THE ALBATROSS. 445 



who has penetrated further into these inhospitable 

 southern regions than any other navigator, met with them 

 in great numbers amidst the icy rocks of the New South 

 Shetlands, associating, as we shall hereafter see, with 

 the Penguins; though in the dreary island of Tristan 

 d'Acuriha, another traveller, Mr. Eaiie, describes them 

 as the sole occupants, without any interloper, whether 

 friend or enemy. In the higher regions, amidst the 

 barren and cindery peaks of black rocks composing that 

 dismal island, he found the young ones on the ground 

 completely uncovered, and the old ones stalking around 

 them. Each bird lays but one egg, and after the 

 young one is hatched, it has to remain a year before it 

 can fly. 



Their style of courtship, and of selecting their mates, 

 is described as very ludicrous. The couple approach 

 one another with great apparent ceremony, bringing 

 their beaks repeatedly together, swinging their heads, 

 and contemplating each other with very deliberate at- 

 tention. Sometimes this will continue for two hours 

 together, like a courtship in a pantomime. They have 

 great power in their beaks, and when on the nest they 

 will defend themselves for half an hour against an active 

 dog. 



Mr. M'Cormick, surgeon in Sir James Ross's expedi- 

 tion of discovery in the Antarctic regions, corroborates 

 this account, and gives the following more minute descrip- 

 tion of one of their places of resort for breeding, in 

 Campbell's Island. He says, "during our stay in the 

 months of November and December, the Albatrosses 

 were so busily employed in the work of incubation, as 

 to allow themselves to be caught without making an 

 effort to escape. It was an amusing scene to watch a 

 group of these birds, a dozen or more, assembled toge- 

 ther on the side of a hill, grotesquely waddling about, 

 selecting their mates; this being settled, they dispersed, 

 -and each pair fixed upon a spot for the nest, which con- 

 sisted of a mound of soil, intermingled with withered 



