316 THE ANIMALS OF THE ANTARCTIC 



da Cunha and other southern islands, appeal's to have been originally the designa- 

 tion of one of the species of the northern fulmars. 



In the nesting-season many of the islands in the Pacific, especially Laysan 

 Island, and others in the southern ocean, such as Tristan da Cunha, are the resort 

 of thousands of albatroses ; and the following account of the breeding-colonies of 

 these birds is given in that delightful book, A Naturalist on the Challenger. 

 " They make," it is there written, " a cylindrical nest of tufts of grass, clay, and 

 sedge, which stands up from the ground. The nest is neat and round. There 

 is a shallow concavity on the top for the bird to sit on, and the edge overhangs 

 somewhat, the old birds undermining it during incubation by pecking away the 

 turf of which it is made. One nest was 14 inches in diameter and 10 inches 

 in height. The nests when deserted and grass-grown make most convenient seats. 

 The birds lay a single egg, about the size of a goose's or somewhat larger, but 

 elongate, with one end larger than the other, as are all albatros eggs. The egg 

 is held in a sort of pouch whilst the bird is incubating. The bird has thus to 

 be driven right off the nest before the egg is dropped out of the pouch and it 

 can be ascertained whether there is one there or no. The birds when approached 

 sit quietly on their nests or stand by them, and never attempt to fly; indeed they 

 seem, when thus bent on nesting, to have forgotten almost the use of their wings. 

 Captain Carmichael, in his account of Tristan da Cunha, relates how he threw 

 one of the birds over a cliff and saw it fall like a stone without attempting to 

 flap, and yet these birds will soar after a ship over the sea as cleverly as any 

 other albatros ; indeed the same peculiarity occurs in the case of the large albatros 

 when nesting." 



Petrels, or tube-nosed sea-birds, attain a great development in 

 the Southern Hemisphere, where two of their best-known repre- 

 sentatives are the so-called Cape pigeon (Daption capensis) and the dove-petrels 

 of the genus Prion, the latter characterised by the rows of fringe-like plates on 

 the boat-shaped beak. The range of the Cape pigeon extends as far north as 

 Ceylon and Peru. Another well-known species, widely distributed in the southern 

 seas, but breeding as far north as Madeira and the Cape Verde Islands, is the 

 white-faced or frigate petrel (Pelagodroma marina). In Australia this bird is 

 known as the storm-petrel, while it has also usurped the title of Mother Carey's 

 chicken, although both these names belong to Procellaria pelagica, of the Northern 

 Hemisphere. These petrels form enormous colonies ; and the following account 

 refers to a visit to one such colony made at Christmas during the breeding-season, 

 when it was estimated that there were at least 50,000 nesting-burrows on the 

 spit. The site of each burrow is marked by a little heap of sand at the entrance ; 

 and in some places these burrows, which are sheltered by sea-plants of two kinds, 

 are so numerous that on an average there is one to every square yard of ground. 

 They are just wide enough to contain the hand, and of such a length that the 

 terminal nesting-chamber can be easily reached. The sitting petrel can thus be 

 readily captured ; and in all cases during the day only one bird is to be found 

 in each burrow, its mate being away fishing at sea. Late at night the absentees 

 begin to return and relieve their mates at the duty of incubation. By marking 

 a certain number of birds found sitting in the daytime it was ascertained that 



