68 BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF GEELONG 
than the latitude of Japan, it is a sufficiently wonderful 
flight. We only see them in their winter dress, dark 
on the back and whitish below, the breast always 
with a certain number of transverse mottled bars. 
There are three specimens in the Melbourne Museum 
taken at Queenscliff in the summer of 1 88 1-2. Of 
these, one, a male, has the under parts quite white 
except for a mottled breast-band about 2-i- inches 
wide ; the others have the breast mottled all over. 
In those birds which I have noted within Port Phillip, 
there has been a great deal of variation in the amount 
of brown on the breast. 
The readiest way to observe this species is from 
the stern of a bay steamer in the summer, particularly 
between Williamstown and Portarlington. They 
follow the boats for scraps from the galley. I have 
been told by fishermen that they keep with the 
morning boat from Melbourne until the Geelong 
boat passes, when they return with the latter to 
Williamstown, thus ensuring to themselves a maxi- 
mum of garbage. I have seen them in the steamer's 
wake even in the Geelong outer harbour, but that is 
unusual. 
At first sight they are not unlike Mutton-birds, but 
have a more direct and Gull-like flight, fast though 
it can be ; they come quite close overhead when one 
is watching them from a steamer's deck, and the 
two longish tail feathers sticking out sharp behind 
them make an excellent identification mark. The 
various bay steamers would seem to collect the 
