DIVING PETREL. 
barred appearance, tbis is also shown on the sides of the body ; throat, breast, 
abdomen, and under tail-coverts white ; axillaries ash-brown, shghtly fringed with 
white; under wing-coverts ashy-grey, margined with white and having black 
shaft-lines ; “ Bill black, the base of the cutting edge of the upper mandible, 
and line along the lower edge of the lower, blue-grey ; iris very dark greyish-brown ; 
tarsi and toes beautifully light blue ” (Gould). Total length 230 mm. ; culmen 
15, wing 113, tail 40, tarsus 22. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 
Nest. At the end of a crooked burrow. 
Egg. Clutch, one ; white, surface dull ; axis 38-42 mm., diameter 32-33. 
Breeding-season. July and August (Mokohinou Islands, Sandager) ; November (North- 
east Island, Bass Strait ; North) ; October and November (Macquarie Island, 
Campbell). 
Btjller* informs us that “the flight of this bird is rather laboured [and] 
consists of a rapid fluttering movement along the surface of the water, then 
it drops and dives through the waves with amazing agility. 
“ They swim in the sea with the head much uplifted and are very active 
on the water. 
“ The stomach of one I opened contained black comminuted matter, and 
one or two small seeds, apparently of some kind of seaweed. I observed that 
the skin of this bird was very tough and thick, the roots of the feathers 
appearing underneath as in the Penguins and some other birds. 
They breed on Stephens Island in Cook’s Strait ; on Karewa Island (off 
Tauranga) ; on the small islets off the Great Barrier ; on the Hen and Chickens 
and Portland Island.” 
Sandager, t writing from the Mokohinou Island, says this species “ breeds 
on three of the smaller, comparatively low, islands, where it forms its burrows in 
the peat-like substance, consisting of light soil and decayed Mesemhryanthemum, 
with which they are covered. Burrowing commences in April. In July a nest, 
consisting of dry flax, sticks, and grass, is formed at the end of the burrow, and 
a few of the earlier birds begin to lay during the last half of the month, but 
most of the laying takes place during August. The birds, previous to laying, 
are rarely found in the burrows during the day, all the work of burrowing, etc., 
being carried on at night.” 
ForbesJ records it breeding on Pitt’s Island. 
Mr. A. J. North§ records it breeding on North-east Island in Basis Strait, 
but in November, 1890, all the eggs had hatched out. 
• Birds New Zeal., 2nd ed., Vol. II., p. 207. 
t Trans. New Zeal. Inst. 1889, Vol. XXII., p. 289, 1890. 
Xlhis 1893, p. 642. 
§ Austr, Mus, Bee., Vol. I., p. 122, 1891. 
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