Nov., 1904 I 
THE CONDOR 
151 
Albatross Pictures 
H\’ WAI.TKR K. I'ISIIER 
ILH'STR.ATKI) WITH PMOTOO RA ITIS BY THE Al'THOR 
I have ventured to reprint the illustrations of my article in the January, 1904, 
A//A\ “On the Habits of the Eaysan Albatross,” hoping that the pictures will 
be of interest to those readers of The Condor who do not regularly see our 
standard journal of ornithology. The following brief synopsis of the pictures is 
not intended to be an exposition of the habits of that most entertaining bird, 
Diomedea iinDiittabilis, but rather a scenario, as it u ere, of its .somewhat theatrical 
FIG. 1. ROOKERY OF LAYSAN ALBATROSSES 
performances. .Something has already been said concerning the general aspects of 
the bird life on Eaysan, in the May and July numbers of The Condor. 
The first picture shows a portion of one of the larger rockeries of Diomedea 
immutabilis, near the southern end of the islet. Here, in years gone by, Japanese 
laborers have cleared away all the loose phosphate rock leaving a level area many 
acres in extent. The albatrosses have entirely preempted the site. In the dis- 
tance may be discerned the sandy slope of the island, corresponding to the sides of 
a meat platter, which the atoll greatly resembles in general form. In the fore- 
ground is seen loose phosphate rock and one of the characteristic bushes of the 
island, Chenopodium sa 7 idwicheiim, a sort of pigweed. Figure 2 is one of the young 
albatrosses in the foreground of i. Most of the birds in sight are young, since the 
photograph was taken in the morning before the adults had returned from the 
aWith the exception of the frontispiece these illustrations are from plates kindly loaned me by Dr. J. A. Allen and 
Mr. Trank M. Chapman, editors of The Auk. 
