Flight and Distribution of Albatrosses. 321 



of the Kurils, our position according to dead reckoning 

 being in latitude 45° 29' N. and longitude 1 56° 16' E. Later 

 in the voyage I occasionally saw a few more, and was in all 

 cases able to be quite certain of their identity. Again, 

 on the eastern side of the ocean, I found this species at sea 

 on most days during a voyage from Unalashka to Port 

 Townshend in October and November 1896. The most 

 northern point at which the bird appeared was when we 

 were a little less than two days out from Unalashka, say, 

 at nine knots, 400 miles from that port. 



I was very much struck by these Gooneys, of which, during 

 our course from San Francisco to Honolulu, there seemed 

 to be an endless supply. It interested me to speculate 

 whether each part of the ocean, as suggested by the Captain 

 of the ' Peru/ had its own set of them, quartering that 

 particular area alone for their daily food, so that our ship 

 merely chanced to pass them on her way, or whether those 

 which we saw followed us during the whole or a great part 

 of our course. 



Undoubtedly certain individuals followed in our wake for 

 a distance of at least some miles, but it was not possible to 

 identify them for any greater distance. On the whole I am 

 inclined to adhere to the Captain's supposition, always 

 admitting that individuals may occasionally wander from 

 their own waters and follow a ship for some distance. 

 Moseley, however, evidently thought differently, since he 

 wrote * of the " various kinds of Petrels," which were " our 

 constant companions in the Southern Ocean, following the 

 ship day after day, dropping behind at night to roost on the 

 water and tracking the ship up again in the early morning 

 by the trail of debris left in its wake." 



These Gooneys are dark and plainly coloured, but vary a 

 good deal in appearance — some being entirely dusky, while 

 others have either the forehead, vent, rump, or under tail- 

 coverts white. They are very powerful fliers, and in this 

 respect are only inferior to the larger Albatrosses, which are 

 not met with in the North Pacific. They circle around a 



Op. cit. p. 494. 



SER. VIII. — VOL. III. Y 



