BIRDS OF LAYSAN AND THE LEEWARD ISLANDS. 
789 
In the “Avifauna of Laysan” there is a plate showing “carloads” of albatross eggs, supposed by 
many persons to be ready for shipment to Honolulu. Mr. Schlemmer assured me that eggs have never 
been sent to Honolulu from Laysan, and that these eggs were gathered together by a photographer, 
who could find nothing better to do, for the purpose of a spectacular picture. The photograph has 
had a rather wide circulation and led to some criticism of Mr. Schlemmer’ s predecessor. 
The albatrosses begin to arrive on Laysan about October 25 and 26, and they remain till the 
following August. Dr. Schauinsland says: 
“During the last days of October the first vanguard of the mighty albatrosses appeared, and a 
few days afterwards the island looked, from an elevated point, as if it was densely covered with large 
snowflakes. There was hardly a spot of ground on which the dazzling white plumage of an albatross 
was not apparent and the number of these birds is often so large that many are obliged to be content 
with rather unsuitable spots, and many must leave the overcrowded area.” « 
The young are hatched in February, according to Mr. Schlemmer. They then are covered with a 
grayish-white down * 6 which is soon superseded by a plumage of dark-brown down, assumed by a 
continued growth of the original covering and a wearing off of the gray tips. As the young birds grow 
older the white feathers come in on the breast and abdomen first, and the brown down is in direct com- 
munication with the terminal barbs of these juvenal feathers, as is, of course, well known. The feathers 
of the back also come in about the same time, and those of the wings, save the quills. 
In large colonies of animals, it has always been something of a problem how a parent is able to 
find its young among so many of its kind. The voice is probably responsible in some cases, but as 
birds are extremely keen of sight and evince a positive genius for discriminating landmarks, I believe 
the albatrosses must in some way depend upon peculiarities in the surroundings of their young. It is 
worthy of record, however, that the young often “sing” in a thin, high squeak, which is kept up 
continuously for periods, and may be of service in guiding the parent, though I could not distinguish 
the slightest individuality in tone. I do not know whether they do this when the old birds are 
present, but remember that very many were engaged in the cricket-like song when we visited a 
populous colony late one moonlight night. 
I saw numbers of the y'oung sleeping, their eyes being tightly closed and bills tucked under their 
wings. Some of them did not awake till touched, and then naturally were much startled. The old 
birds seem to be wide-awake at night, but about 9 or 10 o’clock in the morning they frequently sleep 
near their young, with the bill and one eye covered by the wing. 
The shallow, basin-shaped hollow in which the egg is deposited, is the young albatross’s home and 
it usually does not stray far. But as the nestlings grow stronger so that they can walk a little, albeit 
very awkwardly, they wander sometimes a rod from the home spot and engage in mild squabbles with 
youthful neighbors. The same feeling of growing strength leads them about this time to slowly fan 
their wings back and forth from time to time. During a light shower I saw a considerable colony of 
young birds do this together, after the manner of cormorants drying their wings. When the breeze 
is rather brisk they usually all face it. Their spare time is taken up with idly dozing in the hot sun, 
preening their feathers or examining their surroundings. Several times I observed young birds collect 
dried grass and similar material, which happened to be within reach, and carefully cover the hollow 
in which they were sitting. Sometimes their spirit of inquiry leads them into trouble. We found a 
young bird, still lively, buried to its neck in a collapsed petrel burrow. It objected strenuously to 
being disinterred, but appeared little the worse for its adventure. 
We saw a few Diomedea immutabilis on one of the smaller islands of the French Frigate Shoals, 
but the species is evidently not plentiful there. On Necker it is rather abundant, over the top of the 
island, where there is more or less vegetation. Dr. Gilbert estimated roughly that there might be 
from one to two thousand birds. They are also scattered over the shelves on the sides of the north 
point, where I saw an old one feeding her young. She was much more timid than any birds we 
encountered on Laysan. During our first visit to Bird Island, June 2, I saw one or two of this 
species, but on the second trip, in August, none were noted. 
The gony was not seen about the Hawaiian group proper, where it occurs only as a migrant. 
The species is known to breed on Midway , c Lisiansky c , Laysan, French Frigate Shoals, Necker, and 
a Drei Monate auf einer Koralleninsel, p. 52. 
6 Rothschild, Avifauna of Laysan, p. 29. 
•o Avifauna of Laysan, etc., pp. 57, and xni. 
