I 12 



NIGHTINGALE ISLAND. 



The Mollymauk is an albatross about the size of a goose, 

 head, throat, and under part pure white, the wings grey, and 

 the bill black with a yellow streak on the top and with a bright 

 yellow edge to the gape, which extends right back under the 

 eye. The yellow shows out conspicuously on the side of the 

 head. It is not thus shown in Gould's coloured figures. The 

 bird is extremely handsome. They take up their abode in 

 separate pairs anywhere about in the rookery, or under the 

 trees, where there are no penguins, which latter situation they 

 seem to prefer. 



They make a cylindrical nest of tufts of grass, clay, and 

 sedge, which stands up from the ground. The nest is neat 

 and round. There is a shallow concavity on the top for the 

 bird to sit on, and the edge overhangs somewhat, the old bird 

 undermining it, as the Germans said, during incubation, by 



pecking away the turf 

 of which it is made. 



I measured one 

 nest, which was 14 

 inches in diameter 

 and 10 inches in 

 height. The nests 

 when deserted and 

 grass-grown make 

 most convenient 

 seats. The birds lay 

 a single egg, about 

 the size of a goose's, 

 or somewhat larger, 

 but elongate, with one end larger than the other, as are all 

 albatross eggs. 



The egg is held in a sort of pouch whilst the bird is incu- 

 bating. Thus the bird has to be driven right off the nest 

 before it will drop the egg out of its pouch, and discover 

 whether there is one there or no. 



The birds when approached sit quietly on their nests or 

 stand by them, and never attempt to fly ; indeed they seem, 

 when thus bent on nesting, to have almost forgotten the use of 

 their wings. 



Captain Carmichael, in his account of Tristan da Cunha, 

 relates how he threw one of the birds over a cliff and saw it fall 

 like a stone without attempting to flap ; and yet these birds will 



Sir Thomas Candish voyage te sien is. " Begin eiide Voortgang vande 

 vereenigde Neederlandtsche Geoctroyeer de Ost-Indische Compagnie." 

 !'• deel. Long folio, Pub. 1646. " Schip.-vaerd der Hollanders nae de 

 Straet Magaljajies," p. 28. 



NEST OF THE MOLLYMAUK. 



