Birds of Kerguelen Island, 1 5 



white on the face, l)ut the otliers were blotched with sombre 

 colour on their necks. Here were four nests with sitting 

 birds within one hundred yards, so that four families were 

 amicably engaged in the task of incubation and enjoying 

 meanwhile each other's company. 



In the month of February, out at sea (]02° E., 43° S., 

 February 2nd, 1898), I noticed an Albatross which looked 

 like a link between this uniformly brown young bird 

 and the almost mature Avhite-necked one. It was dark 

 brown, except the bill, face, cheeks^ and throat, which were 

 white, with two white lines of feathers in the wings close to 

 the body as it floated on the water; the under sides of the 

 wings had two wide bands of bluish-white and black. It 

 was a piebald bird, and the only one seen by me throughout 

 the trip. This Avas most likely a last season^s bird, late in its 

 moult, but not so late as the very brown one. These three 

 stages may be normal, and probably are such. As to how 

 the young learn to fly, my opinion is that they simply tumble 

 out of the nest and practice their legs and wings until they 

 <3an fly from the flat ground. The nests are promiscuously 

 placed, and cliffs are less favoured than undulating ground 

 near a low beach. When a Skua hovers above them, the 

 sitting birds look defiant and clatter their mandibles. 



In three distinctly large colonies, and also in isolated 

 pairs, the nests were usually within 50 feet above sea-level. 

 The largest group was near Mount Campbell, where Ave 

 handled some 80 eggs and observed many more in the 

 distance. On Howe Island, ofl:' Kerguelen, I examined 

 some 30 nests with eggs. At the Prince of Wales's Fore- 

 laud Avere more than 25 nests ; while solitary nests Avere 

 noted on Long Island, in Royal Sound, and on the adjacent 

 southern beach. 



Several of these nests Avere quite hidden from a vicAV of 

 the sea, and extended inland half a mile, where ridges and 

 small freshwater lakes intervened. They are made up of 

 peaty grass interwoven with fibrous earth. A typical nest 

 measured : breadth 37 inches, diameter of boA\'l 18 inches, 

 depth of bowl 5 inches. The floor of this boAvl Avould be 



