THE BIRDS OE AUSTRALIA. 
“ Tile young at this time were clothed with dark greyish-brown down, a few 
feathers Just beginning to show through the down. The colours of the legs, feet, 
and bill were much the same as the body colour, which varied a shade or two, 
but the nearest description was brownish-grey. The young, he concluded, were 
about eight to ten weeks old, and did not attempt to fight. Old birds were 
commonly found in the burrows, in which he concluded they stayed while feeding 
their young in the adjoining burrows. 
“ At nightfall the birds came in to feed their young in thousands from every 
direction, flying very often direct into their burrows. He states that they rise 
with alacrity from even ground and run with facility.” 
This is of much interest, as it has been generally conceded that all Petrels 
have difficulty in rising from the ground, and also that they do not run about easily. 
Is it possible that the “ Short tails ” have less difficulty in rising through 
this feature ? Other observers have aU declared, however, that these birds 
require assistance in rising, as shown by the other accounts quoted. The bird 
figured and described is a male collected on Phillip Island, Victoria, by Mr. Tom 
Tregellas, on the 4th of March, 1911. 
What is the bird Buller recorded from New Zealand* as P. tenuirostris ? 
It has obviously nothing to do with this species. 
In the Monograph of the Petrels, p. 150, is written : “ Prom Sir Walter Buller 
we learn that this Shearwater is very abundant on the coasts of New Zealand, 
breeding inland, sometimes at a distance of fifty miles. The birds return annually 
in large colonies, and repair to their old burrows. There is said to be an 
extensive nesting ground in the Kaimanawa Ranges in the Taupe-Patee country 
{Birds New. Zeal., p. 315, 1873).” But this was contradicted by Captain Hutton 
{Ibis, 1874, p. 41), who said the only occurrence was one recorded by Buller himself 
(from the Waikanae Beach) as Procellaria atlantica. But later, writing upon a 
specimen from the Kermadec Islands, Hutton {Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1893, 
p. 749) stated : “ This species is not uncommon in the North Island of New 
Zealand. ” 
This may have been simply a slip, as I have seen no examples from New 
Zealand, and the specimens labelled tenuirostris’^ which I have examined proved 
to be the New Zealand form of P. carneipes. In connection with this species, 
and also P. carneipes, the Japanese form have been confounded. In the Mono- 
graph of the Petrels, p. 150, it is noted that : “It probably occurs along the 
western coast of North America, on passage, as it has been found in great numbers 
near Monterey, in California, in December, by Mr. Maillard. He believed that 
these Shearwaters were late migrants on their way to their breeding habitat 
in the Southern Hemisphere.” 
* Suppl. Birds New Zeal., Vol. I., p. 104, 1905. 
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