DIOMEDEA EXULANS 147 



On his Voyage to the South Pole, Weddell says : — ''A full 

 grown Albatross sometimes measures 16 or 17 feet from the tip 

 of one wing to the tip of the other when expanded ; but more 

 commonly they average about 12 feet. These birds are so 

 abundantly covered with feathers that when plucked, they appear 

 not above one half the original size, and our astonishment at 

 their apparent magnitude immediately vanishes. I have found 

 them when cleaned to weigh from 12 to 25 pounds. Their feet 

 are webbed and remarkabl}'' large, so that when the water is 

 smooth they can walk on the surface with hardly any assistance 

 from their wings, and the noise of their tread is heard at a con- 

 siderable distance. Their eggs weigh generally one pound and 

 three quarters." 



According to Gould, the average weight is 17 pounds, and 

 the measurement from wing-tip to wing-tip 10 feet 1 inch. 

 He mentions, however, that Dr. McCormick met with examples 

 weighing as much as 20 pounds, and measuring 12 feet. 



The breeding habits of this Albatross are admirably described 

 by Earle, from Tristan d'Acunha, in 1824. After accomplishing 

 the rough and difficult ascent, he found an extended plain of 

 several miles' expanse, terminating in a peak composed of dark 

 grey lava, bare, and frightful to behold. 



" Here," he says, " a death-like stillness prevailed, whilst the 

 air was bitterly cold." 



" The prospect was altogether very sublime, and filled the 

 mind with awe ! " 



" On the one side, the boundless horizon, heaped up with 

 clouds of silvery brightness, contrasted with some of darker 

 hue, enveloping us in their vapour, and, passing rapidly away, 

 gave us only casual glances of the landscape ; and, on the other 

 hand, the sterile and cindery peak, with its venerable head partly 

 capped with clouds, partly revealing great patches of red cinders, 

 or lava, intermingled with the black rock, produced a most extra- 

 ordinary and dismal effect. It seemed as though it was still 

 actually burning, to heighten the sublimity of the scene." 



