14 
Mr. R. Hall on the 
family under very favourable circumstances. It is quite 
sociable, and those oft duty are specially communicative 
when they have nothing else to do. A pair will face each 
other and engage in a conversation that is hoarse but not 
jarring; and this they vary considerably, going to the lowest 
and trying to get to the highest notes without spoiling the 
effect. It is certain that they like to communicate with each 
other while they are gracefully standing or walking. One day 
I was basking in the sunshine on a hillside, watching fifteen 
sitting Albatrosses on the slopes of some hillocks facing each 
other (see fig. 1, p. 13). Occasionally a bird would alight after 
a little wheeling, but with widely parted legs to make sure it 
would come down correctly. Albatrosses may be ungainly 
on a ship’s deck, but they are very majestic in their nesting- 
places, and I could not but admire their stately walk. My 
attention was attracted by a group of four birds which were 
gracefully billing each other. Now and then one would extend 
its wings as if to embrace the other, while afterwards they 
would sit down opposite and bill again. Two of these were 
birds of last year, and two were adults, while on two nests 
within a few yards adults were sitting. This family circle 
charmed me, and I at once put away the story of how old 
birds cruelly drive away young ones from the nests, when the 
latter are old enough to leave. Here were the eggs of this 
year, the young of last year, and, presumably, the parents of 
both. I have seen an adult run thirty yards with fully extended 
wings and then leave the level ground, while another ran only 
three paces with outspread pinions before rising from the flat 
ground. The feathers of the immature birds in this group 
were dark on the crown of the head, while those on the back 
and head were not pure white but like those of D. exulans; 
though otherwise these birds of one year old were similar to 
their parents in appearance. The birds now incubating were 
in the quartette arrangement or in pairs, so that they always 
had company to talk to and to bill with. In each set there 
were young birds. Later on I saw eight birds closely 
assembled, four of which I considered mature and the other 
four young. One was quite brown, with perhaps a little 
