158 
THE CONDOR 
VOL. VI 
The partner during this short performance assumes a statuesque pose and either 
looks mechanically from side to side or snaps its bill loudly a few times. (Fig. 7.) 
Then the first bird (to the left of the picture) bows once and pointing its head and 
beak straight upward, rises on its toes, puffs out its breast, and utters a prolonged 
nasal Ali-h-h-h with a rapidly rising inflection, and with a distinctly ‘anserine’ and 
‘bovine’ quality, quite difticult to describe. While this song is being uttered, the 
companion loudly and rapidly snaps its bill. (Fig. 8.) Sometimes both birds raise 
their heads in the air, and either one or both utter the curious groan. (Fig. 9.) 
Figures 6, 7, and 9 are of the same pair of birds. Three sometimes engage in the 
dance, one dividing its attention between two until it tires and finally deserts one 
of the partners, to devote its entire attention to the other. If a person bows to the 
birds while they are engaged in “cake-w'alking” or soon after they have finished, 
they will usually bow in return and walk around in a puzzled sort of way. It 
would seem that whenever they behold anything bowing, a sort of reflex stimulus 
is set up in their own bodies. 
DIOMEDEA NIGRIPES PUNISHING STRANGE YOUNG 
The gonies depend entirely upon squids for food. That the number of these 
cephalopods in the surrounding waters must be ver\^ great is suggested by the 
fact that the approximate million of albatrosses on the island consume, allowing 
from one- half to one and one-half pounds of food a day to each individual, between 
250 and 600 tons daily. As the .squids are nocturnal or crepuscular in habits the 
albatrosses fish after dark, most probablj^ from just preceding dawn till light. 
They return to the island, from long distances, and feed the young anytime during 
the early forenoon. The old bird alights near the impatient and greedy nestling, 
who immediately takes the initiative by waddling up and pecking or biting gently 
at her beak. (Fig. 10.) She now stands up, and with head lowered and wings 
held loosely at the sides regurgitates a bolus of squids and oil. (Fig. ii). Just as 
she opens her beak, the young one who has been standing ready inserts its own 
crosswise, and skillfully catches every morsel, which it bolts with evident 
relish. (Frontispiece.) 
