THE WANDERING ALBATROS, 405 



The materials of the nest are equally calculated for conceal- 

 ment, consisting of straw, grass, little sticks, and dried leaves, 

 all being jumbled together with such 'artless art,' that even 

 when a nest is seen, its real nature often escapes the discoverer. 

 If the same materials were seen in a branch at any height from 

 the ground they would at once attract attention, but in the 

 position which they occupy they look like a mass of loose debris 

 that has been blown by the wind and arrested by the foliage 

 among which it has lodged. 



The eggs are equally inconspicuous, being dull olive brown, 

 without a spot or streak. After they are laid, the lively song of 

 the Nightingale becomes less and less frequent, while after the 

 young are hatched, the bird is silent until the next season. The 

 Nightingale is as anxious to conceal itself as its nest, and 

 seldom intentionally shows its brown plumage, though it will 

 sing within six feet of a listener who will remain quiet. In the 

 spring the bird seems as if it must sing, no matter who may be 

 near and its spirit of rivalry is so great, that the 'jug-jug' of 

 one nightingale is sure to set singing all the others withm 

 hearing. 



The Wandering Albaxros {Diomedea exulans), the gianl 

 of the petrel tribe, makes its nest after a peculiar fashion. ^ 



It chooses the summit of lofty precipices near the sea audits 

 nest maybe found most plentifully in Tristan d'Acunha and 

 the Marion Islands. The Albatros is lord of the country and 

 no other living being seems to intrude upon its nestmg place 

 So completely do the birds feel themselves masters of the 

 sLtion! that if a human being penetrates to their haunts 

 t^ey 5tly move about as if he were non-existent, and do not 

 Tppear to take the least notice of him. On such elevated 

 Sns thtcold is necessarily intense, but the Albatros cares 

 no for the cold, and brings up its white-coated young in a 

 temperature that few human beings like to endure longer than 



"No'particular bed seems necessary for ^-/^>^-\^^^^^^ 

 bird simply deposits it on the bare ground, and then scxapes 



