94 WANDERING ALBATROSS. 



equally thick, or nearly so, at both ends." The young are fed by 

 disgorging from the parent stomach, food never being carried by the 

 mouth; for, as Captain Carmichael remarks, "the blubber of dead 

 whales, seals, and sea lions, would melt away if carried in the bill to 

 any distance/' He farther adds: — 



"We could not help admiring the utter unconsciousness of danger 

 displayed by them on our approach; they never shewed the least 

 disposition to move out of the way; even when kicked or pulled off 

 their nests they made not the slightest show of resistance, but quietly 

 returned to their post or stood still until we passed on. Their plumage 

 is in the finest order, copious, and without the slightest stain. They 

 find great difficulty in getting on wing, and must run twenty or 

 thirty yards along the ground, with expanded wings, before they can 

 get fairly under weigh. We had the curiosity to take one of them 

 by the point of the wings and fling it over the rock, yet, though it 

 had several hundred feet of a clear fall, it never recovered itself, 

 btit dropped down like a stone. On this account, when not engaged 

 with their young, they usually rest upon the edge of the precipice, 

 from which they can launch at once into the air; and on entering 

 again upon that diff3.cult part of our route, we had to kick upwards 

 of a dozen to the right and left of us before we could get on.^' — 

 C'Linnean Transactions," vol. xii, p. 490.) 



Dr. Bennett remarks that, although the smaller species of Albatross 

 appears in undiminished numbers, the Wandering Albatross has been 

 more rarely seen during the last few years, not only about the shores 

 of Australia, but in its more general range in the latitudes of Cape 

 Horn and Cape of Good Hope. 



The plumage of the Albatross differs with age, but not according 

 to sex. Of seven specimens of the Wandering Albatross, obtained 

 by Dr. Bennett on the 8th. of June, in latitude 37° 15' south, longi- 

 tude 16° 21' east, he says, "The back of five of them was more 

 or less beautifully pencilled with black upon a white ground; the 

 ujDper part of the wings and scapularies being of a very dark brown; 

 the breast, neck, and abdomen were snow white; the upper part of 

 the head white; back part of the neck dark brown; under surface 

 of the wings white; upper part of the tail feathers handsomely marked 

 with black; the under surface of a delicate white; on each side of 

 the neck, near the occiput, and extending a short distance down, 

 there was a streak of delicate rose tint, which beautifully contrasted 

 with the snowy plumage around it. This I only noticed in those birds 

 with the black pencillings on the back. In dead specimens this colour 

 fades. When just killed most persons mistake it for blood, and I 



