158 BIRDS OF TASMANIA. 



Dimensions in mm. : — Length, 190; bill, 15; wing, 152; tail, 65; 

 tarsus, 35. 



Fernale. — Similar to male. 



Nestling. — "Covered with a uniform greyish-black down; bill 

 black; legs bluish, tinged with faint yellow; webs of toes bright 

 yellow; toes faint black; nail black" (E. Hall). 



Nest. — " A shallow indentation beneath a slope, or within a 

 crevice, lined with twigs" (Hall). 



Eggs. — Clutch one; elliptical in shape; texture fine; surface 

 without gloss ; colour white, with a zone of fine purplish-brown 

 spots round the stouter end. Dimensions in mm. : — 31.5 x 22. 



Breeding Season. — The Scottish Antarctic Expedition obtained 

 their first egg on the South Orkneys on 11th December ; Dr. 

 Wilson, with Nat. Ant. Expedition, the first egg at Cape Adare 

 on 9th January; while Mr. Bobert Hall found eggs on Kerguelen 

 Island in February. 



Oeographical Distribution. — Seas of Tasmania, Australia, and 

 New Zealand, down to the Ice Barrier in the Antarctic, and up 

 through the Atlantic to Labrador; and in the Indian Ocean to the 

 Arabian Sea. 



Ob.servations. — The statement made by Gould that this Petrel 

 is one of the most plentiful in the Australian seas holds good to 

 this day. Almost anywhere in Tasmanian waters may this 

 extremely graceful little bird be seen flitting from wave crest to 

 wave crest. " Its food, consisting of minute crustaceans, is picked 

 up from the surface of the water while on the wing. Flitting 

 about from wave to wave the little Petrel delicately treads the 

 water to steady itself for a moment while it picks up a tiny 

 miorsel " (E. A. Wilson). 



Dr. Wilson's account of the finding of the first nest is very 

 interesting. He says : — 



The birds were to be seen hovering round the mouth 

 of crevices in the rooky side of the cliff, often settling 

 close by for a few seconds, and then sailing in short circles 

 round it, reminding one strongly of the moVfements of a House- 

 Martin at its nest under the eaves of a country barn. Two of 

 these crevices could not be reached, but soon we saw a bird hover 

 round and settle upon a large boulder. Hunting about for a burrow 

 underneath, we caught the sound of twittering, and traced it to a 

 kind of mouse-hole. This, by dint of long and tedious picking with 

 a sheath-knife, we enlarged until it admitted an arm up to the 

 shoulder. The work was laborious, as the floor of the burrow was 

 hard black ice and grit, but eventually we reached the nest. At 

 the end of the little tunnel was a chamber containing a very com- 

 fortable nest, thickly lined with Adelia Penguins' feathers, and in 

 it a somewhat remarkable collection. First we brought out an 

 adult male alive, then an adult female; then two eggs, one clean 

 and newly laid, the other old and rotten; and under all another 



