NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. 295 



plenty of adhering earth beaten and packed together, and are not so straight in 

 the sides as those of the Mollymauks, but more conical, with broad bases. The 

 female Albatross is sprinkled with grey on the back, and is thus darker than the male, 

 which is of a splendid snow-white colour, with the least possible grey speckling, and 

 was now, of course, seen in his full glory and best breeding plumage ; the tails and the 

 wings of both birds are dark. The Albatrosses met with at sea are most frequently 

 birds in young plumage or bad condition, and have a rather dirty draggled look. 

 The brooding birds are very striking objects, sitting raised up on the nest, commonly 

 with the male birds beside them. They sit close on the nest when approached, and snap 

 their bills savagely together, thus making a rather loud noise, and will lay hold of a 

 stick with their bills when it is pushed against them, but need a good deal of bullying with 

 the stick before they stand up in the nest and let the intruder see whether they have an 

 egg there or not. Then the egg is seen to appear slowly out of a sort of feather pouch, 

 in wdiich it is held during incubation. Only one egg is laid, which is about five inches long, 

 as big as a swan's, and white with specks of red at the large end. In most of the nests 

 there were fresh eggs ; in some, however, nearly full grown young birds. The old birds 

 never attempted to fly, though persistently ill-treated, but merely waddled heavily over 

 the ground ; the old males tried to run away when frightened, but never even raised their 

 wings. It is amusing to watch the process of courtship : the male standing by the female 

 on the nest raises his wings, spreads his tail and raises it, throws up his head with the bill 

 in the air, or stretches it straight out forwards as far as he can, and then utters a curious 

 cry, like that of the Mollymauk, but in a much lower key, as would be expected from his 

 larger larynx. Whilst uttering the cry, the bird sways his neck up and down ; the 

 female responds with a similar note, and they bring the tips of their bills lovingly together. 

 This sort of thing goes on for half an hour or so at a time. Occasionally an Albatross 

 sailed round and alighted upon the grass, but none were seen to take wing. 



There were numerous nests of the Skua about amongst the herbage in dry places. 

 The nests of these birds are never built near together ; thus they always have a wide 

 range of hunting ground round their nest. The Skuas in Marion Island were extremely 

 bold and savage, as they were also in Kerguelen Island. 



Three kinds of Penguins were abundant on the island. One kind (Aptenodytes 

 [Pygosceles] taniatus), called by the sealers the "Johnny," the "Gentoo" of the Falk- 

 land Islands, is much larger than the Crested Penguin, in fact, nearly as big as the King 

 Penguin. The beak is bright red, long and sharp-pointed, the back dark, the breast 

 white; the colour of the back is continued on to the head, but a white patch on the 

 top of the head in contrast with the dark colouring is the marked feature about the 

 bird. These Penguins were nowhere met with nesting, but were often associated 

 with the King Penguins. They were usually to be met with here and in Kerguelen 

 Island in parties of a dozen or twenty or thirty on the grass, close to the shore, and were 



