442 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. s, 1903. 
THE ALBATROSS AT HOME. 
{Concluded from Page 440.) 
"One moonlight night we strolled over the island 
after nocturnal petrels and visited a portion of a popu- 
lous albatross colony. The old birds were still hard 
at work executing their queer 'song dance,' and in the 
uncertain light the effect was one long to be remem- 
bered. Their white plumage made them conspicuous 
for a long distance over the stretches near the lagoon. 
From all sides the sound of their groans and bill- 
ALBAXROSS FEEDING YOUNG — FIRST STAGE. 
snappings was audible aboA'e the continual thin, high 
squeak of young albatrosses and the moans and cater- 
wauling of shearwaters and petrels. During some 
quieter spell in the activities of the vocalists faraway 
groans were borne to us across the placid lagoon, as 
a reminder that in other parts the good work was still 
going on. By this time many of the albatrosses had 
started off fishing, as they seem to do a large part of 
it after dark, probably toward morning. 
"It is interesting to note that the antics which have 
just been described are not limited to this species, but 
in a modified form arc practiced by others. Probably 
all species of the genus exhibit the trait in some form. 
"After sunrise the albatrosses begin to feed their 
young. The old bird, coming in from the sea, alights 
near her offspring, which immediately takes the initia- 
tive by waddling up and pecking or biting gently her 
beak. This petitioning always takes place and perhaps 
acts as some sort of stimulus, for in a few moments the 
mother stands up, and with head lowered and wings 
held loosely at the side, disgorges a mass of squids and 
oils. Just as she opens her beak the young inserts its 
■ovfti crosswise and skillfully catches every morsel, which 
it bolts down with evident relish. This operation I saw 
repeated, with short intermissions, ten times. The last 
SECOND STAGE OF FEEDING YOUNG. 
two or three ejections of this oily pabulum cost the 
albatross considerable muscular effort, and the last 
time nothing came up but a little oil, and stomach 
juices presumably. The young bird is not at all modest 
in its demands, but keeps asking for more. The old 
bird now pecks back in an annoj'ed manner, and if 
the other still urges, she arises and walks off, usually 
to some neighboring young one, which she viciously 
mauls about the neck. This exhibition usually takes 
place just before she feeds her 3'oung and likewise be- 
tween courses, as it were. Why she does this I am at 
a loss to suggest, unless it be mere ill will. The old 
bird does not always confine this ill treatment to one 
strange young bird, but takes in a circle Of those whose 
parents are absent. The young thus rudely treated 
sometimes bite back, but usually do not offer resist- 
ance, uttering instead a plaintive little squeak. A small 
mortality is the result of this practice. Dr. Gilbert ob- 
served that Diomedea nigripes is more savage than the 
white species. He saw a black-footed albatross thus 
take in a circle of about twenty young immutabilis and 
'wool' them soundly. Finally, however, the ruffian 
arrived at a Aoungster whose parent, being unex- 
pectedly nearby, set upon the persecutor, and in the 
scrimmage nigripes was put to rout." 
Near the resting places of the young— one could 
hardly call them nests— are often found solid pellets 
made up of the beaks and opaque lenses of the eyes of 
squids, no doubt disgorged by young or old birds, as 
hawks and owls disgorge the undigcstible portions of 
Iheir food. Certain large seeds, which had probably 
been through the same course, were also found on the 
island, for, as is well known, the albatrosses pick up 
and swallow many floating things not adapted to their 
food, and these large seeds, known as candle nuts, 
are often seen floating in the ocean. The nearest trees 
on which they grow are about 700 miles east from Lay- 
san. The observation suggests one means by which 
many hard, floating seeds might be carried into the in- 
terior of islands, and there find a soil favorable to 
their germination. 
The visit of the investigators was happily timed. No 
less than 18 of the 23 species were breeding, some hav- 
ing eggs, others young, and some both. It was found 
that many of the species bred by colonies, choosing 
special localities for their nests and breeding only in 
these localities. The blackfooted albatross breeds on 
the sand beaches, and on the northeast and south sides 
of the island, but not elsewhere. The blue-faced gan- 
net confines itself to the narrow littoral sedge-covered 
slope on the same sides, the gray-backed tern breeds 
higher up, and so, as a rule, each species has its own 
FINAL STAGE OF FEEDING YOUNG. 
locality. It is interesting to note that the birds visit- 
ing the island do not all breed at the same time. 
