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x58 THE CONDOR Vex,. 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 ot 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 ,4h-h-h-h with a rapidly rising inflection, and with a distinctly 'arisefine' and 'bovine' quality, quite difficult 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-walking" 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. The genies depend entirely upon squids for food. That the number of these cephalopods in the surrounding waters must be very 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 60o tons daily. As the squids are nocturnal or crepuscular in habits the albatrosses fish after dar,k, most probably 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. re.) She now stands up, and with head lowered and wings held loosely at the sides regurgitates a bolus of squids and oil. (Fig. rx). 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.)