030 A'ESTS A.\D EGGS OF AX'STFALIAN BIRDS. 



his club amongst the Albatrosses. Tliese bii'ds were sitting upon their 

 nests and almost covered the surface of the ground, nor did they any 

 othei-wise derange themselves for the new \'isitors than to pick at their 

 legs as they passed by." 



Gould fii-st detected this Albatross as a new species off the south coast 

 of Tasmania, and had frequent opportunities of observing it during his 

 stay in Recherche Bay, at the southern entrance of D'Entrecasteaux 

 Channel, where he was windboiuid for nearly a fortnight. The birds 

 seldom approached his sliip near enough for a successful shot, as other 

 Albatrosses had done, which sivggested to him the name rauta, Cautious 

 or Shy Albatross. However, this may be a, case of misnomer, as the 

 naiTatives quoted hereafter may show. White-capped Albatross is at 

 once a more correct and distinctive name. 



Gould was imder the impression that it was breeding on the Mew- 

 stone and other isolated rocks in the neighbourhood, as the plumage of 

 some of his specimens indicated that they had lately been engaged in 

 the task of incubation ; possibly so. 



The lighthouse-keeper on Maatsuyker Island informed me that the 

 precipitous cliffs of Mewstone Island, which is six miles off, are covered 

 in siunmer with white objects, supposed to be Albatrosses. Mewstone 

 Island would be a difficult place to land on. 



Following the days of Bass and Flindei's, some sailore and sealers 

 occasionally visited Albatross Rock. Captain David Finnaner, for 

 many years in the Victorian Harboui* Department, gave me one of his 

 bluntly characteristic and graphic accounts of how he once touched that 

 isolated rock. I longed to visit the place myself, but as I had already 

 taken three trips to islands in the tempest-tossed Strait of Bass, I 

 relinquished the task to other field naturalists. Messrs. D. Le Souef 

 and H. P. C. Ashwortli fii-st essayed and well perfonnod the risky task 

 and brought back Albatrosses, eggs, and photogi'aphs of the " rookeries " 

 — one pictiu'e being kindly taken by Mr. Le Sonef especially for this 

 book. They landed on the island 26th Nevember, 1894. 



I cannot do better than quote Mr. Le Souefs own accovuit as it 

 appeared in the " Ibis " (1895) : " These handsome birds were nesting in 

 several small companies on different parts of the island : the largest 

 colony having about forty nests, and the smallest only six. They built, 

 in some instances, on the rocky ledges of the cliff, at various heights; 

 but the larger number were on the top of the island, near the edge of the 

 cliff. The rocky groiuid at the rookeiy was quite bare of vegetation, 

 and mostly covered with white g^ano. The male and female sit on the 

 nest in turn, and on one occasion I saw a male bird take the place of a 

 female, who- then flew off to sea. 



" Tliere is vei-y little difference between the appearance of the male 

 and female — the grey colom-ation on the side of the neck being slightly 

 darker, and the yellow markings on the beak brighter in the male — 

 but I did not notice any material difference in their size. The breadth 

 across the wings, when stretched out, was eight ^fcet from tip to tip. 

 Frequently, when one bird is on the nest, its mate win be seen sitting 

 close alongside, and they cackle one tO' the other and rub their beaks 

 together. Again, when two strange birds meet, they stretch out their 



