MOLLYMAWK AND FERN BIRD. 
Tiialassarciie bulleri (Rothschild). SNARES ISLAND MOLLYMAWK. 
Diomedea bulleri Godman, Monogr. Petrels, p. 344, pi. 98, May, 1910. 
Nest. An inverted cone, composed of grass, seaweed and soil cemented together and hardened 
by the weather. 
Egg. Clutch one ; uniform creamy-white, sometimes with the larger end speckled with small 
reddish dots, becoming confluent in places and forming a distinct zone. 100-104 mm. by 
62-64. 
Breeding-season. January (Snares Island). 
Pterodroma externa cervicalis. 
Nestling. Covered with dove-grey down ; the abdomen and central line on the throat and breast 
white. 
Immature. Like the adult, but lighter. The feathers of the back and the upper wing-coverts 
margined with grey. 
Nest. In a burrow at the foot of palm-trees, etc. In a gully near the top of a mountain; generally 
only one burrow is found ; it breeds in small colonies, and is nocturnal in its habits. 
Egg. Clutch one ; pure white and glossless, shell not rough. 63 mm. by 48, 66 by 48, 67.5 by 
48.5, 64.5 by 49. Average measurements, 65 mm. by 48.5. 
Breeding-season. December and January : (Sunday Island). 
Bowdleria puxctata. FERN BIRD. 
The following descriptions of the nest and eggs are taken from an article by 
J. C. M’Lean, Emu , Yol. VI., pt. i., pp. 1-7, July 2nd, 1906. This article is 
one of the very fine monographs the Emu has printed. 
Nest. Usually placed right in the centre of, and low down in, a tussock 
growing in or near the edge of a swamp ; not built into the stems of the plant. 
It may be easily removed, entire. On account of its position the nest is hard 
to find, being built of the same coloured material as occurs deep down in the 
tussock, and the feathers of the lining are inclined to curl inwards at the rim 
and hide the eggs. 
The nest is a deep cup-shaped structure, not dome-shaped, so strongly 
constructed as to appear like a miniature wicker basket from which a quantity 
of feathers have been emptied, a few still remaining attached to the inside. 
The walls are very neatly woven ; these and the foundation am composed 
wholly of fine, dry grass stems with very little of the flag. None of these stems 
is thicker than a cocksfoot stem, and the inner ones are the finest obtainable. 
They vary in length, some being fully eighteen inches long. The lining consists 
of a single layer of feathers (Bluecoot and Duck) varying from one to two and 
a half inches long. The lining is so thin that the interior feels quite hard to the 
touch. The feathers are so placed that the curl corresponds to the curve of 
the nest. They are only lightly affixed to the wall by the base of the shafts 
and are very easily displaced. This lining is often composed of but one variety 
of feathers. An average nest measures four and a half inches in depth and the 
same in width. The cavity 2.6 in depth and only 2.3 wide. 
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