132 
GIBLIN, Greater Actccon Island [™t oct. J 
reefs and rocks. The Greater Actseon is nearly a mile in length, 
its greatest width 300 yards. It really consists of a chain 
of three islands joined by necks of shingle which must be washed 
over when the sea is running high. The highest point is not 
more than 60 feet. There are no trees on the island. The 
central portion is covered with Barilla bush—a salsolaceous plant 
—nowhere more than a few feet in height, and forming a dense 
undergrowth through which it is difficult to walk. Surrounding 
this is a belt of sandy loam, richly manured with bird-droppings 
and covered with a luxuriant growth of coarse grass tussocks. 
The Little Action, about a mile and a half away, is smaller, 
lower lying, much less accessible owing to the swell, and conse¬ 
quently more favourable for nesting purposes. When Colonel 
Legge paid his visits (Oct. 31st and Nov. 28th, 1886) he was 
able to land only on the Greater Action, the weather preventing 
landing on the Little Actaeon, My visit later in the season, viz., 
January 24th, was to the larger island only. 
The following species were observed:— 
Puffinns tenuirostris. Short-tailed Shearwater (Mutton-Bird). 
These birds were breeding in every available foot of the loamy 
belt surrounding the island. The burrows were hidden by the 
high grass tussocks. It was difficult to walk owing to one's feet 
constantly sinking through the soft earth into burrows beneath. 
Several were examined, and in every case found to contain a 
nestling about the size of a Brown Quail covered with black 
down. In each case oily fluid was pouring from its mouth, so 
that the young birds had evidently been well fed. In some 
burrows we found old birds which, on being turned out, waddled 
clumsily through the thick tussocks to the edge of the cliff, and 
then sailed gracefully away. No birds were feeding in the 
neighbourhood of the island, but some two miles away large 
numbers had been seen flying both up the Channel and ocean- 
wards as far as one could see. It was impossible to estimate 
the number of birds nesting, but as every available space was 
occupied, it is evident that there is no diminution in the number 
of birds. On Colonel Legge*s visit (28th Nov., 1886) he stated 
“had I not accidentally discovered a ‘Mutton Bird' in what I 
took for a Penguin’s nest, I should have left with the impression 
that there were none on the Island, as not a sign could be seen 
of any Mutton-Birds flying around. At the north end, where the 
earth bank above the rocks is steep, and riddled with nest holes, 
I detected the bird in question at the end of a hole, and pulling 
her out, found an egg in the nest. I subsequently unearthed 
half-a-dozen birds from holes round the same part of the island, 
so that it may be inferred that a small colony was breeding 
there, although the probabilities were that no very great number 
of birds would visit the island at that late period.” 
