14 ]\Ir. R. Hall on the 



family under very favourable circumstances. It is quite 

 sociable, and those off duty are specially communicative 

 when they liave nothing else to do. A jjair will face each 

 other and engage in a conversation that is hoarse but not 

 jarring; and this they vary considerably, going to the lowest 

 and trying to get to the liighest notes without spoiling the 

 eft'cet. It is certain that they like to communicate with each 

 other while they are gracefully standing or walking. One day 

 I was basking in the sunshine on a hillside, watching fifteen 

 sitting Albatrosses on the slopes of some hillocks facing each 

 other (see fig. 1, p. 13). Occasionally a bird would alighi after 

 a little wheelingj but with widely parted legs to make sure it 

 would come down correctly. Albatrosses may be ungainly 

 on a ship's deckj but they are very majestic in tlieir nesting- 

 places, and I could not but admire their stately walk. My 

 attention was attracted by a group of four birds Avliich were 

 gracefully billing each other. Now and then one would extend 

 its wings as if to embrace the other, while afterwards they 

 would sit down opposite and bill again. Two of tliese were 

 birds of last year, and two were adults, while on two nests 

 Avithin a few yards adults were sitting. This family circle 

 charmed me, and I at once put away the story of how old 

 birds cruelly drive away young ones from the nests, when the 

 latter are old enough to leave. Here were the eggs of this 

 year, the young of last year, and, presumably, the parents of 

 both. I have seen an adult run thirty yards with fully extended 

 wings and then leave the level ground, Avhile another ran only 

 three paces with outspread pinions before rising from the flat 

 ground. The feathers of the immature birds in this group 

 were dark on the crown of the head, while those on the back 

 and head were not pure white but like those of Z). exulans ; 

 though otherwise these birds of one year old were similar to 

 their parents in appearance. The birds now incubating were 

 in the quartette arrangement or in pairs, so that they always 

 had company to talk to and to bill with. In each set there 

 were young birds. Later on I saw eight birds closely 

 assembled, four of which I considered mature and the other 

 four young. One was quite brown, with perhaps a little 



