THE WANDERING ALBATROSS 137 



was always in close attendance on us, flying close to the 

 tiny vessel, and often over it at a height of a few feet 

 only, and without indulging in any foolish superstition, 

 I certainly shared the satisfaction of the men in having 

 this friendly little stranger so constantly with us. It 

 seems that the popular opinion among landsmen is that 

 sailors hold the petrel in awe, and look on its approach to 

 a ship as an ill omen. This is a mistake, or else sailors 

 have greatly changed their opinion. It is the desertion of 

 the neighbourhood of a ship by these birds that is con- 

 sidered a forewarning of doom. 



Among the rarer birds of the Bight the wandering 

 albatross may be numbered, but it is seen occasionally off 

 all parts of the coast, especially in remote places, for this 

 is a bird that avoids the haunts of man. It will follow 

 ships and hover about them ; but I have never seen it 

 near a big coast city. In Australia I have seen it only as 

 a solitary bird. There a pair, or a greater number, are 

 never seen together, but as I have seen an albatross near 

 the same spot for several consecutive days, I have been in 

 doubt whether I was viewing the reappearance of one 

 bird, or of two, or more of them. 



In the Bight I witnessed the very unusual sight of an 

 albatross swimming — I suppose for the purpose of resting 

 its wings, for it feeds on the wing. Old navigators and 

 naturalists were much puzzled at finding the albatross at 

 vast distances from land, and put forward all sorts of 

 theories to account for its apparent ability to do without 

 rest for days, if not weeks, together. It was described as 

 flying thousands of miles without alighting, as never 

 resting except occasionally on the mast of a passing 

 vessel, and as sleeping on the wing. All this guesswork 

 was wrong, the fact being that the albatross sleeps, like 

 many other species of the gull tribe, while floating on the 

 water. Probably all gulls occasionally sleep in this 

 situation, certainly most do. They also rest and sleep on 

 any floating object they find at sea, as on a castaway barrel 

 or plank ; and off the coasts of North Australia and 

 Queensland, I have often seen terns sleeping while perched 



