° 1914 ] Murphy, Birds of the South Atlantic. 441 



southward. At six o'clock in the morning the steward came to 

 notify me that a 'Goney' (Wandering or Great Albatross, Dio- 

 medea exula7is) was about. I hurried on deck. Nearby in the 

 morning sunlight flew the long anticipated fowl of the Ancient 

 Mariner, even more majestic, more supreme in his element than my 

 imagination had pictured. He was mature — all white and black — 

 and as he turned and turned, now flashing his bright under side, 

 now showing the black that extended from wrist to tip on the upper 

 surface of his wings, he seemed scarcely to quiver the narrow planes, 

 but lying on the invisible currents of the breeze, followed his pink- 

 ish bill wheresoever it led him. 



He remained with us only a few minutes, but at noon he came 

 back again, covering tens of miles in the swift wide circles which he 

 traversed astern. The lower wing often cut the water in his turns, 

 and he used his great webbed feet perhaps more than his stubby tail 

 in steering. Twice he dropped into the sea and allowed us to draw 

 away a long distance before rising and overtaking us. It was a 

 curious sight when he prepared to alight under our stern, and then, 

 changing his purpose, ran heavily along the water for a hundred 

 yards, before his stiffly set wings could raise his large body into the 

 air. 



During the afternoon he appeared irregularly, approaching incon- 

 spicuously just above the waves, and suddenly flashing up right 

 alongside. We saw the last of him about five p. m. 



October 29, lat. 24° 42' S., long. 37° 10' W. At half-past nine in 

 the morning an albatross, apparently the bird of the previous day, 

 appeared again, flying even more admirably in a higher wind. 

 The first 'Cape Hens' or 'Night-hawks,' Procellaria oequinoc- 

 tialis, were seen shortly after midday. 



October 30, lat. 26° 20' S., long. 38° 04' W. Strong southeast 

 winds. Two Wandering Albatrosses (D. exulans) were with us 

 together, a black and white adult, and a young grayish bird smaller 

 than its fellow. They performed together in the high breeze, alight- 

 ing on the water gracefully enough, the strong wind buoying them 

 until they actually struck the surface. Once they alighted together 

 and fed in the midst of a flock of Oceanites occanicus. At six o'clock 

 p. M., a third albatross appeared. 



