284< Capt. F. W. Hutton on some of the 



states that the nesting of the two is different ; but, as he has 

 wrongly described the nesting of both the other species of Alba- 

 troSj I cannot trust his account without further evidence. No 

 one acquainted with these birds can read Latham^s description of 

 D. chlororhynchus without at once seeing that he is describing 

 an immature bird. 



DioMEDEA FULiGiNosA, Gmel. ; Gould, B. Austral, vii. pi. 44. 

 Sooty Albatros. 



Some of these birds are grey on the back and head, with the 

 exception of a broad black stripe round the beak, which gives 

 the head something the look of a Jackdaw's. I am unable to 

 say whether these are young or very old birds ; but as their legs 

 and feet are yellow, I incline to think the latter. It breeds in 

 the inaccessible cliffs of Kerguelen's Land and the Prince Ed- 

 ward Islands, and Mr. Harris was never able to get at a nest. 

 It has an unpleasant habit of screeching at night, and is called 

 " Pee-u'^ by the sealers. Sir J. Ross mentions that he saw 

 young birds fully fledged, and, as he says, " ready to go to sea,'^ 

 in May, at Kerguelen's Land; and, as no mention is made of 

 old birds, this species may have the same habit of deserting its 

 young that D. exulans has. It is, however, so shy that Mr. 

 Harris made very few observations on its habits. The remarks 

 of Mr. Gould, that this bird is very wary, and seldom caught, 

 and that it alone of all the Petrels flies directly over the ship, 

 are quite correct. 



Procellaria gigantea, Gmel. Ossifraga gigantea, Bp. 

 Consp. Av. ii. p. 186. Gould, B. Austral, vii. pi. 45. Giant 

 Petrel. 



This bird breeds in the cliffs of the Prince Edward Islands 

 and Kerguelen's Land, but the nests can be got at occasionally. 

 The young are at first covered with a beautiful long, light-grey 

 down ; when fledged they are dark brown, mottled with white. 

 When a person approaches the nest the old bird keeps a short 

 distance away, while the young ones squirt a horridly smelling oil 

 out of their mouths to a distance of six or eight feet. It is very 

 voracious, hovering over the sealers when engaged cutting up 

 a seal, and devouring the carcass the moment it is left — a thing 



