DIOMEDEA IMMUTABILIS. 



in a day, a trading company, formed by the Japanese Government for the purpose 

 of collecting guano, was so unsuccessful that it developed into a scheme for making 

 a marketable commodity of the birds by killing and boiling them down. Subsequently 

 the flesh, bones and viscera were barrelled and shipped to Japan, where the mixture 

 was used as a fertiliser. The long quills from the wing were sold as Eagle-feathers, and 

 were shipped to England or America for millinery purposes, while those from the breast 

 were sold by the pound. Thus a profitable business was developed at the cost of the 

 entire colony of these splendid birds, which in six years were completely exterminated, 

 for on Mr. Bryan's visit to the island, out of ten birds which formed the total number 

 collected that year, he was only able to procure one specimen from a Japanese trader. 

 The following notes are taken from Mr. W. K. Fisher's article on the Laysan 

 Albatros (Auk, XXI., pp. 8-20) : — Diomedea immutdbilis is distributed throughout 

 the Island of Laysan, with the exception of the sea beaches, which are colonized on 

 all sides, saving the west, by D. nigripes. It prefers the open to the bushy af-ea, 

 and the flat plain round the lagoon is a favourite habitat. At certain times of the day 

 the greater number of the adults go out to sea for food, while the young birds, and 

 a few of the old ones, are left at home to disport themselves in their ridiculous attitudes 

 and endless dances. In four months the young birds become as heavy as their parents, 

 and if approached too near they fly into a rage and snap their beaks rapidly to frighten 

 the intruder. When undisturbed, they sit for hours on their heels, with their feet tilted 

 in the air, apparently gazing into the distance, and showing but little intelligence. The 

 young birds do not stray far from home, but later, as their strength increases, they fan 

 their wings from time to time, and this was specially the case after a shower of rain. 

 Mr. Fisher gives a minute description of the curious sort of dance in which they 

 engage, for which I must refer the reader to his article for further particulars. He also 

 gives an interesting calculation of the quantity of food consumed by these birds. 

 Taking their number at 1,000,000, which he does not consider excessive, and allowing 

 one and a half pounds of squid (Ommastrephes oualaniensis) for each bird per day, they 

 would consume nearly 600 tons of these animals. The Albatroses live on Laysan 

 for nearly ten months of the year, arriving towards the end of October, and 

 Dr. H. Schauinsland, who witnessed their advent, says that they come in such 

 countless numbers that the exposed places in the island become as white as though a 

 fall of snow had taken place. Like other Petrels, D. immutdbilis lays a single egg 

 about the middle of November, in a shallow depression on the top of a slightly raised 

 mound. The egg is of a dirty white, with irregular patches and spots of brownish 

 maroon at the larger end. The young are hatched in February, but grow slowly, and 

 it is not till July that they can follow their parents on their first flights to sea. A 

 few weeks later they all take their departure, and are absent from the island for about 

 two months, when they disperse over the Pacific, wandering as far as Japan, and 

 Guadalupe off Lower California. Besides Laysan D. immutabilis makes its home 



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