652 Proceedings. 



in the water with its wings. He could quite understand from wliat 

 Sir James Hector had exhibited how the albatros only used the tips of 

 its wings for turning and directing its flight. 



Mr. M. Chapman said the problem of the flight of the albatros is 

 one of the most interesting that could engage the attention. It was not to 

 be solved either by anatomy or mathematics, though both may probably 

 assist to throw some light on the question. There is. however, more 

 to be hoped for from observations or experiment. He had watched 

 albatroses and similar birds hour after hour and day after day, and had 

 been unable to come to any other conclusion than that they utilized 

 upward currents of air. These upward currents are caused by the deflec- 

 tion of the wind from the backs of waves. They can be seen in a gals of 

 wind by the showers of spray which fly upwards from breaking waves. 

 On the islands where they breed, they choose their breeding-grounds on 

 the bleakest and most exposed parts of the island, at a great elevation — 

 1,000ft. and upwards. They cannot rise from the ground without wind, 

 but do so with ease in a strong wind. In a light breeze they rise by 

 violent exertion, barely able to maintain themselves, but make for the 

 edge of the cliff, where the wind, striking the precipitous cliff-wall, makes 

 a strong upward current, and the moment the bird gets into this current 

 it shoots upward 100ft. or more in a moment, and is immediately master 

 of itself. Flying at sea .they may constantly be seen to dip into the 

 trough of the sea, choosing that moment to turn to windward and rise. 

 In flying to leeward they descend, accelerating their speed. In turning, 

 the end-joint of the wing is bent, as if to avoid touching the water, but 

 possibly to virtually shorten the wing. Another interesting problem was 

 the question as to how the albatros feeds. He had seen an albatros on 

 shore disgorge a large pelagic squid which must have weighed several 

 pounds, and the castings of cuttle-beaks at their nests show that this is 

 an important item of their food. But he had never seen one pick up 

 anything while on the wing, or alight to feed except on offal thrown 

 from a ship. They get little of this, as they first take a look at speed, 

 and then have to make a wide sweep before they can alight at the spot. 

 By this time the smaller birds have devoured the food. 



Sir W. Buller said he had listened with great interest to Sir James 

 Hector's paper on certain features in the anatomy of New Zealand 

 birds. He would now ask Sir James whether the peculiarities of struc- 

 ture, showing adaptation to the environment of the species, so ably 

 discussed in his paper, could be accounted for on any other hypothesis 

 than that of natural evolution. 



Sir J. Hector replied that the whole of the facts put forward by him 

 supported that theory. 



Sir W. Buller, continuing, said that, although Sir James Hector's 

 description of the mechanism of the wing of the albatros was very 

 instructive, and his theory in regard to the flight of this bird was a very 

 ingenious one, he did not think we had yet quite solved the problem. 

 The flight of the albatros was very wonderful, not only in its majestic 

 sweep, even against the wind, but in its being so long sustained. When 

 voyaging on the high seas he never tired of watching this untiring flight 

 — to use Froude's expressive language — "sweeping past in a long rapid 

 curve, like a perfect skater on an untouched field of ice." He mentioned 

 a case within his own observation of an albatros performing a continuous 

 flight of 3,000 miles (see Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxvi., p. 185). He 

 agreed with Mr. Chapman that the feeding-habits of this bird still 

 required explanation. 



Sir J. Hector replied that he only looked on the fact he had stated as 

 one of the factors in enabling the sustained flight of the albatros. It 

 only suggested the mechanism by which the bird can take advantage 

 without fatigue of the other causes indicated by previous writers and 



