MUTTON BIRDS

Hokitika Guardian, 13 December 1932, Page 8

MUTTON BIRDS

' FLIGHT ACROSS THE WORLD.

TIME-TABLE MAINTAINED

SYDNEY, December: 1. Once more tae n'ugnant niiwoon birds have pcricrmocl the asioucling ft at of .1. oil Lima at Riiiilip island, off the coast of Victoria, aftei tl ,i.i u al lug'ut iioni hiuefta. ior ing 'seaoo.i, tiid' 'tm'Us“'have. compieoeu unutr mgiit fionv tiiur n y rthei)n uauacs da xNo.e.noer ' and 23rd. ua r»o»'enii>-i’ 2isu expectant watchers oh 'tnO'-island'afinetuaiy the hist n.gnts' approaching atmut dusk. Soou

uivorvMfwaV cue iookei les oir tno coast a ere : rebounding to the raucous cries or iiie ; uiids 1 coatendiug for ti»e> possession cf the burrows. Intel es ted spoC.tiitoi&• could scarcely, hear- them-. Svn.cs toptaK, owing to tue dm made by taw mjtumbling'

'Jumped claims were' prob biy responsible for some of the noisv differences of opinion. The sootv-tailed petrel—iiiuoton bii'd is the popular and commercial name—has a remarkable sji.se cf place as wen a<* of tinm. some years' ago officers of .the Fisheries and G.ane Department of Victoria marked certain burrows and put a cjiicspoiiuing identification on the birds wliicii. occupied them. The next year tin/ same birds were' found occupying the same burrows. 1 lie mut,6n o.l'iis have a sanctuary at .Phillip Island, and,are protected by the Victorian laws. It is only on certain islands in Bass Strait that they, are taken ior food arid, exported in large quantities. ■ Lveiff year the migratory flights, containing litany thousands of b.rds, maintain their average numbers. And ■every'ayeair the main flights are preceded by a few. birds in September or October to clean out the burrows. The muttbh bird world 1 is carefully organise and keep strictly to schedule. Each female bird lay's only one egg during the season. Once licensed persons wci e ; allowed to collect the eggs, but now this is prohibited. The only menace which threatens the mutton birds on Pniliip Island is the drifting sand, which often covers up the burrows aiid smothers the mother in the nests, which they will not leave. Acres of burrows have' sometimes been smothered up with sand.