278 Capt. F. W. Hutton on some of the 



fierce, flying round the head of an intruder^ dashing every now 

 and then at him, and making at the same time a curious croak- 

 ing noise in their throats. Mr. Harris has never seen one 

 chasing another bird. 



DiOMEDEA EXULANS, L. ; Gould, B. Austral. vii. pi. 38. 

 "Wandering Albatros. 



Average breadth across the wings ten feet; the smallest mea- 

 sured being nine feet, and the largest twelve feet; length from tip 

 of beak to end of tail four feet. Some have a rose-coloured streak 

 on each side of the neck, as mentioned by Dr. Bennett in his 

 * Gatherings of a Naturalist in Australasia' (p. 72). I have 

 never seen this on either the young or very old birds, and the 

 only one I ever captured with it was a male. I have also only 

 seen these marks between June and August, and I am therefore 

 disposed to believe that they distinguish the middle-aged male 

 bird previous to the breeding-season ; but I am not sure of this. 

 According to the experience of myself and Dr. Bennett, the food 

 of the Albatros consists entirely of the oceanic MoUusca, small 

 Crustaceans, Medusa, and the refuse thrown overboard from 

 ships. I have never found any remains of fish in its stomach ; 

 and, indeed, I do not see how it could catch them, for it never 

 pounces suddenly, like a Frigate-bird or a Gannet, on anything 

 floating in the water, but always settles first, and then devours 

 it at its leisure ; in fact, it sits down to dinner. For this rea- 

 son it can only be caught with a hook when the ship is going 

 slowly — not more than four or five knots — and when plenty of 

 line can be payed out, so as to give the bird time to look at the 

 bait before he swallows it. The best bait is a piece of the rind 

 of raw salt-pork, as this is so tough that the small birds cannot 

 get it ofi" the hook. The hook need not be barbed, as it always 

 catches in the curved end of the upper mandible. The bait 

 must be floated by means of corks. 



I have never seen the Albatros fly at night, and its habits are 

 quite diurnal, both at sea and on land. It is rarely found north 

 of latitude 30° S., but so constantly does it approach that limit, 

 that I could generally predict the day on which we should see 

 the first. In April 1854, however, when sailing from Cape 