There is not space enough for them to do so, and as 
noted by an earlier observer, they are obliged to take 
turns; so that some species of sea birds leave the place 
as soon as their j-'oung are strong enough to fly, and 
just at this time other newcomers are arriving at the 
island. "Thus there is a constant coming and going, 
and it follows that breeding species are found at al- 
most every season of the year, a fact which is remark- 
able even in the tropics, where the breeding season is 
less regular than in our latitude. In this way a most 
definite succession, which probably dates back thou- 
sands of years, takes place year after year in the ar- 
rival and departure of certain species." 
The Labrador Duck* 
A Wild Fowl that has Disappeared. 
The Labrador duck Camptolaiinus Jabradorius (Gmel.) 
is one of the two or three North American birds that 
have become extinct within historic times. 
To the earlier ornithologists it was a well-known 
species of the Atlantic coast, and yet, from the way 
in which they write, we may assume that it was never 
verj'- common, for Giraud says, "With us it is rather 
rare," and speaks of it as a bird "chiefly inhabiting the 
western side of the continent," leaving it to be in- 
ferred that there were places where it was more abun- 
dant than on the Atlantic. Wilson calls it "rather a 
scarce species on our coasts." 
Audubon, on the other hand, writing a few years 
earlier than Giraud, saysj ill the fourth volume of the 
Ornithological Biography, published in 1838, "The 
range of this species along our shores does not extend 
further southward than Chesapeake Bay, where I have 
seen some near the influx of the St. James River. I 
have also met with several in the Baltimore market. 
Along the coast of New Jersey' and Long Island it oc- 
curs in greater or less numbers every year. It also at 
times enters the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, and 
ascends that stream at least as far as Philadelphia. A 
bird stuffer, whom I knew at Camden, had many fine 
specimens, all of which he had procured by baiting fish- 
hooks with common mussels, on a trot-line, sunk a 
few feet beneath the surface, but on which he never 
found one alive, on account of the manner in which 
these ducks dive and flounder when securely hooked. 
Of the specimens which I saw with this person, male 
and female were in perfect plumage, and I have not eii- 
YOUNG .\LBATROSS POSING FOR ITS PICTURE. 
joined having opportunities of seeing the changes which 
this species undergoes. 
Audubon supposed that members of his party saw the 
nests of the pied duck on the Labrador coast, in 1833, 
but as these nests were deserted, and were only identi- 
fied by the report of the clerk of the fishing establish- 
ment there, it may well enough be that they belonged 
to some other species. They are described as being 
like those of the eider duck; and perhaps may have 
been nests of that bird. 
The Labrador duck was nearly related to the com- 
mon old-squaw or long-tailed duck, which it somewhat 
resembled in color, as will be seen by the plate. Like 
the eider duck, on the other hand, to which also it is 
closely related, it had a patch of curious bristly feathers 
on the cheeks, and also a soft, membranous expansion 
of the upper mandible of the bill, next to the head. 
Wilson quaintly says of the bill, "toward the extremity 
it widens a little, in the manner of the shovelers, be- 
sides having the singularity of there being only a soft, 
loose, pendulous skin." The bill between the nostrils 
is pale grayish-blue, the sides of the breast, and the 
edges of both mandibles are dull orange, and the point 
of the bill is black. Young males are said to have 
the whole of the white plumage tinged with yellowish 
cream color. The female is ashy-gray, darker be- 
GROUP OF MAN-O'-WAR BIRDS. 
neath and with the secondaries white, the tertiaries 
grayish, and a bar across the wing, formed by the 
white secondaries. 
The extinction of the Labrador duck is very recent, 
the last specimen known having been taken in the year 
1878. Audubon speaks of them in his time as being 
hardy birds, and met with along the coasts of Nova 
Scotia, Maine and Massachusetts, during the most 
severe cold of the winter. He says that "The pied 
duck seems to be a truly marine bird, seldom entering 
rivers unless urged by stress of Aveather. It procures 
its food by diving amidst the rolling surf, over sand 
or mud bars, although at times it comes along the 
shore, and searches in the manner of the spoon-bill 
duck. Its usual fare consists of small shellfish, fry and 
various kinds of seaweeds, along with which it swal- 
