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Past information on the birds of Antipodes Island is reviewed and an account given of the findings of the first scientific party to live ashore, from 28 January 1969 to 12 March 1969. The bird list of 37 species includes 16 for which breeding is proven (11 seabirds and 5 landbirds) ; eight seabirds that almost certainly breed but whose eggs or chicks have yet to be seen; four seabirds and two landbirds that possibly breed and two seabirds and two landbirds that appear to be stragglers. Three seabirds known only from nearby seas complete the tally. Dimensions are given of birds handled or collected. Most were petrels and included a sample of Soft-plumaged Petrels, previously unrecorded in New Zealand, the skins of which were compared with those of other populations and judged to belong to the nominate race. Skins of the Little Shearwaters, collected for the first time at Antipodes Island, agreed with examples of the subspecies elegans from the South Atlantic. A census was attempted of the Wandering Albatross population, and the penguin and Northern Giant Petrel colonies were mapped. The seabird fauna is compared with the seabird faunas of our other southern islands.