538 PALMIPEDES. 



stances tlirown overboard. Like other species of tlie 

 genus, the Albati-oss is nocturnal as well as diurnal in its 

 activity, and no bird takes so little repose ; it appears to 

 be perpetually on the wing, scanning the surface of the 

 ocean for mf»llusks, medusa^, and the other marine animals 

 that constitute its food. So frequently does the boldness 

 of its ap})roach cost it its life, that Inuidi-eds are annually 

 killed without the immbers being apparently in any degi-ee 

 lessened. It readily seizes a hook baited with fat of 

 any kind ; —if a boat be lowered, its attention is imme- 

 diately attracted, and while flying round it is easily shot. 

 Many exaggerated and marvellous accounts have been 

 published respecting the weight and the dimensions of 

 the bird, particularly as relates to the extent of its wings 

 from tip to tip. Mr. Gould, after killing numerous 

 examples of both sexes and of all ages, found the average 

 weight of the Diomedea exu/ans to be 17 lb., and the 

 extent of the wings from tip to tip ten feet and one inch ; 

 examples, however, have been met with weighing as 

 much as 20 lb., the extent of whose outstretched wings 

 measured twelve feet. The Wandering Albatross breeds 

 in the rocky islands of the Southern Ocean, in the months 

 of November and December. The grass-covered decli- 

 vities of the hills, above the thickets of wood, are the 

 spots selected for its nest, which consists of a mound of 

 earth intermingled with gi-ass and leaves matted togethei-, 

 eighteen inches in height and six feet in circumference at 

 the base. 



The following account of one of the breeding -places 

 of this feathered monarch of the Southern Hemisphei'e 

 is from the pen of Mr. Augustus Earle : — " Yesterday 

 being a fine morning, accom})anied by two of the men, I 

 determined to ascend the mountain. As several parties 

 had before gone up, they had formed a kind of ])ath, at 

 least ; we endeavoured to trace the same way, but it 

 required a great deal of nerve to attempt it ; the sides of 

 the mountain are nearly ])erpendicular, but after ascend- 

 ing about 200 feet, it is there covered with wood, which 

 renders the footing much more safe ; but, in order to get 

 to the wood, the road is so dangerous, that it almost 

 makes me tremble to think of it ; slippery grey rocks, 

 and many of them unfortunately loose, so that when we 

 took hold, they separated from the mass, and fell with a 



