-tailed Shearwater. Tliis bird also 

 breeds on the extreme western end of the 

 main island and on two small outlying 

 islets. A most interesting discovery on 

 Broughton Island was a burrow contain 

 ing a Sombre Petrel {{Puffinus griseus) < 

 not previously recorded as breeding in 

 Australia, the bird being a New Zealand 

 species. My discovery was evidently pre- 

 paring its burrow for the egg, and another 

 investigator subsequently found 

 the same species in this "rook- 

 ery" with an egg, thus rounding 

 off my record. 



But the great objective of 

 this first expedition to Port 

 Stephens was the White-winged 

 Petrel. In his "Handbook to 

 the Birds of Australia," pub- 

 lished in 1865, John Gould said 

 that his specimen was obtained 

 while breeding on Cabbage 

 Tree Island, at the mouth of 

 Port Stephens, and he was in- 

 formed that the bird bred there 

 in abundance. He added: "The 



Australian Seas abound witli Petrels, the 

 investigation of the various species of 

 which, their habits and economy, as well 

 as their places of abode, will serve to oc- 

 cupy the attention of ornithologists for 

 years to come." All the years that 

 elapsed from the time Gould wrote those 

 word.s the White-winged Petrel had re- 

 mained unsought for, and its nest and 

 egg were undescribed. It may therefore 

 l)e imagined with what interest 1 scanned 

 Caljl)age Tree Island on the way out from 

 the Port to Broughton Island, and how 

 eagerly 1 landed on the historic spot after 

 returning from the scene of the Danysz 

 experiments. 



Cabbage Tree Island lies barely a mile 

 from the entrance to Pt)rt Stephens; it 

 is about half a mile in length, sloping 

 rather steeply up from the western shore 

 to a height of 500ft. The eastern shore 

 faces the ocean, presenting an almost 

 sheer cliff to the rollers. The greater part 

 of the island is densely clothed, -with 

 tree.s, principally the native plum {Sider- 

 oxylon anstrale) and the beautiful Palm 

 (Lirixtona aiistralia) , to which the island 

 owes its name. The first discovery of 

 note on the island was our old friend the 

 Penguin, occupying shallow l)urrows or 

 ensconsed in crevices under the rocks on 

 the shore. These birds were sitting on 

 fresh or partly incubated eggs, or had 

 one or two young ones in varying stages 

 oi' growth. Tliis constituted another "far 

 thest north" record of a breeding place of 



^J! 



/^ 



Black-browed Albatross rising from Sydney Harbour. 



Photo — F. Degotardi.* 



* Copyrighted by A. F. Basset Hull. 



