ALBATROSSES 101 



vultures, pelicans, screamers and albatrosses are 

 all large and heavy of body. I have made over 

 three hundred flights in airplanes myself, in peace 

 and war, close to the ground and once up to an 

 altitude of twenty-two thousand feet, yet the way 

 of an eagle in the air is still, to me, inimitable, and 

 always will be unless we can duplicate its great air 

 chambers, the lightness and strength of its hollow 

 bones, and the friction-evading plumage. 



The part which albatrosses have played in rela- 

 tion to man is interesting. First, admiration for 

 its flight by early mariners, and a sense of compan- 

 ionship and camaraderie in its society in the deso- 

 lateness of mid-ocean. 



"And a good south wind sprung up behind; 

 The Albatross did follow, 

 And every day, for food or play, 

 Came to the mariners' hollo !" 



This feeling, ui the course of years, very natur- 

 ally developed into an affection, and this, vitalized 

 by the superstitious sub-stratum of the seaman's 

 mind, increased to a resentment of any attempted 

 injury. 



"God save thee, ancient Mariner, 

 From the fiends that plague thee thus ! — 

 Why look'st thou so?" "With my crossbow 

 I shot the Albatross." 



And I had done a hellish thing, 

 And it would work 'em woe : 



