ALBATROSSES. 87 



his enthusinsin wlicii desoriliinL!; its sailing flight. Snys Dv. BpiiucU: "It is iiloasiiig 

 to observe this sujieil) bird sailing in the air, in graceful and elegant movements, seem- 

 ingly excited by some invisil>lo ]i<i\ver; for there is scarcely any movement of the 

 wings seen after the first and frecjucnt impulses arc given, when the creature elevates 

 itself in the air, rising and falling as if some concealed ]H)wer guided its various 

 motions, without any muscular exertion of its own." J. Gould is still more enthu- 

 siastic : " The powers of flight of the wandering albatross are much greater than 

 those of any other bird that has conu; under my observation. Although during calm 

 or moderate weather it sometimes rests on the surface of the water, it is almost con- 

 stantly on the wing — and is equally at ease while i)assing over the glas.sy surface, 

 during the stillest calm, or flying with meteor-like swiftness before the most furious 

 gale ; and the manner in which it just tops tlie raging billows, and sweeps before the 

 gulfy waves, has, a hundred times, called forth my wonder and admiration. Although 

 a vessel running before tlu^ winil frequently sails more than two hundred miles in the 

 twentv-fmir hours, and that for days together, still the albatross has not the slightest 

 difKculty in keeping up with the ship, but also performs circles of many miles ni 

 extent, returning again to hunt up the wake of the vessel for any substances thrown 

 overboard." It is generally asserted that the all)atrosses and jx'trels which follow the 

 vessels are al)le to continue their flight without any rest, to si)eak of, for days and 

 weeks, thus showing an almost incredible power of flight, and many interesting exi)eri- 

 mcnts with captured and marked birds arc cited. 



Of another species, the black-eyebrowed albatros-s (7). iiichniiiphri/s) ^Ir. Gould, 

 for instance, says ; " It is very easily captured with a hook and line, aiul, as this opera- 

 tion gives not the least pain to the bird, the i)oint of the hook niei-ely talking hold in 

 the hornv and insensible tip of the bill, I frequently annised myself by cajituring 

 sjiecimens in this way, and setting them at liberty again, after having marked many, 

 in order to ascertain whether the individuals which were flying round the ship at 

 night-fall were the same that weie similarly engaged at daylight in the morning, after 

 a night's run of 120 miles; and this, in many instances, j)roved to be the case." Capt. 

 F. W. Hutton, however, who has made the flight of these birds a special study, came 

 to different conclusions and asserts that the cases where a sin<]flc individual Ls found 

 to follow a ship for any length of time are exceptions, and that the habits of the alba- 

 trosses are quite diurnal. " It is, I believe," he says, "the generally received ojiinion 

 of naturalists that these birds, when seen for .several days together, have never slept 

 during the whole period, but have followed the .ship night and day. To me, however, 

 it ajtjiears incredible that any animal should be able to undergo so much exertion for 

 so long a time without taking rest ; and 1 hope to show that it is not neces.sary to 

 sujipose that it does do so. Mr. Gould says that birds caught and marked aiv generally 

 seen next day; but .such is not my experience. I have sometimes niarked ten or 

 twelve Cape-])igeous {JJaptio7i capciise, one of the Procellariid:e) in a day, and seMom 

 seen one again. Mr. Gould, however, is quite right when he says that sometimes a 

 marked bird turns iqi .after being absent for two or three .lays; and how can this be 

 accounted for exce|)t by the theory of the birds (onstautly following the ship? A few 

 certainly can be often seen flying under the stern at night. Still they arc never numer- 

 ous ; and where there were fifty or a hundred birds in the daytime there are only one 

 or two at nitrht. I therefore iKlicve th.ii, although a few may follow a ship for a night, 

 most of them sleep in the sea, and in the morning, knowing very well that .-i ship i.s 

 the most likely place to obtain food, they fly high with the iuleutiou of looking for 



