ORDER VIII.—PROCELLARIIFORMES, TUBINARES, TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS.
F. 27. PROCELLARIIDAE (5), STORM-PETRELS, MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKENS, 25 sp—10(3)A., 2(0)O., 10(0)P., 7(0)E., 13(4)Nc., 13(3)Nl.
2
3
35 Wilson Storm-Petrel (Yellow-webbed, Flat-clawed), Oceanites oceanica, S. Polar regions N. to British Is. (acc), Labrador (acc.), India, A., N.Z.
c. ocean 6.8
Blackish; base tail above below white; legs black; webs yellow; f., sim. Shellfish, small fish, greasy.
36 Gray-backed Storm-Petrel, O. (Garrodia) nereis, S. Oceans, A., T., N.Z.
r. ocean 6.7
Sooty; abdomen, under base tail whitish; bill, feet black; f., sim. Oily substances, shellfish.
1
1
37 White-breasted Storm-Petrel (White-faced), Frigate Petrel, Mother Carey's Chicken, Pelagodroma marina, S. Oceans, N. to Canary Is., U.S. (acc.)
c. Mud. Is. ocean 8
Upper brownish-gray; crown, line under eye, edge of wing, tail black; under, face, throat, line above eye white; bill, feet black; webs yellow; f., sim. Shellfish, oily matters.
2
4
38 Black-bellied Storm-Petrel, Cymodroma (Fregetta) melanogaster, S. Oceans, to N. Atl., A., T.
r. ocean 7.5
Sooty-black; under base tail, flanks white; bill, feet black; f., sim. Sea-animals, oily.
39 White-bellied Storm-Petrel, C. grallaria, S. Oceans to B. of Bengal, Atl. to Cancer, Florida (acc).
r. ocean 7.2
Upper, neck, chest black; under, rump white; bill, feet black; f., sim. Sea-animals, oily.
F. 28. PUFFINIDAE (29), PETRELS, Shearwaters, Fulmars, Prions, 75 sp.—47(16)A., 7(0)O., 24(0)P., 30(2)E., 22(4)Nc., 37(7)Nl.
7
25
40 Wedge-tailed Petrel (Shearwater), Puffinus sphenurus, A. seas.
v.r. ocean 17.5
Sooty-brown; wing blackish; tail black; throat ashy-gray; under dull ashy-brown; bill lead color; legs, feet livid flesh color, dusky on inner side of leg and toe. Like 42, but tail longer; f., sim. Food as for 41.
41 Allied Petrel, Gould Shearwater (Little Dusky), P. assimilis, A. and N.Z. Seas, Atl. O. to Madiera Is., Nova Scotia (acc.).
Flocks v.r. ocean 11
Upper, crown, wings, tail sooty-black; side face, under white; side-chest dusky; bill dark horn-colour; legs greenish-yellow; f., sim. Shrimps, shellfish, seaweed.
42 Short-tailed Petrel (Sooty, Bonaparte), Slender-billed Shearwater (U.S.), Seal-Bird, Mutton-Bird (V.), P. brevicaudus (tenuirostris), A., Bass St., T., N.Z. Migrates to Alaska, Japan.
Flocks, c. ocean 14
Sooty-brown; under paler; bill blackish-brown; legs, feet light-grey, black down outer side. Food as 41.
3
3
43 Brown Petrel (Great-Gray), Black-tailed Shearwater (U.S.), Night Hawk (e), Bully, Kuia, Procellaria (Priofinus) cinereus, S.O., California (once).
r. ocean 19.5
Crown, upper dark brownish-gray; under white; under base tail ashy-brown; tail black; feet grayish-flesh color; outer toe brownish-black; dives; f., sim.
1
1
44 Silver-gray Petrel (Fulmar), Slender-billed Fulmar (U.S.), Priocella glacialoides, Bass St., A., T., N.Z., S. Oceans, Pacific to Japan, Alaska.
c. ocean 18
Pearly-gray; tip-wing black; face, under silky-white; f., sim. Dead animals, oil, cuttlefish.
3
3
45 Black Petrel (Fulmar), Taonui, Procellaria (Majaqueus) parkinsoni, A. and N.Z. Seas.
r. ocean 18
Sooty black; f., sim. Food see 41.
9
32
46 Great-winged Petrel (Long-winged, Gray-faced), Æstrelata macroptera, A., N.Z., S. Oceans.
v.r. ocean 15
Dark brown; about bill, throat gray; wing-quills, tail black; bill, feet black; f., sim. Food see 41.
