EASTEEN GEEY-FAGED PETREL. 
As Captain Hutton says, “ This bird when on the wing, looks very hke a 
huge Swift.” 
From Mr. A. Eeischek’s notes* I gather the following : These birds are 
common along the New Zealand coast. They are seen in large flocks at sea, 
where they remain from March till August, in the latter month they come ashore 
to their old breeding-places, which they use annually as long as they are not 
molested. They breed in colonies, and their burrows are sometimes very close 
together. Their breeding-resorts are always on the cHffs along the coast, and 
some are very difficult to approach. They are dug nut even in hard sandy 
formation or clay. In August the male and female begin to clear out their old 
burrows, or dig fresh ones. The entrance is from 6 to 10 inches in diameter, 
the passage in most cases winding and from 2 to 4 feet. The nesting-chamber 
is from 1| to 2 feet wide, and from 6 inches to 1 foot high ; in it is a deepening 
with a few leaves and grass, which forms the nest. In the beginning of September 
the female lays one white egg (very seldom two) which she alone hatches. The 
male roams about the ocean in the daytime — sometimes I have found them 
ashore, in a separate burrow from that of the female. 
After sunset, thick clouds of these Petrels swarm round the cliffs, uttering 
the melancholy sound “ Ohi ! ohi ! ” Each one circles round its burrow several 
times before it goes down to it ; they stop for a moment before entering. They 
go to and from their burrows several times a night. When the young is hatched 
the female stops for a few days with her chick in the burrow ; after that both 
parents leave every morning before sunrise, and stay at sea all day, returning 
after sunset. Before entering the burrow they chcle round, then swoop down 
to the entrance and call, and when answered by the young they enter. If both 
birds come to the burrow together, one stops outside tiU the other reappears. 
When feeding the chick, they make a whimpering noise. Male and female rear 
the young, which are full grown by February. 
When collecting specimens for preservation, care must be taken to tie the 
bill, otherwise the oily discharge from the bird spoils the feathers. 
In July and August of 1882 hundreds of these Petrels were washed ashore 
in the islands of the East Coast, probably killed during a severe storm. I 
never found them inland. 
Mr. Sandagerf writing about this bird from the Mokohinou Islands says : 
“ This Petrel begins to burrow in March, and continues to do so up to the middle 
of June, when more or less nesting- material is carried in, both birds i>eing 
invariably found in the burrow during the day from May up to the time 
of laying. The burrow, which is seldom deep or long, is generally situated 
* Trans. New Zeal. Inst. 1885, Vol. XVIIL, p. 90, 1886. 
t ib. 1889, Vol. XXII., p. 292, 1890. 
135 
