424< Mr. Tom Iredale on the Surface Breeding 



John Macgillivray was the first naturalist to make 

 reference to these birds, and though his collection was made 

 on Meyer Island, thebirds were labelled Raoul Island. The 

 reasons were that the former islet was unnamed, the name 

 being given by MacgilliA^ray's companions, and no suggestion 

 of complications could have occurred to him as he only met 

 with birds on that islet. 



Before proceeding further it had better be stated that we 

 have here an extraordinary case of similar or identical birds 

 breeding at different times of the year on closely adjoining 

 areas without any observed differentiation. 



ThuSj from August to May, Sunday Island was frequented 

 by birds : the number was estimated very roughly at about 

 half a million individuals. Meyer Island was not at first 

 occupied by such Petrels, but about January a colony came 

 and settled, and laying eggs in the end of February and March, 

 their young took to flight in August. A rough calculation 

 gave about six thousand pairs. Two noticeable features of 

 the Meyer Island colony may be glanced at. Owing to the 

 small size of the island, the birds were much more crowded, 

 and consequentl}^, available space being limited, they came 

 to earth more regularly, and the length of the breeding 

 season was shortened. Thus whilst on Sunday Island the 

 first birds were observed in the last days of July, and their 

 numbers increased during August, no eggs were laid until 

 the middle of October. The latest bird seen sitting on an 

 unhatched egg was on February 9 ; the first young absolutely 

 ready for flight was observed on the last day of March, and 

 all the young had fiown before the end of May, This gives 

 a period of ten months during which these birds were about 

 the Island, whilst it would show a period of about five 

 months from the date of laying until the young bird flies. 



Now this same time must be occupied by the birds on 

 Meyer Island, but here observations were limited owing to 

 the impracticability of landing on the islet by reason of the 

 Mcather. However, on February 29, that island was crowded 

 with settled birds, and about one in every five birds seen was 

 sitting on its egg. Towards the end of April every bird had 



