ALBATROSSES. 87 



his enthusiasm when describing its sailing flight. Says Dr. Bennett : " It is pleasing 

 to observe this superb bird sailing in the air, in graceful and elegant movements, seem- 

 ingly excited by some invisible power ; for there is scarcely any movement of the 

 wings seen after the first and frequent impulses are given, when the creature elevates 

 itself in the air, rising and falling as if some concealed power guided its various 

 motions, without any muscular exertion of its own." J. Gould is still more enthu- 

 siastic : " The powers of flight of the wandering albatross are much greater than 

 those of any other bird that has come under my observation. Although during calm 

 or moderate weather it sometimes rests on the surface of the water, it is almost con- 

 stantly on the wing and is equally at ease while passing over the glassy surface, 

 during the stillest calm, or flying with meteor-like swiftness before the most furious 

 gale ; and the manner in which it just tops the raging billows, and sweeps before the 

 gulfy. waves, has, a hundred times, called forth my wonder and admiration. Although 

 a vessel running before the wind frequently sails more than two hundred miles in the 

 twenty-four hours, and that for days together, still the albatross has not the slightest 

 difficulty in keeping up with the ship, but also performs circles of many miles in 

 extent, returning again to hunt up the wake of the vessel for any substances thrown 

 overboard." It is generally asserted that the albatrosses and petrels which follow the 

 vessels are able to continue their flight without any rest, to speak of, for days and 

 weeks, thus showing an almost incredible power of flight, and many interesting experi- 

 ments with captured and marked birds are cited. 



Of another species, the black-eyebrowed albatross, (D. melanophrys) Mr. Gould, 

 for instance, says ; " It is very easily captured with a hook and line, and, as this opera- 

 tion gives not the least pain to the bird, the point of the hook merely taking hold in 

 the horny and insensible tip of the bill, I frequently amused myself by capturing 

 specimens in this way, and setting them at liberty again, after having marked many, 

 in order to ascertain whether the individuals which were flying round the ship at 

 night-fall were the same that, were similarly engaged at daylight in the morning, after 

 a night's run of 120 miles ; and this, in many instances, proved to be the case." Capt. 

 F. W. Button, however, who has made the flight of these birds a special study, came 

 to different conclusions and asserts that the cases where a single individual is found 

 to follow a ship for any length of time are exceptions, and that the habits of the alba- 

 trosses are quite diurnal. " It is, I believe," he says, " the generally received opinion 

 of naturalists that these birds, when seen for several days together, have never slept 

 during the whole period, but have followed the ship night and day. To me, however, 

 it appears incredible that any animal should be able to undergo so much exertion for 

 so long a time without taking rest ; and 1 hope to show that it is not necessary to 

 suppose that it does do so. Mr. Gould says that birds caught and marked are generally 

 seen next day ; but such is not my experience. I have sometimes marked ten or 

 twelve Cape-pigeons {Daption capense, one of the Procellariidffi) in a day, and seldom 

 seen one again. Mr. Gould, however, is quite right when he says that sometimes a 

 marked bird turns up after being absent for two or three days ; and how can this be 

 accounted for except by the theory of the birds constantly following the ship ? A few 

 certainly can be often seen flying under the stern at night. Still they are never numer- 

 ous ; and where there were fifty or a hundred birds in the daytime there are only one 

 or two at night. I therefore believe that, although a few may follow a ship for a night, 

 most of them sleep in the sea, and in the morning, knowing very well that a ship is 

 the most likely place to obtain food, they fly high with the intention of looking for 



