82 
The Queenslattd Naturalist. 
August. 1920 
EVENING MEETING, FRIDAY, 18th JT’NE, 1926. 
— The iT-eHideiit (Dr. E. O. Marks) oceupied the cdiair. 
and there was a lar^e attendance of members and 
visitors. 
I'he bird and turtle life of the Capricorn Islands 
formed the subject of one of the most enjoyable lecttires 
given before tlie (dub. The lecturer was Mr. E. F. Pollock, 
hon. secretary of the Royal Zoological Society of New 
South Wales. Immense colonies of sea birds, said Mr. 
Pollock, had their habitations on the Capricorn Islands. 
Gn North-West Island white-capped noddies and wedg- 
ed-tailed petrel, or mutton birds, bred in millions. The 
white-capped noddies made their nests remarkably close 
together, and in the one tree he had observed as many 
as dOd birds, including 14d silting on nests. On one 
branch covering an area of Sft. or 9ft. s(piare he had 
found IT) nests. The mutton birds covered the island 
like a iuigo cloud as soon as darkness set in. and made 
for the open sea early in the morning. The procession 
began as early as d.3().a.m., and an hour later scarcely a 
bird could be seen on the island. Petrel burrows w'ere 
a source of annoyance to the naturalists, the island 
being honeycombed with them. Reef herons bred on 
tlie islands in large numbers, generally not far from the 
beaches, and on Tryon Island several large colonies of 
silver gull were found. At tlie eastern end of North- 
West Island a jiair of white-bellied sea eagles also were 
discovered, together with their nest, which was at the 
top of one of the biggest palms. 
Mr. Pollock said thal luidles also were of absorbing 
interest to some of the mem hers of his party. There 
were three species of the turtle which inhabited Aus- 
tralian tropical seas— green, hawk’s bill, and loggerhead 
turtles. The two last-mentioned species were scarce, 
and only a fevr specimens were noticed, but, on the 
other hand, the green turtle was plentiful. 'On the 
NorthAYest Island there Avas a turtle cannery. About 
22 to 25 turtles were caught per day, and these would 
be sufficient for 900 tins of sou]). Green turtles reached 
maturity when 20 or 25 years old, but the hunters on 
the island said the a^mrage age of the turtles captured 
was 100 years. He had I>eeu informed that the canning 
company last year sent away 36.000 tins of soup made 
from about 1000 turtles, but they were still as numerous 
as ever. The female Avas belicA'ed to lay three clutehes 
