voi; 
XXIV. 
1924 
] FALLA, Breeding of Butter's Shearwater . 
37 
Yet in spite of these primeval natural enemies, the Ground- 
Parrot held its own. Owing to the direct agency of rabbit poison, 
and the fact that native cats (unlike the tiger cat, which prefers 
to kill its own meat) fed on the carcases of poisoned rabbits, 
these animals have themselves also become practically extinct in 
this district. 
In conclusion, 1 may mention that, some years ago, a writer 
in the Sydney Mail stated that, in a certain quarter of New 
South Wales, where the Ground-Parrot then still existed, the 
birds had taken to nesting in hollows excavated in steep banks 
and cliff-faces affording spaces of soft earth sufficient in depth 
for the formation of tunnels. They are said thus to have es¬ 
caped at any rate the ravages of foxes. 
Discovery of a Breeding Place of Butler’s 
Shearwater, Poor Knights Island, N.Z. 
By R. A. FALLA, R.A.O.U., Auckland, N.Z. 
Synonymy and References. 
Puffinus bulleri, Salvin, Ibis, 1888, p. 354; Fuller, Birds N.Z., 
vol. II., p. 240, pi. 41, fig. 2, 1888; Buller, Trans. N.Z. Inst., 
vol. 23, p. 42, 1891 ; Salvin, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XXV., 
p. 371, 1896; Anthony, Auk, XV., p. 38, 1898; Loomis, Pr. 
Cal. Acad. Sci. (3), Zook, II., p. 319, 1900; Buller, Suppl. 
Birds N.Z., vol. I., p. 101, 1905; Goodman, Mon. Petrels, 
p. 81, pi. 23, 1910; Mathews and Iredale, Ibis, 1913, p. 
227; Loomis, Pr. Cal. Acad. Sci., 4th ser., vol. II., p. 146. 
1918; Falla, Emu, vol. XXI,, p. 206, 1922. 
Puffinus zealandieus, Sandager, Trans. N.Z. Inst., Vol. 
XXII., p. 291, 1890. 
'Bhyellodronia bulleri, Mathews and Iredale, Aust. Av. Rec., 
vol. IV., p. 50, 1920; Bent, U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull. No. 121, 
p. 101, 1922. 
Description of Brooding Female. —Crown, neck and small wing 
coverts sooty brown; tail and primaries dark blackish brown, the 
latter paling to white on the fringe of the inner web; major wing 
coverts brownish grey margined with greyish white; •median 
coverts and secondaries sooty brown margined with greyish 
brown ; back and scapulars slate grey, each feather margined with 
brown; rump sooty brown, feathers tipped with white; upper tail 
coverts pale slate grey, tipped with white; under tail coverts 
white, the outer ones splashed with slate grey; throat, sides of 
face, foreneck, underside of wings, and all underparts pure white; 
feathers of lores slate grey tipped white, giving slightly mottled 
appearance; ear coverts slate grey. Irides blackish brown; bill 
bluish black, edge of mandibles bluish grey; inner edge of tarsi. 
