and now the underground noises were most extraordinary, as oil was 

 being poured down the throats of tens of thousands of young birds, 

 apparently to their intense satisfaction after their 24 hours' fast. I 

 desire also to place on record the following fuller statement of the sooty 

 petrel at an earlier period of its annual sojourn amongst us. I believe 

 the facts can be relied upon as correct. In September mutton birds 

 come back to us to dig their holes. Where they have been since the 

 previous May no one seems to know with certainty. I have 

 interrogated captains of many ships whether they have ever been seen 

 by them in these winter months. In all cases they have replied 

 in the negative. And it seems we are forced to the conclusion 

 that they betake themselves towards the South Pole. After digging 

 their holes they vanish for about a fortnight, after that they 

 reappear to lay their eggs. The female soon loses her condition and 

 betakes herself to the sea for about a week, not returning during the 

 interval. Meanwhile the male bird sits upon the egg, and he in turn 

 is relieved by the female in order to recover his condition. The 

 egg is hatched in about five weeks. When the young bird appears 

 both parents return every evening to feed their offspring. For most of 

 the time the birds desert the vicinity of their breeding places during 

 the day, but in the Furneaux Islands during the prevalence of easterly 

 and south-easterly weather the parent birds keep near home, the 

 reason being, as is supposed, that this wind brings them especially 

 large quantities of their food. It was remarked to me also by Borne of 

 the most experienced hands that after a continuance of south-easterly 

 weather they always expect to obtain a larger quantity of oil from 

 the birds. When the young bird is taken and killed he is carefully 

 spitted on a stick and kept head upwards till about 50 are obtained, 

 when the worker squeezes the oil from them, and sends them away to 

 be plucked and salted. Every year one or two white specimens of 

 this b>d are seen. I am doing my utmost to obtain one for this 

 museum. To turn now to the practical working of the Act passed 

 some two years ago for the protection of the mutton bird industry, 

 there ia no doubt at all that the provisions of the Act have been 

 most beneficial, and, practically speaking, if the regulations are fairly 

 carried cut, the petrels will never leave these islands, nor will they 

 diminish in numbers. There are a few points, however which deserve 

 the attention of our legislators. At present there is no restriction 

 placed on the number of ptrsons permitted to bird on any island ; some 

 day trouble may arise. It is certain that if the number of workers 

 were doubled the industry would be endangered. Secondly, there is a 

 feeling among some of those engaged in the industry that the old 

 birds should be protected, certainly while they are feeding their 

 young, possibly whilst they are hatching their egg?. At present 

 they may be taken at either period for consumption on the spot. 

 Certainly to leave the young bird to die of starvation is contrary to 

 the dictates of humanity. It might be wise to make a regulation that 

 no old birds were to be taken after a fixed day in January. This 

 would prevent the death by starvation of young petrels. 





THE SEALING INDUSTRY. 

 As the seal recks are now to be thrown open once more to sealers 

 after a close time of about three years, it may be of interest to the 

 Society if I lay before its members the suggestions made by sealers 

 aud others for the protection of the industry. Mr. Maclaine, of 

 Clarke Island, advocates the protection of female seals altogether, 

 following the law that obtains ia the Behring Straits. On the other 

 hand, the most thoughtful of the sealers themselves assert that this 

 would virtually stop sealing, inasmuch as the female seal is much 

 more numerous on the rocks than the male ; but whether this last 



