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their plumage, and looking like huge moths fluttering over the troubled waters. The dark wings 
are conspicuous against the grey and white plumage of the body, and make it easy to distinguish this 
bird on the wing from all the other Petrels of similar size. They fly low, sometimes skimming the 
water, with their wings aslant, and appear generally to be moving in a scattered community. I have 
observed it in the Hauraki Gulf sailing gracefully at a convenient distance from the steamer. Once 
I observed it dip into the water, touching the surface first with its feet and resting for a few moments 
before it took wing again. It was perhaps picking up something from the sea, but I was not near 
enough to observe this. Eeischek met with it on the Little Barrier, chiefly at the northern extremity 
of the island, and once on the Larger Chicken ; but it was a comparatively rare bird, even in the 
former place, and during several months’ sojourn he collected altogether about a dozen specimens. 
Of these he opened seven, and found that the stomachs contained nothing but seeds and small seaweed, 
without any of the oily matter so abundant in the stomachs of other Petrels. 
It deposits its single egg at the end of a burrow from three to eight feet long, very tortuous 
and entirely dug out by the birds themselves. At the extremity of this burrow there are invariably 
two chambers, one beyond the other, and in the further one usually the bird deposits her egg. Up 
to this time the male and female share the same compartment, but the male now withdraws himself, 
and for the rest of the breeding-season occupies another hole at some little distance from the nest. 
The burrows are generally on sloping ground, and, owing to their depth and extent, involved often 
two hours’ digging to get out the occupants. And here I may record a very wonderful fact in natural 
history, an excellent illustration of which by a local taxidermist attracted much attention at the 
Colonial and Indian Exhibition in 1886. On some of the islands in the Hauraki Gulf, and on several 
groups of rocky islets otf the New-Zealand coast, there exists a very remarkable lizard, which has long 
since disappeared from the mainland. This is the tuatara of the Maoris and S^henodon of naturalists. 
But this is the point of interest to us at present: wherever the tuatara and burrowing Petrel co-exist, 
there appears to be a perfect understanding between them ; they share the same underground habita- 
tion and respect each other’s rights to the utmost. On the Chickens Mr. Reischek found the tuatara 
very abundant, and (I grieve to add) collected for the market some thirty or forty specimens, many 
of them of very large size. He assures me that in every instance he found the Petrel (sometimes 
(Estrelata cooMi, sometimes Puffinus assimilis) and a lizard occupying one and the same burrow. 
Often the terminal chamber had, as it were, two compartments, facing each other, one of which was 
occupied by the bird, the other by the lizard ; but generally the two were living “ cheek by jowl.” 
Whether the bird was sitting on its single egg or had hatched out its callow young, it was never 
without its attendant lizard, keeping watch over the Petrel’s nest as the Hesperides were wont of old to 
guard the golden apples which Gaia gave to the lady Here. Captain Mair tells me that he has observed 
exactly the same state of things on the island of Karewa, in the Bay of Plenty, where both tuataras 
and Petrels are abundant ; and his brother. Major Mair, sends me a similar report from the Eurima 
Rocks lying adjacent thereto. But here comes the curious part of the story. Mr. Reischek affirms 
positively that the lizard assumes the guardianship of the cave, and actively defends the nest against 
any invasion from without. Under ordinary circumstances the tuatara, in the wild state, does its best 
to escape, but here, as Mr. Reischek declares, whenever he attempted to meddle with the bird on the 
nest the lizard would immediately come to the rescue, attacking his hands and fingers with exceeding 
ferocity and biting fiercely. So real and constant was this mode of defence that he had at length to 
make it a rule to capture and remove this “ dragonette ” before attempting to handle the egg or 
young bird on the nest. 
The hreeding-season begins about the first week in October, or perhaps a little later, freshly-laid eggs 
having been found on November 2nd. The egg, which is perfectly white, is broadly ovoido-elliptical, 
and measures 1’9 inch in length by 1‘5 in breadth; the surface is smooth but not glossy. A rather 
larger example than usual, from the Little Barrier, measures 2T inches in length by 1-5 in breadth. 
