THE MUTTON BIRDS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 294, 8 June 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE MUTTON BIRDS

SOOTY OR SHORT-TAILED PETREL, No bird that breeds in Australasia x- H cites more widespread astonishment than the sooty or short-tailed petrel, commonly known as the mutton bird. They breed in hundreds of thousands on l'hilip Island alone. This island, which is one of their habitats, is situated in Westernport, Victoria, Matthew Flinders, the ilhtutvious navigator, wrote that in U., neighborhood of Hummock Base ' fcjpil, Wwt, lie saw a "flight of mutton buds that, c6iii[iuted Mathematically, totalled 150,000,000 birds. .Incredible though it may seem, Bishop Montgomery, during one of his trips to the Furneaux Islands, Bass Strait East, reckoned that upon four small islands alone there must have been not less than 2,600,000 birds. Those islands were riddled with their burrows. MUTTON BIRD EGGS. In public estimation these birds rank pei haps lirst, since their value is more easily discernible than that of the other species comprising the Australian aviforms. This is not to be wondered at. since their economic value can be readily computed on a commerial basis, the products obtained from these marvellous birds being eggs, oil, feathers and flesh. 1 rodigious numbers of mutton birds arrive regularly at Philip Island about November 26 in each year, and lay their single egg in a burrow, which various from 7ft to 7ft in length, with an opening similar to that of a rabbit burrow. The egg, which has a pure white shell, is larger than that of a domestic hen, and its contents are excellent eating. Thousands upon thousands of their eggs are taken each season by professional "egger" and private persons, and are used for culinary purposes. A crook, consisting of a piece of bent fencing wire, is used ta abstract the egg from the burrow, and the delights of egging are indulged in for about a week. After that time it is unsafe to take eggs, since the process of incubation renders them unpalatable and nauseating. The birds excavate their burrows in the sand dunes and also in the loose friable earth on the ocean seaboard, and at dusk every evening during the months of December, January and February the turds fly into their burrows simultaneously, in densely congregated masses. The birds are a greyish-black or sooty color, and are somewhat larger than a domestic pigeon.

MUTTON BIRD ROOKERIES. Those in search of a fascinating and awe-inspiring sight should take a seat in a rookery just before dusk and waits for the home-coming of the mutton birds. At dusk, about 8 o'clock, the birds suddenly arrive from seaward in one stupendous flock, each individual wheeling and circling over the petrelry to obtain the bearings of its burrow, and, having found its exact position, it descends. Whilst sitting in the rookery a person momentarily expects to get life hat knocked off since dozens of birds at one time ily whirling past at close range, very often within a few inches of one's head. After landing at their rookery the birds break forth into demoniacal noises, which are simply appalling,

THE YOUNG BIRDS. Die young ones are fed nightly by their parents with a few teaapoonfuls of an oily fluid which they vomit into their offsprings' open maws." This is accompanied by the young one thrusting its head into its parent's open beak, and throat and opening wide its own gullet. On this diet they wax exceedingly fat, and during the months of March and the early part of April the ''birders" levy toll on the young birds, which at this period are simply huge balls i . fat. The young ones at this time are deserted by their parents, and live bv absorbing their own fat. As this becomes less, the young birds get lighter and restless, and at night time they take to wanuering around the rookery, stimulated bv'tlie pangs of hunger. These waudcrings'gradually develop their muscles, and as they get lighter and stronger they start flapping about the rookery until they gain pi ohciency with their wings, and on some tine, night they essay a flight over the ocean, and so depart.

CATCHING THE YOUNG ONUS. At the present moment (writes Air. A .11. E. Mattinglev, C.M.Z.S., in the Melbourne Leader o*f Mav 11), they are departing nightly. The "'birders," knowing the habits of the vouug ones of leaving their burrows after dark, usually sally forth with a lantern, since they Civil eatch the younger ones more easily and in greater numbers at that time. When captured the neck of the bird is at once broken, and the surplus oil in their bodies abstracted. This oil is a valuable commodity, and is used for many purposes. The birds are next plucked, and the feathers baled and exported. To remove the down after plucking, the young birds are plunged into lioiling water, and the down is then readily rubbed off the carcase. The body is then drawn, semi-divided, and flattened out. Then it is salted or smoked and packed in barrels, and in this preserved state the llesh is ready for market. Tn this condition the meat is exceedingly wholesome, and tastes like anchovies or red herrings. If skinned and eaten in a fresh condition without any preserving, the meat is equal to the flesh of Ijlaojc duck. When the young are balls of fat they have a tallowy appearance—hence the name mutton bird. In this state they are heavier than their parents. Associated with the mutton birds in some of the rookeries are the peculiar fish bird, or penguins.

HABITS OF THE BIRDS. Many problems regarding the halms of these remarkable mutton birds are being slowly elucidated by the members of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Uiiion and the Bird Observers' Club of Victoria. Aluminium rings, with date and address, have been placed around the birds' legs, and many burrows have been marked by placing stakes with metal tags attached to them at the entrance of burrows. It is sincerely hoped that, should any of the birds with rings attached to them be found dead in any part of the globe, the lings with particulars concerning the finding wil be sent to the Bird Observers' Club, Melbourne. If one works upon the figures supplied by Matthew Flinders, the total number of mutton birds that inhabit the islands of Bass Strait should result in an approximate sum of 600,000,000 mutton birds. One stands aghast at this almost unbelievable number, and wonders how the ocean supplies such a vast horde of birds with food. Yet we have some corroborated evidence of the vast numbers of these birds, since a wellknown sea captain ran his vessel twentythree miles through a compact mass of these birds floating on the ocean off tne Tasmanian coast. They had congregated together, and were feasting upon whales' food —a species of floating Crustacea,