Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1897-03-04
MUTTON BIRD.


In Australia
Tastes differ In different attitudes
even among Englsh-speaking people
Imagine Caucasians dining on sailed
letrels and with relish, too, as though
that fsh-eating sea bird were q luxury.
VI all the fowl that haun: the barren
islands on the California coast none ia
considered quite SO worthless as the
sooty petrol. Even the seagull has his
usefulness as scavenger on the bays
along the coast but the petrol 10 truly q
despised bird in these waters. Sea-
eull's eggs bring price in the market
that makes 1t worth while to gather
them at considerable expense, but no
one thinks IL worth while to rob the
petrels' nests on the rookeres at the
Farallon islands.
1t is different in Australia. Is IL the
cold winds that blow up from the ant.
arctic regions or the hot air that sweeps
down from the equator? No matter
what the cause, the fact is that the appe-
titles Of our Australian cousins are radi-
cally different. The sooty petrol Ia
there an edible fowl with decided
market value, and a number Of men and
small craft are employed each year in
catching, sailing, packing and carrying
It in great quantities from the rookeries
OH Trefoil island and other adjoining
islands on the north coast of Tasmania
to Stanley and Melbourne.
Mutton birds is the general name
given the petrol there and the men and
ships engaged in the business are
known as mutton birders." TO Ameri-
cans this is quite n novel industry and
the fact that such common sea birds us
the petrol are packed and sailed down
like so much pork is always matter Of
wonderment to strangers who go there.
But the test Of the pudding is in the eat
ing of 1t and those who have dined OIL
mutton birds instead of land mutton
pronounce the one every bit as good az
the other.
II you leave San Francisco In August
sailing westward and southwark You
will pass many great focks Of birds
that will be pointed out to you Us sooty
petrels-or they will pass you, for they
are travelling about three times faster
than you are. And whea you reach
Melbourne and have become acclimated
enough to venture trip across to Tas-
mania you may dine of the young Of
those very birds that passed you on the
California coast, only now they will be
served to you as mutton birds.
These fowls leave the Farallones every
few months and once every year they
visit Australia. Trefoll island Is their
chief roosting-place in the southern
hemisphere, SO far as is known. Here
they scratch and dig in the barren soil
until they have burrowed a hole per-
!aps two feet deep. Into these holes
each hen in the immense flock deposits
her one egg. The mutton birder inserts
his arm full stretch for his game. He
does not take the egg but waits week
or ten days after the egg has been
matched. Then he finds the young bird
almost us big as its parent, but much
more tender and fat, On land the
petrol is quite unable to escape from
the catchers. 1t cannot mount INTO the
mir from off the land, though It's wings
Rre enormously long in proportion to
It's black body and il rises quite grace
fully from the water. On shore, how
over, the strange bird must hop along
ut slow pace and can only fly from the
top ola ledge. Certain points OF Trefoll
STAND are Uttered with thousands of
hese nests and it Is no difficult task
o gather the yearly harvest Of Young
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