PLATE IXX V\ 



NECTEIS BKEVICAUDUS. 



SHORT-TAILED PETREL. Genus: Nectris. 



THIS variety is often called also the " Sooty Petrel," but the name by which it is most popularly 

 known is that of "Mutton-bird." 



The earliest voyagers in Australian seas left records of the marvellous sight to be witnessed mi 

 some of the islands round the coast, particularly in Bass's Straits, when the nesting time of these birds 

 comes on. Early in September they gather in great flocks for the purpose of preparing the burrows 

 where they make their nests on the various islands. November is the breeding season, and they begin to 

 "•ather about the 20th. But with wonderful regularitv on the 24th, towards sunset, a mightv stream of 

 these birds is seen sweeping towards the islands. This influx continues for several hours till the sky seems 

 full of the vast multitude wheeling and hovering over these lonely isles. At night they alight on those 

 spots which they had selected for breeding places. Even when the burrows contain three or four birds 

 each, there still remain vast numbers which are reduced to making their nests in the open, and as each 

 pair strives for a place in the sheltered spots, and each individual sets up a shrill screaming in assertion 

 of its rights, the deafening turmoil from all these throats is described as something overpowering. "When 

 comparative peace has been restored towards the morning, each pair having found a nesting place, the 

 male birds leave and return at night : this habit they observe during the breeding season. 



This annual assembly of the Mutton-birds is the signal for an onslaught on them by man. The 

 natives collect great quantities of eggs, and in March and April the young and adult birds are trapped 

 and put to various uses. In catching the birds, advantage is taken of their powerlessness to rise 

 lor flight off the earth. On account of the length and shape of their wings, which are like those 

 of the Albatros, they must first float upon the water before they can rise. Their captors, then, 

 block up a large number of the paths leading to the sea which the birds have formed, leaving one only 

 open among the number. This particular one, unfortunately for the Mutton-birds, leads over a precipice, 

 at the bottom of which a hole has been dug. The birds come in such crowds, anxious to reach the 

 water, that they tumble into the pit in tens of thousands; those which tall being soon smothered by their 

 unfortunate followers. The captors, sealers and others who make these birds a source of profit, then 

 proceed to pluck them. It takes the feathers of twenty-five birds to make a pound in weight, the value 

 of which is twopence or a little more in Tasmania: yet some of the parties do well at the business, 

 so vast are the numbers of birds captured. 



The young are tender and juicy and form wholesome food, and the old birds, when properly cured, 

 are also excellent eating. The old birds are of an oily nature, but the young are so impregnated with oil, 

 being fed on a fatty secretion by the parents, that on being held up by the legs the oil pours out from 

 their beaks. It is clear and pure, and also fetches a good price in Tasmania. 



It will thus be seen _that the annual visit of the Mutton-bird is an event of great and varied 

 importance to those natives and white men who frequent the islands. What with its eggs, its flesh, leathers 

 and oil, these birds form an industrial resource of great importance to a considerable number. In spite of 

 its great annual destruction in these different islands, its numbers do not sensibly diminish, but on the 

 24th of November of every year the sky is thick with gathering multitudes. 



The flight of the Mutton-lard is swift and strong. It Hies close to tin; surface of the water, and 

 it has been estimated that its speed often exceeds sixty miles an hour. 



