The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1878-05-17
cur,ous Facts About the Alba
trosss


No passenger to southern lands can
tsve failed to note the extraordinary
-overs of flight of this magnificent bird
RI the wonderful ease with which it
s~osns for some minutes together
through the air on expanded notion
lass pinioHs, rising and falling lightly,
and taking advantage of the gravity of
- own body and the angle at which
,be wind strikes it's feathered sails to
Drolong the course of its fight with the /
least possible effort. Seldom, except in
cslm weather, may it be seen to alight I
an the water from which it rises with .
difficulty, running i8r soihe distance
dong the surface. The ends of the 1
wings clear of the water, it turns to-
ward the breeAe, ami rises into the air
ia gentle curve, in exactly the same
manner as a paper kite. That the al
batross follows a ship for many days in
succession, sleeping 81 night upon the
Aates, and coming up with her in the
norniDg, there can be no doubt. We
have watched them for several consecu-
/, tive evenings during fine weather, in
the latitude of the trsde>winds; settling
dowh uh The water at shutdown, and
preenibg their feathers, until they be-
! ame mere speeks IN The feld Of The tels-
: cope, but they were with us again in
The morning soon after sunrise; some
Strangers among them, perhaps, but
everal which, from some popularity OF
marking, we knew to be our companions
. of the day before. In one instance, a
bistol- bullet in the wing of an old Brown
headed and chrio9sly- pied bird, by which
he Gould be identified beyond doubt
The second or third fight-feather had
been shot away, leaving clearly defined
gap in the wing as it came between the
light and the eye and this bird followed
US three days after having been fred at
though we had been sailing an average of
nearly eight knots an hour. One of the
most striking examples Of their endurance
on the wing, however, is the fact, which
We have more than once observed, that
the ssme birds which have been unwea
riedly following us in the day accompa-
MED Us throughout the whole of the
succeeding night, IS corld be easily
verified by the Il ht OF the moon: 1t is
not uncommon practice with passengers
to endeavor to catch these noble birds
by bait faitened TO hook and buoyed
with corks. That such a cruel practice
should ever be tolerated. even to " relieve
the m0notohg of the voyage" is to us
inconceivable, and can onlF be accounted
for as the last fesource of brutality NOR
bid fancy. The albatross is essentially
the scaveIger of the ocean, and We doubt
whether it makes any attempt TO cap
ture living 4 n unless when very hun
cry, for we have seen flying FISH rising
in Quantities While the albatross made
40 attempt TO catch them. That the
nautilus is sometimes eaten is evident,
for we have taken it from the stomach
but the chic; food Is dead fish and
other refuse. In the south Atlantic we
passed the dead body of a small whale,
sn and around which were at least
hundred of these birds, either gorged or
gorgiDg themselves with the blubber
snd guns discharged At them failed to
induce many of them to take wing
We had on one occasion an opportunity
OF observing how rapidly these birds
collect about a carcass. Like yultures
or ravens, when an animal dies they
discover it very speedily, and flock to
the scene of the banquet. On a hot,
still evening In the South Atlantic a
horse died, and when cast overheard
next morning, the gases already formed
by decomposition enabled il ia float.
The few albatrosses in our company
Immediately settled down upon it but
in less than an hour we could see through
the telescope a great cloud of the birds
on the sea, lowering rouuu the unex
pected prize, the almost entire absence
of wind having kept us within two or
three miles of the spot. It may be that
the USUALLY white plumage enables
stTagglers, far out of human ken, to see
their fellows gathering in the neighbor-
hood OF food; others again from still
more remote distances may see them, and
80 on, until stragglers over hundreds of
miles of space may be gathered to one
common rendezvous. The greater part
OF the year is passed by them at distance
from land but they flock to barren and
almost inaccessible rocks to breed. There
the female lays her one dirty-white egg
in slight depression upon the bare
earth, the sitters being frequently so
close together that it is difficult to walk
without touching them. They are
totally Indifferent to the presence of man,
and merely indicate their resent of his
intrusion into their nursery by swapping
at him as he passes. The parents share
the labor of incubation and rearing the
young, and whe this is over, they all
go seward together, and silence and
solitude once more reign where all had
lately been clamorous and busy life
Chamber'sJ ournal.