ALBATROS 7 
Albatros of many authors. Of this, though it has been so long 
the observed of all observers among voyagers to the Southern 
Ocean, no one seems to have given, from the life, its finished portrait 
on the wing, and hardly such a description as would enable those who 
have not seen it to form an idea of its look. The diagrammatic 
sketch by Captain (now Professor) Hutton, here introduced, is prob- 
f 
AvBaTros. (After Hutton. From the Philos. Mag. Aug. 1869, with the 
Editor's permission.) 
ably amore correct representation of it than can be found in the conven- 
tional figures which abound in books. Writers who apply to its FLIGHT 
the epithets graceful, grand, majestic, and the like, convey thereby 
no definite meaning, and yet by all accounts its appearance must 
be extremely characteristic. The ease with which it maintains itself 
in the air, “sailing ” for a long while without any perceptible motion 
of its wings, whether gliding over the billows, or boldly shooting aloft 
again to descend and possibly alight on the surface, has been dwelt 
upon often enough,! as has its capacity to perform these feats equally 
in a seeming calm or in the face of a gale; but more than this 
is wanted, and one must hope that a series of instantaneous photo- 
graphs may soon be obtained which will shew the feathered aeronaut 
with becoming dignity. The mode in which the “sailing” of the 
Albatros is effected has been much discussed, but there can be little 
doubt that Professor Hutton is right in declaring (Jbis, 1865, p. 296) 
that it is only “by combining, according to the laws of mechanics, 
' The most vivid description is perhaps that of Mr. Froude (Oceana, pp. 65, 66), 
and, as it is cited with approval by Sir W. Buller (B. New Zeal. ed. 2, ii. 
p- 195), a part may here be quoted. The Albatros ‘‘ wheels in circles round and 
round, and for ever round the ship--now far behind, now sweeping past in a long 
rapid curve, like a perfect skater on an untouched field of ice. There is no effort ; 
watch as closely as you will, you rarely or never see a stroke of the mighty 
pinion. The flight is generally near the water, often close to it. You lose sight 
of the bird as he disappears in the hollow between the waves, and catch him again 
as he rises over the crest ; but how he rises and whence comes the propelling force 
is to the eye inexplicable ; he alters merely the angle at which the wings are 
inclined ; usually they are parallel to the water and horizontal; but when 
he turns to ascend or makes a change in his direction the wings then point at an 
angle, one to the sky, the other to the water.” 
