MORGAN — Observation on Cormorants and Bird Temperatures. 181 



Again, a young bird examined in January had the bill light 

 coloured, and the space about the eye yellow, while two of the 

 birds with yellow eye spaces taken on this trip proved on dis- 

 section to be fully adult. The whole subject requires further 

 investigation. 



Last Easter, Messrs. A. G. and E. S. Rymill again kindly 

 invited Capt. White and myself to accompany them on 

 another trip into Spencer's Gulf, with the object of examining 

 the cormorant rookery on Dangerous Reef, and visiting the 

 Islands of Sir Joseph Banks group. Unfortunately the 

 weather turned out stormy so that very little work was done, 

 and we were unable to reach either of our objectives. We 

 left Adelaide on the morning of Good Friday, and made 

 straight across the gulf to Stansbury. Here a little dredging 

 was done by Mr. Edgar Waite, Curator of the S.A. Museum, 

 who accompanied us for Ichthyological purposes. On the 

 following day we moved along the coast of the Peninsula to 

 Foul Bay, where a landing was made. This part of the penin- 

 sula is almost destitute of bird life, the only speci- 

 mens procured were a pair of Hooded Dotterels. Early next 

 morning we made for Pondalowie Bay, but were obliged to 

 put into Althorps light for shelter, where we were weather 

 bound for three days. Advantage was taken of our enforced 

 stay here to take the temperatures of Penguins and Mutton 

 birds. The majority of the young mutton birds had left the 

 island, but a few still showing signs of down, remained in the 

 burrows. No old birds were present on the island, but num- 

 bers were skimming the waters in its vicinity. On April 27th 

 the weather being somewhat calmer, we made for Pondalowie 

 Bay, where a day and a half was spent. We here investi- 

 gated the broken shells on top of one of the islands. They 

 are chiefly of four species, viz. Turbo stramineus, Turbo undu- 

 latus, Purpura succincta, Fusus undulatus and Haliotis sp. 

 Three live specimens of Turbo stramineus which Mr. Bymill 

 collected from the rocks weighed from eight ounces to 10^ 

 ounces, so that I am of opinion that they could not have been 

 carried up by Pacific gulls, for at Althorp, one of these birds 

 tried and failed to carry off a piece of fat which at a liberal 

 estimate did not weigh more than 4 ounces. Two other birds 

 which might have been reponsible, are the Osprey, and the 

 Sea Eagle, both of which inhabit the islands, and there were 

 at the time of our visit, no Pacific gulls about. This is how- 

 ever not evidence of much value, as none of the shells had 



