10 OCEAN BIRDS. 



Lord Pembroke and Dr. Kingsley, who write : — " There seems to be no foundation for 

 the common report that he pomices on his prey, and will with his formidable beak split 

 the head of a man overboard. No bird has less 'picking up' or 'striking power' when 

 on the wing ; " and with reference to its settling on the water, the same writers say, 

 " he is as careful of wetting the soft under-feathers of his wings as a lady is of protecting 

 the hem of her petticoat against the mud of the kennel." 



The following account, which appeared in the ' Sydney Morning Herald,' has reference 

 to the fact of an Albatross swooping down upon a man who fell overboard from the 

 barque ' Gladstone ' : — 



"On the 24th October, 1881, at noon, whilst the ship was in lat. 42° S. and long. 90° E., 

 and going at the rate of about ten knots an hour, the cry of 'Man overboard!' was raised. 

 Capt. Jackson and his chief officer, Mr. John Rugg, who were seated at dinner at the time, 

 immediately rushed out of the cabin and rounded the ship to. A boat, manned by four hands, 

 was then lowered, and left the ship in charge of Mr. Rugg five minutes after the alarm was raised. 

 The man was then out of sight, but the rescuing party pulled towards the spot where it was 

 supposed he had fallen, and after some little time found him clinging to an Albatross, which he 

 was using as a life-buoy. As soon as the boat got within a few yards of him he let the bird go 

 and swam to the boat, being apparently none the worse for his unexpected immersion. He returned 

 on board smiling, and stated that just after he fell an Albatross swooped down upon him and 

 made a peck at him, but he seized it by the neck and kept its head under water until he had 

 drowned it, and then used it to preserve his own life, in the manner already described. The boat was 

 away about one hour. The sea was vei"y rough at the time, and the wind was from the N.W. The 

 most remarkable thing about this remarkable story is that the man, who could only swim a little, 

 had heavy sea-boots on at the time of the accident, besides being encumbered with oil-skins. The 

 Albatross was the first that had been seen for a month." 



The similarity of the Albatross species is so remarkable that in describing the 

 haunts, habits, and characteristics of the Great Albatross we to a very great extent 

 give the leading features of all the species of Diomedea. They are, however, generally 

 erroneously divided into three distinct groups by sailors on board an Australian liner : — 

 TIte Albatross, which is of course D. exulans ; the Stinkpot, really D. fuligimsa ; and the 

 MoUyhawk, which embraces all the rest. 



There is, however, one species of Albatross, not met with on the Australian voyage, 

 that should be acknowledged by all to be something out of the common, from the fact 

 of its being only found north of the line : for does not the great Dr. Johnson describe an 

 Albatross as a South- Sea bird ? This bird (Plate II., fig. 2) is named by Gould the Short- 

 tailed Albatross (Diomedea brachijura of Audubon), and by sailors on the China voyages 

 the " China-Sea Albatross," as it is seen more commonly there than elsewhere, but is also 

 found all across the North Pacific to the west coast of North America. It is considerably 



