Vol. XXI 

 1904 



I W. K. Fisher, Habits of the Lnysan Albatross. IQ 



leave the overcrowded area. Loving couples defend their rights 

 against the tardy ones, and it is several days before all have set- 

 tled their respective claims. 



The white Albatross lays one egg, on the ground, usually in a 

 slightly raised mound with a shallow basin in the top. We saw 

 numbers of these ' forms ' almost worn out by the young birds. 

 According to Mr. Max Schlemmer, the representative of the guano 

 company, the egg is laid about the middle of November. We 

 were of course out of season to secure any, although we saw 

 numerous spoiled ones half buried in the sand. The ground color 

 is usually dirty white, with irregular patches and spots of brown- 

 ish maroon at the larger end. Eggs of this type usually average 

 1 1 1.5 mm. in length by 62.5 mm. in width. There is another type, 

 very short and thick (100 mm. by 70), uniform brownish buff with- 

 out any markings whatever^. The young are not hatched until 

 February (Schlemmer) and then begin the six months of hard 

 work to feed the hungry babies. They grow slowly, for birds, 

 and it is not till the last of July that the most venturesome follow 

 their parents on short flights to sea. A few weeks later all are 

 on the wing, and with the old birds they scatter far and wide over 

 the Pacific. Then for two months at least they take a vacation, 

 as it were, before undertaking the cares of the next nesting season. 

 They have been found in their wanderings as far away as Myiake- 

 jima, Japan, and Guadelupe Island off Lower California. Besides 

 on Laysan, Diomedea immiitabilis makes its home on Midway, 

 Lisiansky, French Frigate Shoal, Necker and Bird, and D. nigripes 

 is likewise found on these islands, but ver)^ sparingly on the last 

 two. 



After the Albatrosses leave Laysan the broad rookeries are bare, 

 and with the advent of the fall rains a fine grass springs up all 

 over the deserted cities, forming delicate verdure where recently 

 the ground was packed hard by busy feet. The ancestral home 

 is now bereft of its greatest attraction, and surely the face of the 

 island must seem entirely changed. 



Mr. Butcher in a recent article on the Herring Gull well says 

 that not even the most facile pen can describe the life and beauty 



'I am indebted to Rothschild's 'Avifauna of Laysan,' p. 291, for this 

 description of the eggs. 