47 Brown-headed Petrel, Solander Fulmar, Æ. solandri, 1 specimen only, Gould, Bass St.
u. ocean 16
Head, wings, tail dark-brown; back slaty-gray, marked dark-brown; bill, legs black.
48 White-winged Petrel, Æ. leucoptera, A., N.Z. to C. Horn, Fiji.
r. ocean 13
Upper dark slaty-gray; forehead, face, under, under wing white; wings blackish-brown; eyes, bill black; legs, half toes and webs fleshy-white; tip toes and webs black; f., sim.
1
1
49 Giant Petrel (Fulmar), Mother Carey's Goose, Nelly, Glutton, Stinkpot, Vulture of the Seas, Macronectes gigantea, S. Oceans up to 30° S. Lat. Oregon (acc).
c. ocean 33
Dark chocolate-brown; bill horn-color; has also a white phase; f., sim. Scavenger, omnivorous.
1
1
50 Cape-Petrel (Pintado, Black and White, Spotted, Pied), Cape-Pigeon (-Fulmar), Daption capensis, A., N.Z., S. Oceans to Brazil, Ceylon, Peru, acc. to California, Maine, England.
Large flocks c. ocean 16.5
Head, hind-neck, upper-back, edge of wing, quills, chin sooty-brown; inner-wing, back white, broadly spotted sooty-brown; under white; bill, feet blackish-brown; f., sim. Food as 41.
5
5
51 Blue Petrel, Prion (Halobaena) coerulea, S. Oceans, A., T., N.Z. to Icepack, Fiji.
c. ocean 11
Forehead, cheeks, throat, centre-chest, under white; upper grayish-blue; outer wing-quills black; tail square, tipped white; bill blackish-brown; f., sim. Cuttlefish, shellfish.
52 Broad-billed Dove-Petrel (Blue-), Whale-Bird, Prion, P. vittatus, S. Oceans.
c. ocean 11.5
Upper delicate blue-gray; head darker than back; edge shoulder, wing, tip-tail black; under, line over eye, white; flanks blue; broad bill blue tipped black; feet light-blue; f., sim. Cuttlefish.
r. ocean 10
Like 52, but bill narrower and paler blue-gray; expanded wings show black marks like letter W. Food as 54.
54 Dove-Petrel, Dove-like-Petrel (-Prion), Whale-Bird (Snow-), P. desolatus, S. Oceans.
c. ocean 10.5
Like 52, 53, but more delicate; blackish below eye; white stripe above eye; head same as back; bill straighter, more slender; f., smaller. Shellfish, oily substances.
55 Fairy Dove-Petrel (-Prion), Short-billed (Gould) Blue-Petrel, P. brevirostris (ariel), S. Indian O., A., Bass St., Madeira, S. Africa.
v.r. ocean 9.5
Like 52, 53, 54, but bill shorter, stouter; head same as back; white face.
F. 29. PELECANOIDIDAE (1), DIVING PETRELS, 3 sp.—2(0)A., 1(0)E., 3(1)Nl.
1
3
56 Diving-Petrel, Smaller Diving Petrel, Tee-tee, Pelecanoides urinatrix, A., N.Z., Str. of Magellan.
r. sheltered bays 8
Upper black; under white; legs, feet blue; dives; f., sim. Shellfish.
F. 30. DIOMEDEIDAE (10), ALBATROSSES, Mollymawks, 19 sp.—13(3)A., 2(0)O., 5(0)P., 5(1)E., 5(0)Nc., 9(3)Nl.
7
17
57 Wandering Albatross, Man-of-War-Bird, Cape Sheep, Toroa, Diomedea exulans, S. Oceans up to Lat. 30° S.
c. ocean 44
Upper white with fine zigzag brown lines; wing-quills black; tail short, black above; side face, under white; zigzag lines on side of breast; bill whitish; color varies with age; span up to 14 ft.; f., sim. Jelly-fish, shrimps, shellfish.
58 Royal Albatross, D. regia, A., T., N.Z. Seas.
c. ocean 44
Lately separated from 57, because young have white down instead of gray; adult has no zigzag lines; f., sim. Food see 57.
59 Black-browed Albatross (Mollymawk), D. melanophrys, S. Oceans, England (once).
v.c. ocean 32
Head, neck, under, upper base tail white; blackish-gray streak through eye; wings dark brown; back slaty-black; tail dark-gray; bill buff-yellow; f., young sim. Fish.
