A L B I N A L B i N O S. 



63 



of the external wing, and the depression of the inter- 

 nal one, when it turns. From the attitude of the 

 body and the form of the wings, the air passes under 

 the bird in the form of a wedge, and by that means 

 exerts an upward pressure from its elasticity, which 

 increases with the velocity of the bird ; and the 

 ascent of vapour may assist, as all birds which skim 

 the surface of the water appear to do so with more 

 easy wing than those that skim the land at the same 

 elevation. At sea, too, the birds have more com- 

 pletely the use of the air, as even the common surface 

 of the earth offers more friction, as is seen by the 

 diminution of a wind from the sea, or even from a lake 

 of moderate dimensions, as one recedes from the 

 shore. Thus, if the pelagic bird has to range further 

 than the bird which beats the surface of the 'land, its 

 journeys are performed in a more easy manner. 



When feeding, in calm weather, the flight of these 

 birds is low, and they repose on the surface far from 

 land ; from which circumstance it is that they have 

 got the name of Cape sheep. On their excursions 

 to the feeding grounds, their flight is much higher, 

 and so it is also when the weather is stormy ; on both 

 of which occasions they make more use of their wings, 

 and become so exhausted, especially in rough wea- 

 ther, that they alight on the rigging of ships. In 

 both of these cases the birds are deprived of the 

 wedge-shaped current of air under them ; and hence, 

 in part at least, their greater fatigue. 



When pelagic, the albatross captures numbers of 

 the surface fishes, as well when they come naturally 

 to the surface to feed as when they are forced out of 

 the water by their enemies ; as the flying fishes are, 

 by the coryphene especially, the passage of which 

 through the water is so rapid, that they cannot escape 

 from it by swimming ; and the moment that they are 

 on the wing (or rather the fin) the albatross makes 

 prize of them. When on the shores, which is chiefly 

 in the high latitudes, their grand fishing stations are 

 at the mouths of rivers, where there are always num- 

 bers of fish of moderate size ; and there they attend 

 and seize the salmon which leap in order to escape 

 from the porpoise and those other enemies which fol- 

 low them up the estuaries. 



But though the albatross be thus voracious and 

 successful against the finny tribes, it is rather a timid 

 bird in the air. The sea eagles kill it, the skuas rob 

 it, and the larger gulls attack it. When it meets 

 with abundance of food, it gorges till it is almost stu- 

 pified, and dozes on the water ; and when alarmed in 

 that state, it discharges the contents of its stomach, 

 after the manner of the petrels, apparently for the 

 purpose of lightening itself, both in a physical and 

 physiological sense. When wounded, or on the ground, 

 or even in the water, they make a powerful defence 

 with their formidable bill. 



As is the case with most of the tribe, the female lays 

 but one egg. It is placed in a rude hollow of the 

 earth, not high above or distant from the water, and 

 not in a hole like the eggs of the petrels ; the egg is 

 white, very large, and of singular shape, being much 

 elongated, and both ends nearly of equal thickness. 

 The time depends somewhat on the latitude ; being 

 in September (which answers to March with us) on 

 the coasts of South America ; but farther into the 

 antarctic summer, in places nearer the north pole. 

 The eggs are eatable, though, as is the case with those 

 of most sea birds, they are not very good ; the white 

 is said to consist more of gelatine than of albumen, 



and on that account not to coagulate or harden, when 

 boiled. The nests are in lonely or desert places ; 

 and in those places of the northern hemisphere where 

 they do breed, they appear to do it rather early in the 

 season, as by Midsummer they resort to the northern 

 bays and estuaries. On the east of America there are 

 hardly any, but between the north-west of that conti- 

 nent and the opposite coast of Asia they are very 

 numerous, but at first in very lean condition. Food is 

 plentiful then, however, as June is about the time 

 when the inhabitants of the northern seas are in full 

 activity, so that they soon get fat ; and a bird which 

 weighed only twelve pounds in the middle of June, 

 will weigh twice as much in the course of one month. 

 They are easily caught with a large hook, and almost 

 any bait, for they pounce upon and swallow with 

 avidity any thing they see floating, if their gulp, 

 which is a very large one, will take it in. Their flesh 

 is hard, tough, and unpalatable, and not eaten by even 

 the rudest tribes ; but sailors, when they have been 

 long in the polar seas without much provisions, con- 

 trive to eat them, after skinning, steeping them for a 

 time in sea water, and cooking with pungent sauces. 

 The wing bones are the chief attractions to the people 

 of the northern shores and islands. They are very long, 

 hard, and tubular, and so adapted for many purposes 

 in the rude economy of people whose chief depend- 

 ence is on the sea, and to whom bone is, in a great 

 measure, a substitute both for wood and the metals. 



There are several other species mentioned by 

 authors, one of the best known of which is D.fuliginosa, 

 or the " quaker bird " of the sailors. It is brown, with 

 the bill, head, and tail white ; but too little is known of 

 the history of the birds for enabling us to speak with 

 precision as to what may or may not be distinct species. 

 The quaker birds have been described as inhabiting 

 more polarly than the one we have described ; as sel- 

 dom appearing without the antarctic polar circle ; and 

 as breeding socially, or in numbers together, about or 

 near the middle of summer. But in all parts of the 

 world, and in respect of all the species, whatever may 

 be their number, we do not know the whole year's 

 history of a single albatross ; neither do we know the 

 changes in the colour of the plumage, or the beak 

 and feet (which in many birds changes along with the 

 plumage,) of one individual, from the time of its 

 leaving the egg to its full maturity. 



Nor can we implicitly depend on the additions that 

 have been made to the natural history of the high 

 seas by the continental naturalists ; for, though the 

 voyagers of that part of the world have, till of late 

 years, probably been more attentive to natural his- 

 tory than British voyagers, yet they have been defi- 

 cient in experience, inasmuch as they have much 

 more rarely visited remote parts ; and as they have 

 thus seen the animals, whether birds or others, in a 

 more transient manner, they have stood in more dan- 

 ger of multiplying the changes of a single species 

 into different ones. It has been too much the custom 

 with mere compilers among ourselves to adopt the 

 notions of those foreigners, with some few conjectural 

 or rather random variations, in order to give an air 

 of originality ; and hence upon many subjects which, 

 like the albatross, involve curious points in the natural 

 history of the globe, many errors have crept in, much 

 to the disadvantage of the student. 



ALBIN. A variety of the mineral called APO- 

 PHYLITE, which see. 



ALBINOS, literally white, a name which was first 



