j4ves.^ 



SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 



573 



I did not visit Campbell Island on the occasion of the Subantarctic Expedi- 

 tion, but Professor H. B. Kirk informs me that the egg of the royal albatros was 

 first seen on the 25th November. Mr. G. R. Marriner, who was also one of the Camp- 

 bell Island party, writes to me as follows : " The royal albatros was common on all 

 the uplands from 500 ft. to 1,000 ft., being specially numerous on the north-west 

 slopes of Mount Lyall and Mount Honey. The following sexual differences were 

 noticed several times during copulation : In the female the dark coloration of 

 the wing-coverts is denser and more pronounced, and the bird appears to be a little 

 less in weight than the male. The latter has a thicker neck. These points were 



Fig. 17. — Nest and Egg of Pvoyai, Albatkos [hiviiiedca ret/ia), Cajipbeli. Island. 



verified several times, and appear to be definite sexual differences. The nests are 

 not built close together, but usually 50 yards or more apart." Respecting the flight 

 of the royal albatros, Mr. Marriner adds, " I forced one (with the wind) to walk over 

 a precipice, some 50 ft. deep, to see if the bird could rise on its wings, but it fell to 

 the bottom with a heavy thud. I also noticed that, even if a bird has just risen off 

 the ground, and the force of the wind is lessened to any great extent by the brow of 

 a hill, it falls again to the earth heavily." 



Buller writes,* " Like its congener, Diomedea exulans, this albatros forms a 

 very rude nest — just a few loose materials collected together in any convenient 



* Buller, Supp. Birds of N.Z., i, 1905, p. 141. 