60 White-capped Albatross, shy Mollymawk, D. (Thalassageron) cauta, A. Seas, Bass St.
c. ocean 31
Back slaty-gray; rump white; wings dark-gray; tail slaty-gray; head, neck, under white; blackish streak through eye; bill horn-color; f., smaller. Fish, barnacles, shrimps.
61 Flat-billed Albatross, (Yellow-nosed (e), Gray-headed), Gould Yellow-nosed Mollymawk, D. chrysostoma (culminata), A., Indian O., Pacific O., Oregon (cas.) G. of St. Lawrence (cas.).
r. ocean 28
Back, wings, tail dark grayish-black; head, neck gray; faint blackish streak through eye; under, rump white; bill black, tip, crest, lower-edge yellow, f., sim. Food see 60.
62 Yellow-nosed Albatross D. chlororhynchus, S. Atl. O., S. Ind. O., A., T.
c. ocean 30
Under, head, neck, rump white; back, wings brownish-black, tail brownish; bill black, crest bright orange-yellow, tip blood-orange; faint dark streak through eye; f., sim. Food see 60.
1
1
63 Sooty Albatross, Phoebetria palpebrata (fuliginosa), S. Oceans, Oregon (cas.), A., N.Z.
c. oceans 29.5
Sooty-brown; white ring almost round eye; bill black; f., sim. Food as 60.
F. 31. Alcidae, Auk, Garefowl, Puffin, Razorbill, Guillemot, Murre, 28 sp.—22(1)P., 27(6)Nc.
The birds of Order IX. are mainly shore birds. There are four chief kinds of these—Terns (Sea-Swallows), including Noddy Terns, Gulls, the remarkable northern Skimmers, which skim along the surface with the lengthened end of the lower mandible in the water, and the bold sea-pirates, Skuas. Fifty-seven Terns and Noddies are found throughout the world. Of these, twenty-one have been recorded from Australian waters.
Being powerful flyers, it is not surprising to find that several of the Australian Terns are really Old-World, and even New-World, forms too. Thus the Whiskered (Marsh) Tern is also British. The Caspian, Gull-billed, and Bridled (Brown-winged) Terns are British and American, while the Sooty Tern is found in all tropical and sub-tropical seas. It is one of the famous birds of the world, for it is the "egg bird" of sailors. It retires in large companies to low scrubby islands to breed. Here it lays a single egg on the bare ground. Sailors, tired of ship's fare, often visit these "rookeries." Gould quotes a record of one party which took 1500 dozen eggs on one small island in Torres Strait. Spanish eggers from Havanah take cargoes, which are disposed of at 25 cents per gallon.
The Wide-Awake Fair, of Ascension Island, is a famous annual event in natural history. A similar scene has been described by Mr. A. W. Milligan, the well-known West Australian ornithologist, on the Houtman Abrolhos Island, west of Western Australia. Here acres of the ground were covered by birds sitting on their nests. The question is, does each find its own nest when it returns to sit? Mr. Milligan settled this in the affirmative by tying a piece of string to a sitting bird and then letting it take flight. It found its own egg, and resumed its work. It is noteworthy that no two of the million eggs are similarly marked, and this puzzling variation in marking probably assists each bird to recognize its own egg.
One of the daintiest of these birds is the Fairy Tern, which was common on Mud Island while the 1909 Summer School was being held. Obedient to the call of the mother bird, which hovered threateningly overhead, the mottled and striped young one squatted on the shelly sand beach while bird-lovers hunted around for the material for a photograph. At length the dark eye revealed the beautifully-protected young bird.
As the camera was being fixed, a different call from the mother caused the young one to run away. Three or four naturalists tried to catch the active little bird, which stopped for a moment and disgorged two whole small fish, with which its mother had evidently but recently fed it. Eventually a good picture was obtained. These Terns nest singly, though others nest in large companies. They obtain fish by diving into the sea. It was interesting, on a Nature-study excursion, to watch the Crested Terns diving frequently into the sea above a shoal of small fish at Sandringham.
We found the Noddies breeding in thousands on Mast Head Island, in the Capricorn Group. They built a small platform of leaves, or seaweed, high or low, on every possible nesting site on the great Pisonia trees. In fact, there is an interesting kind of partnership between the bird and the tree. The fruits of the Pisonia have bands of sticky glands, which adhere to the plumage of the birds. After a time the fruits fall off, possibly on another island, and so this interesting tree is spread throughout these small coral sandbanks and islets. The birds are sometimes so loaded and clogged with these fruits that they are incapable of flight. Surely here is a wonderful partnership between the tree-frequenting Noddy and the forest tree that provides shelter and nesting places for it. It is, indeed, a marvellous method of seed dispersal.
