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The following account of the nesting of the Albatros has been published by Mr. L. 

 Cockayne, the botanist, who visited the Islands, in 1903, in the Government steamboat 

 ' Hinemoa ' : — 



The heights of Adam's Island — the most southern of the Auckland group — are famous as being the nesting 

 ground of the Albatros. Unfortunately, and to the great regret of my companion, Mr. Jennings, of the 

 Dunedin Museum, the half-hour allowed on Adam's Island was too short to climb 2,000 feet in quest of the 

 young Albatros in its down, but we had plenty of opportunity to make their acquaintance both on the 

 mountains of Campbell Island and on the low ground of Antipodes Island ; on the former island it is the Royal 

 Albatros and on the latter the Wandering Albatros. The bird lays one egg, and, in course of time, the 

 chicken appears, and it remains on the nest for twelve months, being presumably fed during that time by the 

 old birds [see page 132]. As a person approaches a nest in mid-winter the young bird raises itself up to its 

 full height, say some two feet or so, its downy plumage rivalling the snow patches in whiteness, and snapping 

 its beak at the intruder. On Antipodes there were hundreds of these lovely creatures within a few 

 acres. The nests are usually in the most exposed places, and the gales of these southern islands are something 

 to remember. 



The following is from my diary for 1894, recording observations on an ocean voyage round 

 the world :— 



26th February.— Saw yesterday, for the first time during the voyage, the young of Diomedea exulans, in 

 slaty plumage with white face. Surprise has often been expressed at the relative fewness of the dark-coloured 

 Albratroses as compared with the white-pmmaged ones. But the explanation is a very simple one. There 

 are two closely-allied species of Wandering Albatros (D. exulans and D. regia), one of which is white at 

 all ages. Supposing, therefore, that a pair of each has one young one, the proportion of white birds to 

 dark in the two families will be as five to one — that is to say, two adult D. exulans, two adult and one young 

 D. regia (all of these white), to the one young D. exulans in dark plumage. In addition to the four species of 

 Albatros, we have to-day Majaqueus parkinsoni, but no Prion desolatus. We have now ' the brave west wind ' 

 right aft, with the sea mountains high, and a very rough sea does not suit the Dove Petrel. The manner in 

 which numbers are cast ashore on the strand after every heavy gale is sufficient proof of this. At noon to- 

 day three hundred miles from land— a Skua (Megalestris antarctica) passed twice round the ship, and 



returned later in the day to complete the inspection, flying high, and in a very hawk-like manner. 

 Priofinus cinereus in great numbers to-day. Their flight is an easy one, alternately soaring and skimming, 

 with very rapid evolutions, and they seem rarely to descend to the water to pick up food. In calm weather 

 they look very pretty as they wheel about simultaneously in a large flock, their white underparts gleaming 

 in the sunshine. Among the Sooty Albatroses (Phoebetria fuliginosa) following the ship one exhibited a broad 

 white patch on the nape. 



Almost every public museum in the world possesses one or more specimens of the Wandering 

 Albatros, because no general collection is considered complete without it. I remember, several 

 years ago, presenting a very fine one (mounted in a glass case) to the Cambridge University 

 Museum. It was so inconveniently large that its location became a serious difficulty ; but, in the 

 end, the Director wrote to me that as museums were for the display of exhibits, he would rather 

 enlarge the bird-gallery than decline the gift ! In the Colonial Museum, Sir James Hector had 

 one mounted, to its full extent, in the attitude of flight. It was of course a very effective object, 

 but the wall-case had to be considerably enlarged in order to accommodate it. 



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