HALOB^NA OERULEA. 



Auckland Museum and another obtained by Mr. C. H. Robinson at Cape Campbell 

 (Birds New Zeal., 2nd ed., II., p. 214, 1888). In the Rothschild Museum is a female 

 collected by Mr. H. H. Travers on the Macquarie Islands in November, 1899. 

 Gould recorded the species from Cape Horn, and an example he procured there is now 

 in the British Museum. 



During the voyage of the " Discovery " Dr. E. A. Wilson first saw H. ccerulea on 

 October 24th, 1901, Lat. 45° S., Long. 48° E., when, in spite of a heavy sea, high wind, 

 and occasional snow storms, numbers were seen flying round the ship, and continued 

 with it until the denser Ice Pack was reached, Lat. 62° S., Long. 140° E., on November 

 16th and 17th, 1901. 



On the homeward voyage the birds accompanied the " Discovery " between 

 Lat. 58° and 60° S., and Long. 135° W. (Wilson, Antarctic Exped., II., Birds, p. 104, 

 1907). 



Graeffe found this Petrel in the Fiji Islands (Hartl. and Finsch, Faun. Centrapolyn., 

 p. 246) and Layard recorded it from Vanua Levu and Viti Levu ; he believed that it was 

 found off the island of Samoa, as well as in the seas of New Caledonia. 



Although generally resembling the Whale-birds (Prion), Gould says that H. 

 ccerulea presents a " more square appearance " in flight ; but little has been recorded 

 of the habits of this species at sea. That it breeds in Kerguelen Island we know, from 

 the excellent accounts of its nesting given by the Rev. A. E. Eaton and Dr. Kidder. 

 The latter found this Petrel inhabiting the hills in the neighbourhood of the American 

 Observatory Station. These hills, apparently quite deserted by day, became alive at 

 night with H. cwrulea and a species of diving Petrel (Pelecanoides), which flew 

 about the rocks and hummocks of Azorella, and filling the air with their cry, which 

 much resembled the cooing of pigeons. The birds seldom flew over the water, but 

 confined themselves to the neighbourhood of their burrows, alighting and taking wing 

 again like swarms of bats. The noise they made was incessant, coming as often from 

 the air as from the burrows below. After the middle of November the noise lessened, 

 from which Dr. Kidder inferred that it was connected with the season of pairing, but 

 the object of the nocturnal flight was inexplicable, as there were no night-flying 

 insects on the island. 



The burrows were excavated beneath the mounds of Azorella, which grows in dense 

 masses, often several feet in diameter. The tortuous burrows were connected below, and 

 terminated in large dry chambers, lined with fine roots, fibres, twigs, ferns, or leaves of 

 the Kerguelen tea (Accena affinis). Here the single egg was laid and covered with 

 powdered earth or leaves, while limpet and mussel shells were often found close by. 

 Two birds were usually found in each burrow, when the expedition first arrived, but 

 after the egg was laid, only a single bird, usually a female, remained (Kidder, Bull. U. S. 

 Nat. Mus., No. 2, p. 34). 



The egg measures from 1.9 to 2 inches in length by 1.45 to 1.55 inches in breadth ; 



283 



