LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS. 3 



The nest is a mere hollow scratched in the bare sand, without even 

 a rim of sand raised around it. 

 Eggs.—DoGtoY Kichards (1909) describes the eggs as follows: 



Each pair of birds— and this applies to both species— rarely lays more than 

 one egg in a season, if undisturbed; and if a second egg should be deposited 

 he first is thrown out, leaving but one to incubate. If, as was formerly the 

 case, the nests are systematically robbed, four eggs are usually supplied by each. 

 In nearly all published descriptions of eggs of the Diomedeidae they are re- 

 ferred to in terms somewhat as follows: "White, sometimes speckled or 

 sprinkled on larger end with reddish brown " (Ridgway), giving the impression 

 that they resemble, on a large scale, eggs of the stormy petrel, for example. 

 While this may be true of some species, it would be inappropriate for a great 

 many specimens of D. niffripes, though some are faintly speckled or even im- 

 maculate. In many instances, however, these eggs are boldly and handsomely 

 splashed with dark brownish red, in some forming a cap or wreath about one 

 end, usually the larger; in others, extending over nearly one-half the shell; in 

 fact there is as much color, relatively, as on an average egg of any of our 

 larger Buteos, though it is apt to be more constantly confined to one end. 

 Compared with eggs of immutabilis they average more color, but extremes easily 

 overlap and identity can not be determined from the eggs alone. 



The measurements of 45 eggs, in various collections, average 108.8 

 by 70.3 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 

 120.7 by 69.8, 109.5 by 86, 98.1 by 68.4, and 109.3 by 56 millimeters. 



Young.— Doctor Richards (1909) says further: 



Incubation lasts about six weeks, both birds taking turns on the nest so that 

 the egg is constantly covered. The young are fed, in the well-known manner, 

 by regurgitation from the throat of the parent, remaining about the islands 

 until the following June or July, so that the entire reproductive period occupies 

 about one-half the year. 



The young are probably nearly six months old before they are able 

 to fly. 



Plumages.— Imm^tuTQ birds, during the first year at least or per- 

 haps longer, are in uniformly dark sooty plumage, a faint suggestion 

 of the white face at the base of the bill and a few white feathers on 

 the upper tail-coverts probably indicate approaching maturity. The 

 dull white face and the pure white rump and under tail-coverts are 

 characteristic of the fully adult plumage which is certainly not ac- 

 quired until the second year and probably not complete until much 

 later. 



Food.— The food of this albatross consists of whatever edible refuse 

 it can pick up from the surface of the sea. It follows vessels persist- 

 ently for the purpose of picking up bits of garbage thrown overboard, 

 over which it often quarrels with its neighbor. From a slow-moving 

 sailing vessel it can easily be caught with a hook and line, baited with 

 almost any kind of animal food ; but we were unable to hook any 

 from our fast-moving revenue cutter, although the birds made re- 



