444 THE ALBATROSS. 



any assistance from their wings; and the noise of their 

 tread may be heard at a great distance* 1 . 



They are most voracious birds, arid easily caught by 

 baiting a hook with offal and letting it trail after the 

 vessel by a long line; on seizing and swallowing the bait, 

 it will sometimes rise into the air, from whence, by 

 hauling on the line, as a boy does a kite, it is brought 

 on board. Sometimes, however, they break the line and 

 escape, which has afforded a proof of the distance and 

 length of time they will follow a vessel. Thus when 

 hauling in one of large size, the line slipped, and the 

 bird consequently swallowed the hook, and a portion of 

 the line, the remainder of which hung pendant from the 

 beak. From being thus marked, it was ascertained that 

 it followed the ship two days, arid might have been doing 

 so for days before; and in these forty-eight hours, as she 

 sailed at the rate of two hundred miles per day from the 

 irregular flight of the bird, the space it went over could 

 not have been less than three or four times that distance. 

 Their reason for preferring rough weather to smooth 

 may easily be accounted for, the agitation of the waves 

 no doubt bringing to the surface those marine animals 

 which serve them for food ; they will glide down on them 

 with unerring aim and fearful force, transfixing whatever 

 they have aimed at with their large, strong, and tren- 

 chant bill. 



A poor fellow who fell overboard from a man of war, 

 off the Island of St. Paul's in the Southern Indian 

 Ocean, was immediately perceived by two or three Alba- 

 trosses ; the boat was lowered with all speed, but nothing 

 was found excepting his hat, pierced through and through 

 with the violent stroke of their beaks, the first of which 

 had, most probably, penetrated the skull and caused 

 instant death. 



These birds are found round the whole circle of the 

 globe in the Southern Seas, retiring to breed in tha 

 most desolate and dreary situations. Captain Weddell 



* Weddell. 



