162 THE ATLANTIC. [chap. hi. 



the wandering albatross, Diomedea exulans ', the mollymawk, 

 which appears to be here D. chlororkyricha, thongli the name is 

 given by the sealers to different species — certainly farther south 

 to D. melanophrys / and the piew, D. fuliginosa. About two 

 hundred couples of the wandering albatross visit the island. 

 They arrive and alight singly on the ujjper plateau early in De- 

 cember, and build a circular nest of grass and clay, about a foot 

 high and two feet or so in diameter, in an open space free from 

 tussock-grass, where the bird has room to expand his wonderful 

 wings and rise into the air. The female lays one egg in the 

 middle of January, about the size of a swan's, white with a band 

 of small brick-red spots round the wider end. The great alba- 

 tross leaves the island in the month of July. 



The mollymawk is a smaller bird, and builds a higher and 

 narrower nest, also usually in the open, but sometimes among 

 the brush and tussocks, in which case it has to make for an 

 open space before it can rise in flight. It breeds a little earlier 

 than the wandering albatross, and its eggs were just in season 

 when we were at Tristan. Diomedea fuliginosa builds a low 

 nest on the ledges of the cliffs. 



The other common sea-birds on Inaccessible are the sea-hen, 

 here probably Procellaria gigantea, which is always on the isl- 

 and, and lays two eggs in October on the ground ; and a beau- 

 tiful delicately colored tern, Sterna cassini, wliite and pale gray, 

 with a black head and red coral feet and beak, which breeds in 

 holes in the most inaccessible parts of the cliffs. 



Inaccessible, like Tristan, has its island hen, and it is one of 

 my few regrets that we found it impossible to get a specimen 

 of it. It is probably a GalUnida, but it is certainly a different 

 species from the Tristan bird. It is only about a fourth the 

 size, and it seems to be markedly different in appearance. The 

 Stoltenhoffs were very familiar with it, and described it as being 

 exactly like a black chicken two days old, the legs and beak 

 black, the beak long and slender, the head small, the wings 



