The black albatrosses occupy the beaches of Laysan. This species also has a "dance," 

 more elaborate than that of the white albatross and at a slower pace. The notes are soft 

 and the dance ends with a sound like the stroke of a bell under water 



wing is instantly recognized as being far superior as an aviator. Black 

 albatrosses followed our ship all the way from the Hawaiian Islands to San 

 Francisco. They nest like the white species and feed their young in the 

 same manner. Also they have a performance similar to that of the white 

 species, but much more elaborate and they go through the figures more 

 slowly and gracefully. Instead of lifting one wing they raise both, while 

 the notes uttered are much softer and the whole ends with a sound like 

 the stroke of a bell under water or deep within the bird's body. Black 

 albatrosses are very neighborly with the white species. We often saw them 

 visiting a white colony and on a few occasions trying to perform with 

 them, but the rapid pace set by the white bird was rather too much for his 

 more deliberate cousin, and in each instance the affair ended disastrously. 

 Daring the latter part of August, young albatrosses are strong enough 

 to fly and to feed themselves; all then leave the island and live on the sea 

 until their return for the nesting season. It is a satisfaction in these days 

 when all wild life is fast disappearing to know that there is in the middle of 

 the Pacific this bird wilderness quite unmolested by man. 



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