422 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



floating crustaceans, the oily blubber of dead cetaceans, and 

 the fatty ofFal thrown overboard from passenger-ships during 

 their long voyages. The powers of flight with which these 

 birds are endowed are perfectly astonishing, and they appear to 

 be constantly performing journeys round the globe from west 

 to east ; and Australia lying in their track, all the species may 

 be found near its shores at one or another season of the year. 



These Albatroses have been divided by Dr. Reichenbach 

 into three genera — Diomedea, Thalassarche, and Phcebetria, 

 the members of each of which certainly differ somewhat in 

 structure, and, my own observation of them in a state of nature 

 enables me to add, in their habits and economy also. 



Respecting the flight of these birds, I take the liberty of 

 making a lengthened extract from Capt. F. W. Button's 

 valuable " Notes on some of the Birds inhabiting the Southern 

 Ocean," read at the Natural History Society of Dublin, March 

 3, and published in the July number of the 'Ibis,' 1865, 

 pp. 294-298 :— 



" The unrivalled flight of the Albatros has been the admira- 

 tion of voyagers from the earliest time. Day after day, with 

 unabated interest I have watched them, and I quite agree 

 with Mr. Gould that the Sooty Albatros {B. fidiginosd) carries 

 off the palm from all competitors. Never have I seen any- 

 thing to equal the ease and grace of this bird as he sweeps 

 past, often within a few yards, every part of his body perfectly 

 motionless except the head and eye, which turn slowly, and 

 seem to take notice of everything. I have sometimes watched 

 narrowly one of these birds sailing and wheeling about in all 

 directions for more than an hour, Avithout seeing the slightest 

 movement of the wings. This, however, is longer than usual. 

 Wonderful as is this power of flight, it can all be explained 

 by the simple mechanical laws which govern the direction and 

 magnitude of pressures. Dr. Bennett states that he believes 

 ' that the whole surface [of the body of the Albatros] is 

 covered by numerous air-cells, capable of a voluntary inflation 



