146 



For the foregoing illustration of the Albatros on her nest (in Campbell Island) I am indebted 

 to Commander Grlossop, R.N., late of H.M.S. ' Lizard,' who kindly furnished me with the photo- 

 graph. He says that the nest was composed almost entirely of dry tussock-grass, with a neat 

 cavity plastered on the inside with mud, forming, as it were, an enamelled basin. Two eggs 

 which he presented to me are broadly ovoido-elliptical in shape, and creamy-white, with a 

 finely granulate surface. One of these measures five inches in length, by three inches in 

 breadth, and the other is '25 of an inch broader. 



In the above illustration, as in the two preceding ones, the bird seems to have a dispro- 

 portionately long neck, but this is due to its being stretched up, through fear or excitement, on 

 account of intrusion. 



I find the following entry in my private diary : — 



On July 9th, when about 700 miles N.E. of the Sandwich Islands, we saw the little Sooty- brown Albatros 

 (Diomedea nigripes), of the North Pacific, for the first time. About 4 a.m. on that day the steamer came to a 

 dead stop, owing, it was said, to the over-heating of one of the bolts in the engine-room. I at once went on 

 deck. The sea was as calm as a mirror, and, half an hour later, the sun rose in all his majesty, presenting one 

 of those sublime views that can only be seen at sea. As I watched the placid ocean I saw two birds in the 

 distance making straight for the steamer ; on coming close to us, they were joined by a third. They made 

 several courses round the ship and then settled down, in a very dainty manner, on the water. When on the 

 wing, I observed that they occasionally sailed like the Wandering Albatros, but habitually did more flapping 

 with their wings and generally kept very near the surface of the water. They all had a little white about the 

 face, and one of them had a white terminal margin to the tail-feathers. The captain tells me that from this 

 point this form of Albatros generally follows the steamer right up to Vancouver. In the afternoon of the 

 same day there were about eight or ten of these birds following the ship. Some of them had white tail- 

 coverts, upper and lower, one had the whole rump white, and another had the entire abdomen greyish-white. 

 It seemed to me that their habits in every respect were similar to those of the Mollymawk. I observed also 

 that it is only in calm weather that they skim the surface of the water. 



Order PEOCELLAEIIFOEMES.] 



[Family DIOMEDEID^E. 



DIOMEDEA MELANOPHRYS. 



(BLACK-EYEBEOWED ALBATEOS.) 



Diomedea melanophrys, Boie ; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 198. 



In the perfectly adult bird the bill is of an uniform gamboge -yellow, shaded with orange on 

 the hook and with a very fine line of black around the base of both mandibles; feet delicate 

 blue-grey, darker on the joints and interdigital webs; claws whitish-horn colour. In a fresh 

 specimen of Diomedea melanophrys I found the extent of wings to be 81 inches. 



This species of Mollymawk breeds at Campbell Island (Hutton) ; also on The Sisters, a group 



