94 BULLETIN 121, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



wind to perform this operation. At times, indeed, they were so numerous that 

 they were jostling each other, but in perfect harmony. At 4.43 I counted 

 a score on the rocls together, and they were all silent; at the approach of 

 daylight, 4.53, quite a rush of birds anxious to depart ; 5.05, a few still left ; 

 5.15, the last bird flew away from the rock I was observing. All around 

 hardly a petrel was visible; just a few were wheeling in mid-air. At 5.19 

 the last of these birds disappeared and the rookery seemed to be absolutely 

 devoid of life. At 5.23, just four minutes after the last petrel had flown 

 away, I heard the wailing of a Pacific gull, and its form* was visible in the 

 distance. In a few minutes more a squadron of twenty of these creatures, 

 accompanied by as many crows, came sailing over my head, croaking and 

 calling, and quartering the ground to see whether any belated bird could be 

 discovered. At 5.41 the sun rose. I advance my theory,' which is borne out 

 by the experience of all the half-castes and white men who have spent their 

 lives In these regions, that the sooty petrels come to feed their young only 

 and in complete silence, and leave again before the other birds are awake, 

 because only by this means are they safe from enemies in whose presence 

 they are helpless when on the land. In the air, of course, they fear no 

 such foes. 



Buller (1888) makes the following statements regarding the nest- 

 ing habits of Pufinus tenuirostris in New Zealand : 



This species of petrel is very abundant on -our coasts, and retires inland, 

 sometimes to a distance of fifty miles, to breed. It nests in underground 

 burrows, forming often large colonies, and resorting to the same breeding 

 place year after year. 



It is very plentiful in the Hauraki Gulf, and is diurnal in its habits. It 

 associates on the water in large communities, has a vigorous fiight ; and utters 

 a peculiar cry represented by the syllables na-ftwo-fctpov from which it takes 

 its native name. It breeds on all the islands in the gulf, not, however, in 

 colonies, but each pair selecting its own locality and excavating a burrow, 

 sometimes five feet in extent, with a rounded chamber at the farther end where 

 a single egg is deposited about the end of September. A specimen in my son's 

 collection, from Lord Howe's Island, is of a rather elliptical or slightly pyriform 

 shape, measures 2.75 inches in length by 1.6 in breadth, and is perfectly 

 white. 



Young. — Mr. A. J. Campbell (1904) describes the early life history 

 of the young bird as follows : 



After the pure white egg is deposited by the female, she goes to sea for a 

 week to recruit and grow fat and saucy, while her lord takes his domestic 

 turn and sits steadfastly on the egg. He goes out the following week, and they 

 proceed, turn after turn about, for eight weeks, till the precious chick is 

 hatched. The young are fed in- the burrows for about three months, till about 

 the middle of April. Just fancy what a strange existence for the happy, or 

 unhappy, chick to be reared in a sandy burrow for three long months, and to be 

 alone every day from dawn till dark. The young are curious-looking objects, 

 clothed in long, dark down, with black bill and eyes and feet to match. At a 

 certain stage a young bird will weigh about 3i pounds, and be heavier than 

 either of its parents, who at this stage desert it and proceed to sea for good. 

 The youngsters will then thrive on their own fatty nature for a week or so ; 

 quills and feathers sprout, and the birds becoming hungry, and, having learnt 

 to stretch their own wings, proceed to follow their parents. Quitting Bass 



