042 THF, FI'i.THKhri) TKIUKS. 



"Now and tlion," says Mi's. Meredith, "a slow flapping motion serves to raise the 

 albatross higher in the air, but the swift movement and busy flutter of other birds 

 seems beneath his dignitj*. He sails almost close to yo\i like a silent spectre. Xothing 

 of life appears iu his still, motionless form but his keen piercing eye, except that 

 occasionally his head turns slightly, and betrays a sharp, prying expression, that some- 

 what shakes your belief in the lordly indifference he would fain assume ; and if you 

 fling overboard a piece of rusty pork, the disenchantment is complete, and you sec flint 

 long, curiously constructed bealc exercising its enormous strength in an employment so 

 spectral a personage could scarcely be suspected of indulging." 



The nests of these birds are made on f lie ground, with eartli, of a round shape, a foot 

 in height, and indented at top; the egg is larger (lian that of a goose, white-marked, 

 with dull spots at the larger end, and is thought to l)e good food. '\Miile tlie female is 

 sitting, the male is constantly on the wing to supply her with food ; and during this 

 period they are so tame as to suffer themselves to be shoved from the nest while the eggs 

 are taken from them ; but at other times, when caught, they will defend themselves 

 stoutly with the bill. Their crj' is said to be a harsh sonorous kind of braying. 



The Wandering Albatross has been often noticed between six and seven hundred leagues 

 from land, in the middle of the Southern f_>cean ; it is reasonable, .therefore, to conclude 

 that it habitually reposes like the gulls, which it otherwise much resembles, while floating 

 on the surface of the water, though it neither dives nor can be said truly to swim. . 



These birds are seen in immense flocks about Behriug's Straits and Kamschatka, about 

 the end of June, frequenting chiefly the inner sea, the Kurilo Islands, and the Bay of 

 Pentschinensi, whereas scarcely a straggler is to be seen on the eastern or American 

 shore. They seem to be attracted thither by vast shoals of fish, whose migrating move- 

 ments they per severi ugly follow. Captain Weddell met with great numbers of these birds 

 amidst the icy rocks of the New South Shetlands, associating with the penguins ; though 

 in the drearv isle of Tristan d'Acunha, another traveller, Mr. Earle, describes them as 

 the sole occupants, without any interloper, whether friend or enemj-. In the higher 

 regions, amidst the barren and cindery peaks of black rocks composing that dismal 

 island, he found the young ones on the ground, completely uncovered, and the old ones 

 .stalking around them. 



On first appearing in these seas, the albatrosses are very lean, but from finding abun- 

 dance of food they soon become fat. Their A-oracity is so great that they aaIU often 

 swallow a salmon of four or five pounds weight ; and then, being half-choked, and 

 unable, in consequence, to move, the natives easilj' knock them down with a stick. 



Thiy do not, however, confine themselves to fish, but will prey on any other sea 

 animal; and Cook's sailors caught them with a line and a hook. Tlie Kanixchadaleis 

 take them by fastening a cord to a large hook, baited w itli a whole fish, wliicli tlii' birds 

 greedily seize. Tlieir usual food, however, seems rather to be fish-spawn and small 

 moUusks. 



Notwithstanding their strengtii, tlie albatrosses never venture to attack other .sea- 

 birds, but are, on the contrary, attacked by the gulls. Cook says : " Several large gray 

 gulls, that were pursuing a white albatross, afforded us a diverting spectacle: they over- 

 took it, notwithstanding the lengtli of its wings, and they tried to attack it under the 

 belly, that part being probably defenceless : the albatross had now no means of escaping 

 but by dipping its body into the water ; its formidable bill seemed to repel them." 



The style of albatrosses in selecting their mates, and also in their courtship, ia described 

 as verj' ludicrous. The couple approach one anotlier with great apparent ceremony, 

 bringing fheir beaks repeatedly together, swinging tlicir heads, and contemplating each 

 other with very deliberate attention. Sometimes tliis will cdiitimu' for two hours 

 together, like a courtship in a pantomime. 



