THE OOLOGIST 



79 



A sort of a mutual affection exists 

 between the sailor and the Albatross. 

 This may be called "true friendship," 

 or according to an old superstitious 

 belief current among the sailors, it 

 may be something more than mere 

 friendship. The fable gives it, that 

 the spirits of the sailors, who get 

 drowned in the southern seas, will 

 after a reasonable time, reincarnate, 

 and become Albatrosses. Whether 

 old sailors are basing their thoughts 

 on this belief or not, I will not ven- 

 ture to say, but I know, that they show 

 a certain amount of sacred reverence 

 for this winged "King of the Ocean," 

 and often strictly object to its killing, 

 while young, thoughtless fellows often 

 catch them just "for the fun of it." It 

 is very easily caught with a hook and 

 line; a six-inch spike bent into the 

 shape of a fishhook, with a piece of 

 pork for a bait and a long, strong line 

 is all that is necessary and these birds 

 can be pulled on board the ship by 

 dozens. 



Although a number of years has 

 passed since I bid my last adieu to 

 the Albatrosses in the Southern At- 

 lantic Ocean, yet I remember them as 

 well as if I had rounded Cape Horn 

 with them only yesterday. Their con- 

 stant companionship on a long voy- 

 age certainly does away with the mon- 

 otony and when traveling southward 

 from the tropics, the sailors generally 

 look forward to the time when the Al- 

 batrosses will come to meet them and 

 will start to follow their' southbound 

 ocean freighter. 



The most common one of all the va- 

 rieties is the Yellow-nosed Albatross, 

 which, according to some information, 

 has once been found in the Northern 

 Atlantic, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 and has thereby gained himself a 

 place among the birds of North Amer- 

 ica. In the southern latitudes he is 

 common around the entire globe from, 



say, the 40th parallel southward. The 

 length of his body is about three feet 

 and the expanse of wing from eight to 

 nine and one-half feet. His long, tube- 

 nostrilled bill is yellow, feet pinkish- 

 yellow; underparts and rump are 

 white; upperparts in some birds slate- 

 gray, in others more brownish. It is 

 probable that the birds with brownish 

 backs are young ones. The Yellow- 

 nose is an ocean-scavenger; all the 

 slops that are thrown over board from 

 a ship are cleaned up by a flock of 

 these birds, as if they were the best of 

 delicacies. 



The Sooty Albatross (Phaebetria ful- 

 ginosa), which is less numerous, often 

 follows a ship in company with the 

 Yellow-nose; but as he is smaller and 

 not a very attractive bird, he is to a 

 certain extent overlooked and is not 

 received on board a ship with the cor- 

 diality that is bestowed on the white- 

 bellied variety. 



The sailing ship generally keeps at 

 a respectable distance from the isolat- 

 ed islands in the southern seas, 

 where these great birds are having 

 their breeding grounds. There are 

 nevertheless several groups of islands 

 that are almost in a direct highway 

 of all the eastbound sailing ships. 

 Such islands are South Georgia, Tris- 

 tan dAcunha, Crozet Islands, Kergue- 

 len, Auckland and Antipodes Islands. 

 All these islands, except Tristan 

 d'Acunha, are scattered around the 

 entire globe on or about the 50th par- 

 allel south. The eastbound ships gen- 

 erally pass these groups within, say 

 twenty-five to one hundred miles. Near 

 these islands the Albatrosses are, at 

 all times, much more numerous than 

 at other points in the ocean. But for 

 all that there is always a number of 

 Albatrosses that will follow a ship 

 for weeks and weeks, without taking 

 any notice of an island that may be 

 only twenty-five miles away. 



