2 BULLETIN 121, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



sailing down into the valleys between them, frequently lost to sight 

 but never troubled or confused, thoroughly at home in its native 

 element. What mariner would not respect the bird that shows such 

 mastery of the sea in all its wildest moods? 



Although the black-footed albatross is a bird of the northern 

 hemisphere, living its life on the Pacific Ocean north of the equator, 

 it shares with the antarctic Tuhinares the habit of breeding during 

 our winter months, resorting to the islands in the Hawaiian group 

 for this purpose early in November. Dr. T. W. Richards (1909) 

 says of its arrival on the Midway Islands, situated in latitude 28° 

 13" North and longitude 177° 21' West : 



In 1906 nigripes arrived the first week in November, iinmutabilis following 

 a few days later, and by the 20th of the month both species had deposited 

 eggs. Dr. Campbell believes that the birds pair after arrival, but it would seem 

 that some, at least, may have mated previously. 



Courtship. — The courtship dance of the Laysan albatross has been 

 fully described by Dr. Walter K. Fisher (1904), and the same 

 curious performance is indulged in by the black-footed species with 

 some variations. Doctor Fisher noted the following differences in 

 the ceremony : 



I saw the black-footed albatrosses (D. nigripes) rather seldom engaged in 

 the dance, and indeed they impress one as more matter-of-fact creatures. The 

 only difference which was observed in the ceremony as carried out by the two 

 species is that nigripes spreads its wings slightly (the metacarpus or "hand" 

 being folded closed) when it lifts its head to utter the nasal song. 



Prof. Homer R. Dill (1912) says that it is similar, 



but much more elaborate, and they go through the figures slowly and grace- 

 fully. Instead of lifting one wing they raise both. They are very neighborly 

 with the other species. We often saw them visiting, and on one to two occa- 

 sions they were trying to perform with them, but the rapid pace set by the 

 white bird was rather too much for his more deliberate cousin, and the affair 

 ended disastrously. 



According to Doctor Fisher (1904a), Dr. Charles H. Gilbert, while 

 cruising about a hundred miles off San Diego, California, on the 

 steamer Albatross, saw six black-footed albatrosses pair off and 

 indulge in this peculiar dance. This was during the latter part of 

 March, when the adult birds should have been on their breeding 

 grounds, but these were apparently immature birds. 



Nesting. — Doctor Fisher (1906) says of the breeding habits of this 

 species on Laysan Island : 



The black-footed albatross is very much less abundant on Laysan than the 

 white species. It colonizes the sandy beaches on the north, east, and south 

 sides, but is not found, except rarely, on the west side. It is likewise common 

 on the sedge-covered slope near the beach, in the same habitat with Sula 

 cyanops, On one or two occasions I noted them in the interior with D. immuta^ 

 MUs, 



