Flight and Distribution of Albatrosses. 323 



ends of their course. Thus they avoided the necessity of 

 crossing the wind for any distance. When they did cross 

 the wind they seemed to find it necessary to flap their wings, 

 usually at the points of their course where they turned to 

 run up- wind. At the other end of 'their beat, when 

 turning to run down-wind, wing-action was apparently 

 unnecessary, since the wind itself supplied all the impetus 

 required. When travelling against the wind the Gooneys 

 seemed to ascend or descend by inclining the body upwards 

 or downwards *. When descending, as the first officer of the 

 ship pointed out to me, by slightly flexing their wings, they 

 perform an act equivalent to shortening sail. When thus 

 circling round in rear of the ship they often assumed an 

 attitude with the wings pointing vertically upwards and 

 downwards. They possessed a wonderful power of dodging 

 the waves, shooting upwards at once when a bigger wave 

 than usual rose in front of them ; but they often passed so 

 close over the surface that once or twice I saw the wing 

 which happened to be undermost actually cutting the water 

 for a few yards, yet without impeding the flight of the bird 

 in the slightest. 



The second species, Steller's Albatross (D. albatrus), is -f-. 

 much less active. I first met witli it in Hakodate Harbour 

 on the 3rd of July, 1896. There one or two young birds in 

 the dark plumage of immaturity f and with the bill flesh- 

 coloured were generally to be seen, most of them apparently 

 gorged with food. When in this state they seemed to have 

 some difficulty in rising from the water and made free use of 

 their legs in the attempt. When first seen, the dark imma- 

 ture birds of this species are rather likely to be confounded 

 with adults of D. nigripes, but they are larger and darker and 

 have the bill pink, and if carefully studied are found to 

 fly in a style that is quite their own. They are most 

 frequently to be seen sitting upon the water, and only rise 

 and fly lazily away on the too near approach of a vessel. 



* On this point my notes, copied from my original journal, differ from 

 those of Captain Hutton. 



t Seebohm, Ibis, 1890, p. 105, says that the dark form is a dimorphism. 



y2 



