DIOMEDEID.E — THE ALBATROSSES — PIIU'IBETKIA. 



361 



ami Kerguelen Island — where, however, he was never able to secure a nest. This 

 bird had an unpleasant habit of screeching at night, and was called by the sealers the 

 l'ee-%1. Sir John Koss mentions seeing young birds of this species, fully fledged and 

 rca<ly to go to sea, in May, at Kerguelen Island. This Albatross was so very shy that 

 Mr. Harris was not able to make any observations as to its habits. It is descrilwd 

 by Mr. Gould as being very wary, seldom caught, and the only one of all the Petrel 

 tribe whieh is wont to fly directly over a ship. 



The unrivalled flight of the Albatross has been the admiration of voyagers from 

 the earliest time ; and this si)ecies, as Captain Hutton contends, carries oft" the ])ahn 

 from all its comiHjtitors. " Never," he states, '• have I seen anything to ecpial the 

 t'ase and irrace of this bird as it sweeps past, often within a few yards, every part of 

 its l)ody JM rfectly motionless, except the head and eye, which turns slowly, and seems 

 to take notice of everything. I have sometimes watched narrowly one of these birds 

 sailing and wheeling al)out in all directions for more than an hour, without seeing 

 the slightest movement of its wings." 



In a subsequent voyage, in 18G6, froni London to New Zealand, as Captain Hut- 

 ton again states, he saw a large nund)er around the ship on the 8th of April, and also 

 when off the Island of Tristan d'Acunha. After that he met with none until the 

 'J8th, in latitude 38° ; but from that time forward they continued to be seen until 

 the 2Uth of May. 



Dr. J. H. Kidder, in his Notes on the Birds of Kerguelen Island, mentions the ca^)- 

 imv of two siK'cimens of the .Sooty Albatross, October 16, at the entrance of a shallow 

 cave in the face of a rock some distance inland. The birds kept about the huts 

 si'veral days, showing no disposition to escape; but very unexpectedly one of them 

 walked to the edge of a rock and flew off. 0(!tober 24, two had been found to liave 

 iiiude a r'.'st on a shelf formed by a considerable tuft of cabbage and azarella at the 

 entrance of a small cavity in the perpendicular face of a lofty rock, some two miles 

 distant. Their screams were very loud, and not unlike the call of a cat. The name 

 (if I'l'c-iiw has Ix^cn given it as descriptive of this call, which is presumed to be 

 peculiar to the breed ing-sea.son. November 2, an egg and both i)arents were sec. .red. 

 'I'lic nest was a conical mound, seven or eight inches high, hollowed into a cup at 

 tlic top, and rudely lined with grass. The male was sitting on the egg when caj)- 

 tmed, and the fenuile standing on an old nest not far away. Both — especiall}' the 

 nude — showed fight when api>ro;iched, clattering their large bills with an odd noise, 

 and biting viciously. In captivity both birds ate freely of fresh meat. The «'gg 

 was single, white, and very long in proportion to its thickness. Otiier eggs were 

 met with as late as NovemlxM- 21. 



In Dr. Kidder's Notes on tin* Oology of Kerguelen, he descrilM's the eg>;8 of 

 lliis species as U-ing broadly ovoidal, generally white, and marked by a collection 

 of spots alH)Ut the larger enil. The shell is said to be compact in structure, thin 

 lor its siz«', and sm<K)th to tiie t(mch. Examiiu'd by the lens, it is found to be 

 marked by minute jjits and linear depressions. Hotii eggs measured y.95 inches in 

 length, and one 2.G0, the other 2.01, in breadth. 



vol.. II. — 40 



