Year: 1878

Some Interesting Facts About a Re


EnRFRAble Bird.


No passenger by sea to southern
lands can have failed to note the
extraordinary powers Of flight of
this magnificent bird, and the won
derful ease with which it sweeps,
for some minutes together, through
the air on expanded, motionless
pinions, rising and falling slightly,
and taking advantage Of the grav-
ity Of its own body and the angle
at which the wind strikes its feath-
cred sails to prolong the course of
its flight with the least possible
effort. Seldom, except in calm
weather, may it be seen to light
upon the water, from which it rises
with difficulty, running for some
distance along the surface. The
ends of the wings clear of the wa.
ter, it turns toward the breeze, and
rises into the air with a gentle
curve, exactly in the same manner
as paper kite.


That the albatross follows ship
for many days in succession, sleep
ing at night upon the water, and
coming up withher in the morning,
there can be no doubt. We have
watched them for several consecu
tive evenings during fine weather
in the latitude of the trade-winds
setting down on the water at sun.
down, and preening their feathers,
until they become mere specks in
the field of the telescope; but they
were with us again in the morning
soon after sunrise ; some strangers
among them, perhaps, but several
which, from a popularity Of mark,
ing, we knew to be our companions
of the dag before. In one instance,
a conspicuous mark had been made
by a pistol bullet in the wing of an
old brown-headed and curiously
pied bird, by which he could be
identified beyond doubt. The sec
ond or third fight-feather had been
shot away, leaving a clearly defined
gap in the wing as it came between
the light and the eye; and this bird
followed us for three days after be-
ing SHOT at, though we had been
sailing an average of nearly eight
knots an hour.


One Of the most striking ex-
amples of their endurance on the
wing, however, is the fact, which
we have more than once observed
that the same birds which had been
unweariedly following us in the day,
accompanied us throughout the
whole of the succeeding night, a;
could be easily verified by the light
of the moon. 1t is not an uncom-
mon practice with passengers to
endeavor to catch these noble birds
by a bait fastened to a hook and
buoyed with corks. That such a
cruel practice should ever be toler.
ated, even "to relieve the monotony
of the voyage" is to us inconceiv-
able, and can be accounted for only
as the last resource of a brutally
morbid fancy.


The albatross is essentially the
scavenger of the ocean, and we
doubt whether it makes any at
tempt to capture living fish unless
when very hungry; for we have
seen flying fish rising in quantities
while the albatross made no at
tempt to catch them. That the
nautilus is sometimes eaten is evi-
dent, for we have taken it from the
stomach; but the chief food is dead
fish and other refuse. In the South
Atlantic we passed the dead body
of small whale, on and around
which were at least a hundred of
these birds, either gOrged or gorg-
ing themselves with the blubber; {;
and guns discharged at them failed
to induce many Of them to take
wing. We had on one occasion an
opportunity of ofobserying how rapid
ly these birds collect about car
cass. Like vultures or ravens, when
an animal dies they discover it very
speedily, and flock to the scene Of
the banquet. On hot, still eve-
ming in the South Atlantic horse
died, and when cast overheard next
morning, the gases already formed
by decomposition enabled it to float,


The albatfosses in our company
Immediately settled down uron ii;
but in less than anhour we could see
through the telescope a great cloud
of the birds on the sea, and hover
ling round the unexpected prize,