926 



NESTS AMD EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



rain and snow even at midsummer — and where gales are said to rage 

 three weeks out of fO'Ui". Surely this region must be one of 

 the " Chambers of the South " whence arise Meteorologist Wragge's 

 classical storms. Coming nearer Australian shores we have Campbell 

 Island, a complete contrast to Kerguelen ; for, although a full degree 

 nearer Aiitai-ctica, Campbell island is verdure clad almost to its central 

 peak — Lyall Hill, 1,355 feet above the sea — and girt about the base 

 with iron-wood, so-called ; tliick with dark-green foliage and stems gnarled 

 and twisted by manv a gale ; while at our own door is the Albatross 

 Rock of Flinders, bald and bleak, breaking the swell of the Southern 

 Ocean near the North-east corner of Tasmania, where Messi-s. 

 D. Le Souef, H. P. C. Ashworth, and Gabriel landed recently. 



Such places are some of the breeding haunts of the Albatrosses. 



The Short-tailed Albatross, however, bi'eeds in northern latitudes. 

 The eggs I have received through the agency of Mr. Alan Owston, 

 Yokohama, Japan, were taken on Bonin Islands (situated in latitude 

 27° 40' N. and long. 142° 10' E.) where they are laid at the 

 end of October and the beginning of November. It is most interesting 

 to note that, although these months are the fall of the year in the 

 Northern Hemisphere, they correspond with the laying season of the 

 Albatrosses in the soutli, thus proving, 1 think, that the Short-tailed 

 Albatross was once a dweller with or sprang from the southern birds, 

 and became isolated in the north. 



693. — DioMEDEA MELANOPHRYS, Temminck. — (622) 

 BLACK-BROWED ALBATROSS. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of .Vustralia, fol., vol. vii., pi. 43. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxv., p. 447. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Potts : Trans. New Zealand Inst., 

 vol. vi., p. 152 (1874) ; Duller : Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., 

 p. 200 (iS.SS) ; Verrill : Trans. Connect. Ac, vol. ix., p. (1895). 



Gfdyniphinil Dixt rihiuinrt . — Seas of Queensland, New South 

 Wales, Victoria, South and West Australia, and Ta.smania ; also New 

 Zealand, the Southern Ocean in general, and straying to the Nortli 

 Atlantic. 



Next. — Small, inverted cone in shape ; built of grass, moss and earth 

 to a height of about 4 to 12 inches from the ground, leaving a trcncli 

 round about from wlioncc the material has been scooped. In colonies 

 on plateaus or hills of certain islands in the Southern Ocean. 



Egc/.<i. — Clutch, one ; elliptically inclined in shape ; textiu^ of shell 

 coarse ; sui-face rough and vnthout gloss ; colour, dull-white, with very 

 faint or obsolete markings about the apex. Other examples have 



