THE WANDERING ALBATROSS 



271 



corks ; the hook need not be barbed, as it always catches in the 

 curved end of the upper mandible. 



The albatross does not fiy by night, and its habits are tiuite 

 diurnal both on sea and on land. It is rarely found north of 

 latitude 30° S. The nest, which is always placed on high grassy 

 tablelands, is shaped like the frustrum of a cone, with a slightly 

 hollowed top, and is made of grass and mud, which the birds 

 obtain by digging a circular ditch, about two yards in diameter, 

 and pushing the earth towards the centre, until it is about 

 eighteen inches high. In this nest the female bird lays one white 

 egg, in the first week in January at the Auckland Islands, and in 

 the middle of January at Antipodes Island. Both sexes sit 

 alternately. 



In autumn, the old birds leave 

 the breeding-ground and go to 

 sea. When the,y return, each 

 pair goes at once to its old nest ; 

 and, after a little fondling of the 

 young one, which has remained 

 on the nest the whole time, they 

 turn it out and prepare the nest 

 for the next brood. The deserted 

 young one is in good condition 

 and is very lively, and is seen 

 off the nest exercising its wings. 

 When the old birds return and 

 take possession of their nest, the 

 young one often remains outside and nil)])les at the head of the 

 old bird until the feathers between the beak and the eye are 

 removed, and the skin made quite sore. The young birds do not 

 go far from land until the following year, when they accompany 

 the old ones to sea. It used to be a puzzle how the young birds 

 were fed during the absence of their parents, but when the 

 French Transit of Venus expedition visited Campbell Island in 

 1874, they placed sentries over some of the nests, when it was 

 found that the old birds visited and fed their young soon after 

 dawn every morning. 



Young Albatross in nest, 

 Antipodes Island. 



