Aviiwrxv or laysan. 



iii 



c, 'The following is the list I was able to compile from the information I had received : — 



1. Diomedea (an eiuhuis r) 1 . Albatross : white, with flesh-coloured bill, varying with white ; 

 grey and black wings. Plentiful on Gardner, where they seemed to live on the highest 

 parts, Holler and Lisiansky, where they lived in a like manner to no. 2. Its voice 

 resembles somewhat that of most of the Gnlls, but is not so strong, and more like a 

 cackle with a howling sound in it. 



2. Diomedea (an f uligiiwsa:) 2 . Albatross: chestnut-bro wd, with black bill and feet ; bill 

 with a white line along it ; size about the same as no. 1. Common on Laysan and 

 Lisiansky, living on the flat ground: extremely foolish and fearless; can be caught with 

 the hands ; must ran a good distance before being able to get up, and stands still if 

 coming across anything. If two meet they bow to each other, uttering a low cackling. 

 When Herr Isenbeck met one he used to bow to it, and the Albatrosses were polite 

 enough to answer, bowing and cackling. This could easily be regarded as a fairy tale ; 

 but considering that these birds, which did not even fly away when approached, had 

 no reason to change their customs, it seems quite natural. The voice is similar to that 

 of no. 1. Its nest is a lump of earth, with a hole in the middle, in which the single egg 

 is placed with the point downwards 3 . The breeding-season was over on Laysan; only 

 bad eggs were found, but a good many young ones, which were covered with grey doAvn 

 and fed with fish by both parents. 



3. Tacky petes aquilus. Obviously the same as Buffbn's figure of the Great Frigate-bird, which 

 is the real Velecanus aquilus of Linne. The specimens found here, of which Herr 

 Isenbeck has preserved several of both sexes, are especially beautiful, with large bright 

 red crop in the male and rich metallic gloss on the long narrow feathers on the back, 

 which are much less conspicuous in the female. The latter is also a little smaller, and has 

 the throat covered with white feathers, instead of having the bare crop of the male. The 

 male blows out the crop like a ball when flying in the air, and this is said to be a very 

 peculiar sight. A single such bird only was seen over Gardner, but very many on 

 Moller, where they sat in pairs on the nests, and were so little shy that they were often 

 caught with the hands. No eggs w r ere as yet found on Laysan, but many on Lisiansky". 

 A single egg only is in each nest, of the size of a Goose's egg, and not very pointed; 

 white in colour. The nests were loose structures of twigs placed on the bushes. 



" The sailors further remarked that, like the Swifts, they firmly believed the Frigate- 

 birds were unable to fly up off flat ground, but always throw themselves off the higher 

 rocks so as to be able to use their huge wings. This gives one good reason to suppose 

 that they arc also unable to swim, or at all events do so very reluctantly. [Mr. Hartert. 

 however, who has seen these birds in numbers in the West Indies, saw them fly up easily 

 from the bushes and scrub, and a bird he wounded swam very well. — W. R.] 



4. A species of Frigate-bird that has not yet been distinguished from the Tachypetes aquilus; 

 but although similar to the common species in size and proportions, differs from it in 



1 Diomedea immutability Rothsch. — W. II. 



2 Diomedea cMnensis, Temm. — W. R. 



3 Palmer gives no record of this, which is so contrary to all other observations, that I firmly believe he could not 

 ive overlooked it. — W. R. 



a 2 



