Diving Petrel's Feat.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20561, 12 March 1935, Page 6

Diving Petrel's Feat.

Nature Notes

By

James Drummond. ,

F.L.S. F.Z.S.

r JMIE FEAT of a diving petrel surprised the Rev Oscar Blundell when he was fishing from a launch anchored of¥ Fairchild Reef, Kawau Island, Hauraki Gulf. The petrel sat close to the stern. Mr Blundell baited two hooks with kahawai, threw over the line with the sinker, and turned to cut more bait. Looking up, he found that the petrel had disappeared. As the sinker was not going down, he hauled in th'e line to discover the reason. To his astonishment, up came the petrel, holding fast to one of the baits. He raised it out of the water and placed it in the fish-box. It let go the bait, jumped out of the box. and went into the water, where it sat with an expectant air, as if x nothing out of the ordinary had happened. “ I presume that it is common enough,” Mr Blundell wrote, “ but it is extraordinary that a bird can overhaul a rapidly-descend-ing sinker, seize the bait on the line, and. although unable to drag the lead to the surface, retain its hold for a minute, perhaps longer, until it is drawn into a launch. I hope that a full meal of bait I gave my friend compensated for any disappointment I had caused.”