36 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 61, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



were cleaning codfish. At times, we saw the albatrosses, ac- 

 companied by shearwaters and auklets, feeding in tide rips. 



Cottam and Knappen (1939) reported on two stomachs of the 

 black-footed albatross from the Aleutians. One stomach contained 

 fish (mostly Scorpaenidae) , 35 percent; remains of 6 or more 

 squids, 55 percent ; sea urchin, 2 percent ; brown algae, 8 percent. 

 The other stomach contained fish (mostly Scorpaenidae) 92 per- 

 cent; Gammaridae, 1 percent; brown algae, 7 percent. 



In 1941, Loye Miller (1942) found, in the course of experi- 

 mental food studies off the coast of southern California, that 

 "the greatest gooney appeal was provided by bacon drippings 

 which had congealed to semisolid state." For better handling 

 of this bait material, it was mixed with puffed rice before 

 cooling. He remarked further that "Bacon grease seems to throw 

 the birds almost into a frenzy. Some of them rushed right up 

 under the overhang of the poop." 



Miller summed up his findings as follows : 



The most attractive bait discovered is animal fat. Bacon fat was superior 

 to beef suet. The semisolid gelatin settling out from roast beef drippings 

 was of no interest at all and was neglected after the first taste. Taste 

 buds in the tip of the bill appear to be highly sensitive and discriminative. 

 The turpentine-linseed flux of paints used in marking is very repugnant 

 and seemed to be recognizable by odor before actual contact was made. 

 I was repeatedly impressed by their seeming acuity of olfactory perception. 



He noted, further, that in subsurface feeding the albatross would 

 tip up, or actually submerge to a depth of at least 2 feet with 

 wings partially spread. This suggests a trait similar to that of 

 the slender-billed shearwater, though the latter is capable of 

 descending to a depth of many fathoms. 



Diomedea albatrus: Short-tailed Albatross 



Kodiak: Kay-mah-rye-erk (Nelson) 



As mentioned above, the Aleuts apparently do not have separate 

 names for the two species of albatross. At least one Aleut 

 identified cdbatrus as the adult bird, nigripes the young. Thus, 

 the Aleut nomenclature is confusing, and the names already 

 given for the black-footed albatross might apply equally well to 

 the short-tailed albatross. 



We are concerned here with what appears to be an extinct 

 bird. We had thought that a few remained in the Aleutiar 

 district, but when the one specimen we collected in 1937 proved 

 to be immutabilis, serious doubt was thrown on the possibility 

 that any of the light-colored birds were albati~us. 



