The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1911-10-12
MUTTON BIRDS
SLAIN BY MILLIONS

There are some virgin spaces In the
world yet. There Is Stewart Island.
for example. IN the South Pacific
south of New Zealand. Although only
fifteen miles from the mainland. it's
rocky promontories and stupendous
headlands are still the haunt of
primeVal nature. Only the boom OF
the southern surf and the cry Of the
wheeling sea birds. That IS all for
eleven months of the year. In the
twelfth a portion of that virgin soil
tude Is ruthlessly disturbed. The quiet
coVes and shelly beaches of the island
nocent blood. while man. the master
butcher, conducts an orgy of slaugh-
ter
For Stewart Island and the group
of rocky land specks that surround II
are the home of that marvellous mi
grant, the sooty or short-tailed petrol
a brOwnish- black bird about the size
of an English wood pigeon, scientif-
cally classed as Puffinus brevicaudus
but popularity known throughout Aus
tralia as the mutton bird, because Of
faint resemblance between its cook
ed flesh and mutton.
AT certain times of the year young
mutton birds are sold in large guam
titles throughout Australia and New
Zealand, for they are esteemed a de-
hNdSN ny people. which &C
counts FOR the annual slaughter. The
capture and preparation of the young
birds for market form the staple in
dustry Of the southern Maoris in the
season.
The mutton bird is a migrant but
the Stewart Island group is its breed
ing home, and thither IL comes every
season TO lay its eggs. hatch its young
and remain till the young birds are
able 10 fly away to the north with the
parent birds, those which do not fall
victims to the organized Savagery of
the brown barbarians. 1t is a won
derful sight 10 see the cloud of birds
making for Stewart Island for the
nesting season.
They come almost all together.
fiocks of hundreds Of thousands dark
ening the skies for several successive
days, the blind homing instinct su-
perior TO memories of past slaughter.
The newly arrived birds, which re-
turn TO the islands generally about
September 25th, never more than a
day or 80 later, spend the first few
days after their arrival In fixing up
and cleaning out the old nests where
they nested last year, preparing snug
homes for innoeents to be Matched for
slaughter.
The birds in their nest building op-
erations work with the regularity and
precision OF human beings and with a
great deal more Industry than many
human beings employ. The first thing
they do is TO clean out the old nests
which are holes in the ground ar
ranged in symmetrical fashion and
covering miles of ground. Holes that
have been filled up are excaVated
again; those too wet are extended into
drier ground by side channels. Thus
a single opening to q nest NAV have
three or four side passages. The
depth of the nesting holes Is regulated
by the depth OF the soil everything the
rock; but they are never very deep,
since their direction is horizontal and
tortuous after the birds have bur-
rowed few inches below the surface
of the soil.
So wonderfully is tine homing IN
stinct developed in the mutton bird
that each pair of birds rear their
young in the same nest year after
year. Identical markings on young
birds reared in the same hole during
successive seasons have proved this
remarkable fact.
When the nests are cleared out the
renovated homes are lined with leaves
During the cleaning and nest making,
which is done by both male and fe-
male, the birds go without food. Then
they flock out to sea, catching fish
till about November 25th, when the
laying OF eggs commences. The re-
markable regularity which characte-
riZes the mutton bird in all it's ac-
now again strikingly manifested.
The female birds all lay on or
about the same day and at the same
time Seine of the mutton bird catch
ers actually assert that all the birds
lay exactly on the Same day, but such
unanimity seems hardly possible. I'll
is probable, however, that the laying
season is compressed within the lin
its of two or three days at the most,
for the belated birds that arrive at
Stewart Island after the laying sea-
son has started invariably drop their
eggs into the sea.
Each hen bird lays one large, white
egg with semi-transparent shell,
which is Matched in about four
weeks. At first the young bird is a
mere ball OF down and quite helpless.
1t remains in the nest till about the
beginning of April, by which time it
is enormously fat.
The old bird stops feeding the
young bird about the middle OF April. |
and the youngster is soon driven from
the nest by hunger in search OF food, |
TO offer itself a helpless sacrifice to
its Maori destroyer, for 1T leaves the
nest quite unable to fly and fiops fat
~ about. 1t is at this stage OF its
existence that the young mutton birds
are caught for the Australian market.
for though the birds in the nest are
keenly relished by Maoris, who salt
them and send them to their friends
as a rare delicacy. they are much too
rank then for the European palate.
About the middle OF April the ole
mutton birds migrate to the North.
The young ones follow as soon as
they are able to fly. About the end
of May thousands Of young ones may
be seen Tapping clumsily round and
round the islands learning to fly be-
fore embarking on their first great
migration. In q day or so they wing
In, ~
wake OF their parents. those which