TPIE ANIMAL LIFE OF THE GROUP. 315 



and presently rei)eat the pci-fornuinoe. the l)irds reversing' the role in the fitnue 

 or not. 



;\[any variations occur in the order of the dance. Sometimes three or more 

 l)irds will become involved, which adds to the ludicrous nature of the per- 

 formance, as it becomes at once evident that the birds are unable to dance the 

 more complicated round dances and attempts to do so almost invariably result 

 in a breakdown before the dance is carried to the squawking stage. By way of 

 vai'iety, one of the birds will sometimes pick up a feather or stick and tender 

 it to its partner, who promptly returns the compliment, when they pass to 

 the next form, and so on. Through varying figures and manceuvers these birds 

 will continue their play, often for ten or fifteen minutes without cessation. 

 When the end comes, however, it usually follows the uttering of a prodigious 

 groan, after which the birds retire to a respectful distance from each other 

 and resume their ordinary vocation of preening, sunning themselves or merely 

 looking on while their neighbors amuse themselves in the same form of play. 

 So common is the "dance" among them that dozens of couples may be seen 

 engaged in it at any hour of the day or night. 



While the albatross rears a family of but one, they devote much time to 

 the feeding and care of their offspring. The downy nestling issues from a 

 large, dirty white egg (as large as that of a goose) that may be heavily 

 blotched with brownish-maroon, which encircles the egg in a band; or from 

 a brownish-buff egg, without any markings whatsoever. However varied the 

 color of the egg may be, the young birds look so much alike that it is impos- 

 sible to tell how they are recognized by their parents. Fortunately, there 

 seems to be little difficulty, and the old birds seldom molest one another or 

 tlieir neighbors' children. 



The old birds seem to lie very active at night and apparently do a gi-eat 

 part, though not all, of tlicir fishing at that time. Returning to the island 

 from a fishing expedition, they proceed at once to feed their young. The 

 parent bird settles down lieside the nestling, which without delay begins to 

 pick her lieak gently. Presently the parent bird stands up and, lowering its 

 head, opens the lieak and disgorges a mass of |iartia]ly-digested squid and oil; 

 but licfoi-c it is too late tlu' y(.)nng bird inserts ils bill crosswise into that of its 

 parents. ;inil receives the offering with api)arent relisli. The young bird is in 

 no way modest in its demands, and continues to beg for more until the supply 

 is entirely exhausted, when the old bird pecks back savagely, or walks off to a 

 safe distance and settles down to rest and sleei>. 



The black-footed albatross does not visit Laysan in such large nnnil)ers 

 as do the foregoing species, and as a conscfiuence the,\- live in inore restricted 

 colonies. In their habits they closely resemble tlieir while-breasted cousins. 



In the guano beds for which Laysan Island is famous commercially, the 

 workmen often find the eggs of the all)atrnss and the shearwaters bedded in 

 file rock-lik(> guano deposits in a semi-fossil condition. 



