HTJXTON ON THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTHERN OCEAN. 229 



overboard from ships. I have never found any remains of fish in its 

 stomach ; and indeed I do not see how it could catch them ; for it never 

 pounces suddenly, like a Frigate Bird or a Gannet, on anything floating 

 in the water, but always settles first, and then devours it at its leisure ; 

 in fact, it sits down to dinner. For this reason it can only be caught with 

 a hook when the ship is going slowly — -not more than four or five knots — 

 and when plenty of line can be paid out, so as to give the bird time to 

 look at the bait before he swallows it. The best bait is a piece of the 

 rind of raw salt pork, as this is so tough that the small birds cannot get 

 it off the hook. The hook need not be barbed, as it always catches in 

 the curved end of the upper mandible ; the bait must be floated by 

 means of corks. I have never seen the Albatross fly at night, and its 

 habits are quite diurnal, both at sea and on land. It is rarely found 

 north of lat. 30° S. ; but so constantly does it approach that limit, 

 that I could generally predict the day on which we should see the first. 

 In April, 1854, however, when sailing from Capetown to St. Helena, 

 in about lat. 26° S., one flew past the ship in a direct line south- 

 wards, without even stopping to look at us ; and I suspect that it had 

 either been caught, and turned loose again after two or three days' im- 

 prisonment, or that it had followed a ship out of its usual haunts, and 

 was now making the best of its way back again. They are very common 

 south of latitude 40° S., and monopolize nearly the whole of the Prince 

 Edward Islands, and the south-east portion, or lee side, as the sealers call 

 it, of Kerguelen's Land, to which places they retire to breed in October. 

 The nest, which is always placed on high table lands, is in the shape of 

 the frustum of a cone, with a slightly-hollowed top, and is made of 

 grass and mud, which the birds obtain by digging a circular ditch, about 

 two yards in diameter, and pushing the earth towards the centre, until 

 it is about eighteen inches high. In this nest the female bird lays one 

 white egg, which is not hatched until January. The nesting of the 

 Albatross has been well described by Mr. Earle and Dr. M'Cormick ; 

 and I have mentioned it here only because Dr. Bree, who, in his " Birds 

 of Europe," has given the latest account of this bird, has reproduced 

 the statement of Captain Carmichael, in his " Description of the Island 

 of Tristan d'Acunha," in the twelfth volume of the "Transactions of 

 the Linnean Society," that it makes no nest — a statement which is cer- 

 tainly erroneous. At a certain time of the year, between February and 

 June, Mr. Harris cannot exactly say when, the old birds leave their 

 young, and go to sea, and do not return until the next October, when 

 they arrive in large numbers. Each pair goes at once to its old nest ; 

 and, after a little fondling of the young one, who has remained on or 

 near the nest the whole time, they turn it out, and prepare the nest for 

 the next brood. The deserted young ones are in good condition, and 

 very lively, frequently being seen off their nests exercising their wings. 

 When the old birds return and take possession of their nest, the young 

 one often remains outside, and nibbles at the head of the old one until 

 the feathers between the beak and the eye are removed, and the skin 



