The Emu. 
145 
some time after dark. With the first flush of daylight we were 
ashore, and speedily shot what Pigeons we wanted for the pot. 
On pushing across to the east end of the island, where the 
greater number of birds seemed to have congregated, we came 
upon their nests. The first one I found contained an incubated 
egg, which I could see plainly through the nest, which was of 
the scantiest description, perfectly flat, and hardly large enough 
to contain the single egg. It was placed on a horizontal fork 
in a "red mangrove," about 15 feet from the ground. I after- 
wards found upwards of thirty nests, nearly all containing young 
or incubated eggs, but no nest with more than one egg or 
young bird. They were all of the same frail build, some consist- 
ing only of about 20 twigs roughly interwoven. On one 
occasion we found two nests in the same tree. We explored 
the remainder of the island, walking knee-deep in slimy black 
mud all the time, but there were no more nests. We then 
visited two of the smaller islets, but only on one did we find 
nests — two altogether, both containing young. It was now 
about 7 a.m., and the Pigeons were leaving in great numbers, 
and as we could find no more breeding places, we soon after- 
wards took our departure. A young bird which we took from 
the nest is now quite tame, and will take food from the hand. 
The eggs are pure white, smooth, and slightly glossy — in form 
oval as a rule, but some are more lengthened than others, and 
the measurements show considerable difference. One egg I 
took is visibly much larger than any of the others in both 
measurements. I give the measurements of four specimens : — 
{a) 1.95 X 1.24 inch ; {b) 1. 81 x 1.2 inch ; {c) 1.75 x 1. 17 inch ; 
(V) 1.7 X 1.23 inch. — Edgar H. Webb. 15/1/02. " Macknade," 
Herbert River, N.Q. 
* * * ' 
A Flight of Mutton Birds. — Captain Waller, of the 
s.s. Westralia, when passing near Eddystone Point, on the east 
coast of Tasmania, on his way from New Zealand to Melbourne, 
on 26th January, 1902, passed, early in the morning, an immense 
flight of Mutton Birds {Pu-ffinus tenuirostris) from seven to nine 
miles long, going due south, probably on their way to some 
favourite feeding area. They had evidently left the extensive 
rookeries on the Furneaux Group of islands in Bass Strait at 
daylight, after having spent a night on shore, as the nesting was 
then in full swing. When we think of the vast host of birds 
seen, that probably each one had left a mate behind sitting on an 
egg at the bottom of their burrow, and remember that both birds 
are sometimes in the burrow together (so that even half the birds 
belonging to this particular colony would not be included in the 
flight seen), a little idea of their incalculable number can be 
formed. It can also be understood how 600,000 young birds 
can (as asserted) be taken from the rookeries, and yet plenty be 
