PUFFINUS BREVICAUDUS, Brandt. 
Short-tailed Petrel. 
Puffinus Irevicaudus, Brandt, MSS. — List of Birds in Brit. Mus. Coll., part iii. p. 159. —Gould in Ann. and Mag. 
of Nat. Hist., vol. xiii. p. 365. 
This bird is an inhabitant of all the Australian seas, particularly those surrounding Van Diemen’s Land and 
the islands in Bass’s Straits, to some of which, but especially to Green Island, it resorts during the summer 
in countless numbers for the purpose of breeding and rearing its young ; thither also resort the sealers, 
the natives, and even the settlers, in order to procure the eggs and young birds, which are salted and ex- 
tensively used as an article of food ; the feathers are also collected for the purposes of commerce. I visited 
this island in January 1839, when, although the season was far-advanced, both eggs and young were still so 
numerous as to excite feelings of astonishment. I had previously heard much of this great nursery of 
Petrels, and might lengthen this paper by my own observations ; hut as I find that an excellent account of 
the bird and its habits has been published by Mr. Davies, in the second volume of the ‘ Tasmanian Journal,’ 
I prefer transcribing his words : — 
“ About the commencement of September these birds congregate in immense flocks, and shortly after- 
wards proceed at sunset to the different isles upon which they have established their rookeries. Here they 
remain during the night for the space of about ten days, forming their burrows and preparing for the 
ensuing laying-season. They then leave, and continue at sea for about five weeks. 
“ About the 20th of November at sunset a few come in to lay, and gradually increase in numbers until 
the night of the 24th. Still there are comparatively few, and a person would find some difficulty in col- 
lecting two dozen eggs on the morning of that day. 
“ It is not in my power to describe the scene that presents itself at Green Island on the night of the 
24th of November. A few minutes before sunset flocks are seen making for the island from every quarter, 
and that with a rapidity hardly conceivable ; when they congregate together, so dense is the cloud, that 
night is ushered in full ten minutes before the usual time. The birds continue flitting about the island for 
nearly an hour and then settle upon it. The whole island is burrowed ; and when I state that there are not 
sufficient burrows for one-fourth of the birds to lay in, the scene of noise and confusion that ensues may he 
imagined — I will not attempt to describe it. On the morning of the 25th the male birds take their 
departure, returning again in the evening, and so they continue to do until the end of the season .... Every 
burrow on the island contains, according to its size, from one to three or four birds, and as many eggs ; 
one is the general rule. At least three-fourths of the birds lay under the bushes, and the eggs are so 
numerous, that great care must he taken to avoid treading upon them. The natives from Flinders generally 
live for some days on Green Island at this time of the year for the purpose of collecting the eggs, and again 
in March or April for curing the young birds .... Besides Green Island, the principal rookeries of these 
birds are situated between Flinders’ Island and Cape Barren, and most of the smaller islands in Furneaux’s 
group. The eggs and cured birds form a great portion of the food of sealers, and, together with the 
feathers, constitute the principal articles of their traffic. The mode by which the feathers are obtained 
has been described to me as follows : — 
“ The birds cannot rise from the ground, but must first go into the water ; in effecting which, they make 
numerous tracks to the beach similar to those of a kangaroo ; these are stopped before morning, with the 
exception of one leading over a shelving bank, at the bottom of which is dug a pit in the sand ; the birds, 
finding all avenues closed but this, follow each other in such numbers, that, as they fall into the pit, they are 
immediately smothered by those succeeding them. It takes the feathers of forty birds to w^eigh a pound ; 
consequently sixteen hundred must be sacrificed to make a feather-bed of forty pounds weight. Not- 
withstanding the enormous annual destruction of these birds, I did not, during the five years that I was in 
the habit of visiting the Straits, perceive any sensible diminution in their number. The young birds leave 
the rookeries about the latter end of April, and form one scattered flock in Bass’s Straits. I have actually 
sailed through them from Flinders’ Island to the heads of the Tamar, a distance of eighty miles. They 
shortly afterwards separate into dense flocks, and finally leave the coast. The old birds are very oily, but 
the young are literally one mass of fat, which has a tallowy appearance, and hence I presume the name of 
Mutton Bird.” To this I may add that the young birds are very good when fresh, and the old birds after 
being skinned and preserved in lime are excellent eating. 
The egg is very large for the size of the bird, being two inches and three-quarters long by one inch and 
seven-eighths broad, and is of a snow-white. The white or albumen forms a very large proportion of its 
contents ; and it is remarkable that a small part of both the yolk and the white remains soft and watery, 
however long the egg may be boiled. 
The food of the old birds consists of shrimps, small crustaceans and mollusks, which they principally 
procure from among the large beds of kelp along the coast. The young are fed with grass, sea-weed, &c. 
The flight of this and the other species of Puffinus differs considerably from that of the Procellarice in 
being straighter and performed close above the surface of the water ; it is moreover so exceedingly rapid, 
that Mr. Davies states it cannot be fairly estimated at less than sixty miles an hour. 
The sexes are so much alike that they can only be distinguished by dissection. 
The whole of the plumage sooty brown, the under surface much paler than the upper ; bill blackish 
brown, tinged with olive ; the under mandible wfith a longitudinal mark of vinous grey ; irides brownish 
black ; outer side of the tarsi and outer toe brownish black ; inner side of the tarsi and two inner toes 
vinous grey ; webs yellowish flesh-colour, becoming blackish brown towards the extremity. 
The figure is of the natural size. 
