MUTTON-BIRD 
4S 
biscuit-making have sadly diminished the numbers 
of the birds since Matthew Flinders, in 1798, saw 
a flock which took an hour and a half to pass his ship, 
and was estimated to number a hundred and fifty 
million individuals. There were no " birders " in 
those days. Flocks and herds, too, break in upon 
and destroy the burrows on islets where once the birds 
bred undisturbed. But, spite of all, they still exist 
in countless thousands. 
The coming-in of the Mutton-birds at evening has 
often been described ; words, however, can hardly 
convey an idea of the populous eerieness of the dusk 
when the flight comes home from far out at sea, and 
dark forms throng round the watcher like swift 
uncertain arrows in the gathering gloom, and the 
ground under one is full of chuckling noises. I stood 
in the midst of a large " rookery " on Kangaroo 
Island (off Flinders Island) one sultry evening at the 
end of November, and saw it all from start to finish ; 
it was one of my most wonderful experiences among 
birds. 
SILVERY-GREY PETREL 
Priocella antarctica 
This Petrel may best be described as looking like a 
rather large common Seagull — the name Silvery-grey 
describes it admirably. There are two examples in 
the Melbourne Museum, taken at Queenscliff in 
December, 1882, and it is because of these that I 