The number of ocean birds breeding on these tiny island-paradises is amazing. Minute Mast Head Island is a place free of all pests—no flies, no mosquitoes, no ticks, no snakes, nor prickly plants, but a deep shady forest of giant Pisonia trees, sometimes covered with creepers and lianas, and fringed with pretty flowering shrubs, fig trees, and long green grass, and surrounded, above spring-tide level, by a fringe of graceful Horse-tail Sheoaks (Casuarinas). We calculated that over 100,000 birds bred annually on this 100-acre sandbank, no point of which rose 10 feet above spring-tide level. The graceful White-capped Noddies already mentioned nested high and low on the trees and shrubs. Petrels in thousands burrowed in the sand under the giant Pisonias, which are so thickly foliaged that not enough light penetrates to enable undergrowth to flourish, so the sand was practically bare in the centre of the island. Reef Herons nested low on spreading branches or interlacing roots. Silver Gulls and Oyster-catchers nested on the ground, within about a yard of the spring-tide mark; Doves, Silver-eyes, Bell-Magpies (Streperas), Caterpillar-eaters, Kingfishers, and other land birds nested in the trees, while the White-bellied Sea-Eagle (almost a fac-simile of the Bald Eagle of America) had his nest overlooking all, on the highest tree on the island. The Frigate Birds were not nesting on Mast Head Island, but they roosted each night in the tall Sheoaks at the water's edge. It was a treat, in the late afternoon, to see these glorious birds winding up their invisible staircase into the vast void of upper air. Gloriously and calmly they sailed up and up, until the merest speck only could be seen. Of corals, turtles, and other marvels we may not speak here. The migrating wading-birds had just reached the island after their long journey from Siberian Tundras. Some were so poor that we caught Sandpipers by hand. Flocks of Turnstone, Golden Plover, Godwits, Curlew, and other wading-birds were there, possibly only resting before continuing their journey to the South. It was indeed a privilege to live on such a spot for nine days and to see Nature in some of her most interesting phases.
The two Australian Seagulls illustrate the "law of representatives" so often referred to by Gould. It is strange how often a closely similar representative of a Northern bird is found in Australia. Thus the big Pacific Gull is the representative of the large Gull of Europe, though its peculiar deepened and orange-colored bill is distinctive. It does not gain its beautiful white and black plumage until it is three or more years old, being brown in the first year, and brown and white in the second year.
The Silver Gull is known to all. Though a dainty-looking bird, it has a bad character. It is worse than any bird of prey for stealing eggs and young birds, for let a gannet or other nesting bird but leave the nest for a moment, and Gulls quickly rob it of its contents. They are scavengers, and eagerly follow a steamer at lunch-time to gather the scraps. An interesting sight of Currie Harbor, King Island, is to see the large company of Seagulls nesting undisturbed on a tiny, bare, rocky islet close to the pier.
It was noted that, whenever the Noddies were disturbed, and rose, protesting loudly, the Gulls immediately gathered and hovered over the trees containing Noddies' nests. Evidently they were looking for unprotected eggs.
Placed in the next family are the seven robber Gulls or sea pirates—Skuas. We read of these birds in the old Royal Readers, but few recognized them when they followed us to the Summer School of 1910. They also followed our afternoon-tea cruise to South Channel fort, and played their usual game of compelling the Seagulls to give up the scraps they had gathered. The Robber Gull, or Skua, of Victoria is, strange to say, identical with the Skua of England. The one that followed the s.s. Lady Loch to the Summer School is better known in England as the Arctic Gull or Richardson Skua. It breeds in the far North, so it is a great traveller.
One interesting fact about these birds is that they show two sets of plumage. Thus, while each bird, as it gets older, usually changes its immature and almost uniform dusky plumage for a white under-surface, an incomplete white collar, and a blackish cap, yet some retain the dusky plumage throughout life. This is a good example of "dimorphism," as it is termed. Usually, instead of picking up their own prey, they watch until some other bird has captured a meal, and then they rapidly pursue it and cause it to disgorge. They do not skim over the waves like Petrels, but show a heavy, labored flight, varied by a short soar. As the two centre tail feathers project beyond the rest, the birds can be readily identified as they follow a steamer for tit-bits.
