SOMBRE PETREL. 
This is a common bird in New Zealand waters, and odd ones have been picked 
up on the beach at Bondi, near Sydney. 
From Buller’s* notes I gather that the young are about half-grown in 
February on the Island of Kapiti ; they were very fat, and on being held up 
by the feet oily matter ran freely from their throats. The old birds, on being 
taken hold of, fought fiercely with their bills. The young birds were full grown 
by April. This bird is at all times more nocturnal than diurnal, and when 
hovering overhead at night utters a frequent call-note, like “ Tee-tee- tee.” 
Mr. Iredale calls my attention to this note, telling me that members of 
the genus Pufjinus have not this latter habit, while generally all Pterodromm 
and Prion species do utter a Tee-tee-like note, and hence the common Maori 
name of Titi for the latter birds. 
Mr. Sandagert considers this a rare bird on the Mokohinou Islands : “ The 
burrow is from 4 ft. to 9 ft. in length, and formed in such a way that the nest 
is between 2 ft. and 3 ft. under the surface, so that to get at the egg a pick or 
spade must be employed. This has invariably been the case in all I have 
examined, no matter whether the burrows were situated on rising or compara- 
tively level ground. Long flax, growing in deep, light soil, is characteristic 
of the several breeding-places. In two burrows which I dug out in December, 
a bird was found in each, sitting on an egg just laid ; whilst in six others I found 
a pair of birds in each, but no egg, the birds being still engaged sinking 
their burrow, or bringing in rubbish, of which a large quantity is used for 
a nest. 
“ This species bites viciously if the hand is inserted in the burrow after 
it is partly excavated, and to handle it with any degree of comfort, unless it is 
at once killed, the long, sharp beak must be tied. The stomach of those I skinned 
contained a dark-green substance and several eyeballs (like those of a fish) 
half-an-inch in diameter, also beaks — possibly the remains of cephalopods. 
“ The young begin to leave in the middle of April, and by the end of May 
all are gone. It is worthy of note that the breeding time of this bird differs 
from that of any other species found here. Both birds, for a month previous 
to laying, remain in the burrow during the day. None have ever struck the 
lantern.” 
HuUJ records the taking of a solitary bird out of a burrow on Broughton 
Island in January, 1911, which he identifies as P. griseus, and notes th^t this 
would be the first record of this bird on Australian soil, the previous occurrences 
all being based on washed-up dead birds. 
*Birds. New Zeal., 2nd ed., p. 233, 1888. 
t Trans. N. Zeal. In8t.,No\. XXII., 1889, p. 290, 1890. 
J Emu., Vol. XI., p. 101, 1911. 
93 
