THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 11 



our only audience being a Cape Pigeon which flitted about. 

 About midnight we got a breeze, and arrived at Chimney Corner 

 shortly after i a.m. After a final breakfast in the morning with 

 our kind friends we left for Stanley with a fair wind. Just as we 

 reached " The Nut," a stiff sou'-wester gave us the worst wetting 

 of the trip. At 9 p.m. on 2nd November we left in the Bellinger 

 for Melbourne, and being by this time good sailors we had the 

 satisfaction of sleeping while our fellow-passengers persisted in 

 being sick. 



THE FLIGHT OF THE ALBATROSS. 



By H. P. C. Ashworth. 



(Read before Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 10th February, 1896.^ 



When a paper was read before the Royal Society of Victoria last 

 year by Mr. Le Souef and myself on the birds found breeding 

 in the Hunter Group, the president, Professor Kernot, M.A., 

 remarked that he was sorry we had not more fully dealt with the 

 important question of the flight of the albatross, and my main 

 objects in revisiting Albatross Island were to make observations 

 on this subject, and also to replace the photographs which were 

 lost through the capsizing of our dingey. I was further induced 

 to make the investigation by the great amount of misconception 

 by nearly all who have written on the subject, either in the 

 principles involved or in the description of the movements of the 

 bird. The subject has attracted the attention especially of those 

 engaged in the problem of constructing flying machines ; and, 

 indeed, the apparent contradiction of mechanical principles in the 

 flight of a bird without perceptible movement of its wings — that 

 is, without the expenditure of any external work — is sufficiently 

 startling. If we know anything of the mechanical conditions, it 

 may be taken for granted that no bird can glide with outstretched 

 motionless wings in a wind which is both uniform and horizontal 

 without losing either in vertical elevation or in velocity. The 

 fact that an albatross does glide for hours together without move- 

 ment of the wings shows that the solution of the problem lies 

 altogether in a study of the movements of the wind, and not in 

 any peculiar property inherent in the bird itself. 



A review of some of the theories advanced is given by Sir Walter 

 Buller in "Trans. New Zealand Inst.," vol. xxvi. He says: — 

 " It seems to me that we have not yet solved the problem in- 

 volved in the flight of the albatross — a rapid, well-sustained motion, 

 ever against the wind, with scarcely any visible movement of the 

 wings. There are some very sensible observations on the subject 

 in Dr. Bennett's ' Gatherings of a Naturalist in Australasia.' 

 Professor Hutton has grappled with the mechanical principles it 

 rests upon, and the Duke of Argyll has treated the question in a 

 masterly way in his ' Reign of Law.' But, after all, can it be 



