CHAr:.iAN. — 0)1 the Islands south of Ncio Zealand. 509 



not help stopping to admire the grandly beautiful birds. The 

 oldest are pure-white excepting the wings, which are pencilled 

 with brown ; the youngest are nearly black. They are sup- 

 posed to turn whiter and whiter as they grow older. As we 

 found them here, there were very few quite white ; they 

 were generally beautifully pencilled with dark lines. I have 

 given the received explanation as to colour and age, but I am 

 bound to say it does not answer all observations, as some of 

 the young birds not fully fledged in the Otago Museum are 

 quite white. Many birds which could not fly had a little 

 down hanging about their necks still. Their condition shows 

 that there are many young birds not yet fully fledged when 

 the old birds lay their next year's eggs. When a bird is put 

 off its nest it goes over in a helpless way. As you approach 

 it it makes a demonstration, clapping with its beak. This 

 clapping noise, which is even more used by nestlings than by 

 old birds, probably serves to intimidate sea-hawks, but it ofteu 

 betrayed to us the unsuspected presence of nests among the 

 tall tussock-grass. It is said it will snap at flesh, but not at 

 a gloved hand. I generally gave them a bit of stick to bite, 

 and gently turned them off backwards. Thus treated, the bird 

 will fall upon its back, with its head and the elbow-joints of 

 its long wings in the tussock, kicking helplessly w'ith its feet. 

 As soon as possible it would scramble back upon the nest, 

 sometimes looking down occasionally with one eye at a time 

 like a duck to see if the egg was there. When a bird had not 

 yet laid it usually stood up as we came to the nest. When it 

 had an egg nothing w^ould induce it to rise and show it. It 

 would sit close to the nest with the egg in the folds of its 

 abdomen. By its sitting so close we could tell that it had an 

 egg. In some places male and female stood by a half-made 

 nest. We could see them gently curtseying to each other, 

 and then rubbing their bills together. This undemonstrative 

 style of courtship was going on everywhere. I do not suppose 

 that one-half of the nesting birds were laying yet. In many 

 places four, in some eight or ten birds stood in solemn con- 

 clave together, and scarcely stirred when we walked among 

 them. I presume they were waiting on 'change for eligible 

 offers of marriage. Very few birds showed any departure 

 from the universal habit. Once one rushed at me to attack 

 me as a goose does. Once, too, one ran away from me in 

 great haste. Occasionally, as I came up to a bird which was 

 not nesting, it ran along the grass and took flight, soaring 

 away as tliey do at sea: this, however, was rare. Now and 

 then we found their castings, and these were always found to- 

 contain masses of undigested beaks of small cuttlefish. We 

 soon gathered a hundred eggs between four of us. These 

 were blown on the spot with a blowpipe. They were nearly 



