Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlviii. (1904), No. 33- 15 



noticed several nests which had doubtless been occupied 

 for two or even three seasons. These nests distinctly 

 shewed an annular marking where the structure had been 

 built on, and in some few instances three rings were 

 noticed, shewing that the nest had been used for three 

 seasons. This fact seems to shew that Mollymauks pair 

 for life. Another striking feature about them is that the 

 female lays only one ^%^ during each season, and if this 

 is taken or destroyed the parent birds amuse themselves 

 playing at housekeeping till the following April, when 

 they fly away till the succeeding October. There was 

 abundant evidence to prove this statement, numbers of 

 empty nests being visible around me, the eggs having 

 been removed during the previous November. To give 

 some idea of the abundance of these birds on some of the 

 more remote islands in the southern seas, the following 

 incident may be of interest. Soon after my arrival in 

 Stanley, a sealer arrived at that port with upwards of 

 10,000 eggs laid by this species. The captain had ex- 

 perienced very bad luck during his sealing expedition, 

 capturing only thirty seals during a three months cruise. 

 Not wishing to return empty-handed, he visited the 

 Beauchenes, an isolated group of rocks about a hundred 

 miles due south of the Falkland archipelago, and soon 

 loaded his schooner with Mollymauks' eggs. These eggs 

 were retailed in Stanley at 12/- a hundred, and soon found 

 a ready niarket in a place where so little variety of food 

 can be purchased. I bought a number of them, and 

 had them cooked in a variety of ways, and found them 

 most delicious, being in my opinion vastly superior to 

 Penguin eggs, no fishy flavour being perceptible. One 

 of the crew of this schooner assured me that there 

 remained thousands of nests of Mollymauks on the island 

 still undisturbed, only those nests near the landing place 



