N£STS AAD EGGS 01- AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. g2j 



no more. Well-broddeu Albatross reads intersect each other in the 

 village, and the birds' liighroad led from the nest to the edge of the 

 cliff, whence they cast themselves forth on the wing. It seemed to us 

 also that there was an attention paid to regulaiity in placing the nests 

 in a line or street, so that one mam path might commixnicatc with them 

 aU." 



On Campbell Island the rookeries are at iiitei-vals ou the cast side of 

 the hills wliielx ran the length of the island for about seven uules, 

 passing along to the north of Perseverance Harbour. The highest hill 

 is Lyall Hill, 1,355 feet, and is about the central peak. 



Going beyond the AustraUan region we find it stated that the 

 Giant or Wandering Albatross breeds on Tristan dAcunJia and on the 

 top of In;u'ce«sible Island adjacent. At Tristan there ai-e nests actually 

 williin the crater of the terminal coue around the lake, about 7,000 

 feet above sea-level. 



In liis " Notes on Birds and Eggs from the Islands of Gough, 

 Kerguelen, and South Georgia, " regarding the Wandering Albatross, 

 Mr. G. E. Verrill states two skins and six eggs from South Georgia, 

 and eighty-seven eggs and one skeleton from Gough Island were 

 received, and the Albatrosses were common in all three islands. 

 Mr. Comer's (the collector's) own statement is : " The Albatrosses come 

 ashore dming the mouth of December to mate. The male bird usually 

 remains by till the nest is built. The old nests are usually taken and 

 built higher, the bird sitting on the nest and reaching out and picking 

 up the moss and mud and short grass around her. The nests are from 

 four to ten inches in height, and from twelve to sixteen inches across, 

 tlie top being nearly as broad as the bottom. They do not build near 

 other birds, but lay scattering and generally on knolls and usually ou 

 high land, where there is a good chance to run against the wind and so 

 rise from the ground. These birds laj' but one egg. When robbed 

 they will rem.xin on their nest for a few days and then leave. I have 

 taken a second egg from the same nest, but my behef is that the first 

 bird had left the nest and another taken it. The Albatross skeleton 

 I send you is a female, and had just laid when I killed her ; ^there were 

 no other small eggs in her such as I have always found in other birds 

 that lay again. 



" The yomig Albatrosses have to be at least ten months old before 

 they can fly, and I think it safe to say that not more than five out of a 

 hundred Uve to leave their nests. They are killed by Sea Hens and 

 Nellies." 



Professor Moseley mentions in his " 'Challenger' Notes " that Charles 

 Goodridge, who was one of a sealing party on the Prince Edward Islands 

 in 1820, and spent two yeare on the Crozets, says that the Albatrosses 

 thare lay about Christmas, and that the period of incubation is aboivt three 

 months. The young, he says, were wing feathered and good to eat 

 about May. and did not fly ofi" till December. 



At Campbell Island the young of Diamedea exiilaiis have been 

 observed just chipping their shells in Februaiy. 



Referring to the remarkable length of time the young Albatross 

 remains in or about the nest. Sir Walter Buller, in commenting upon 



