DISCUSSION ON CAPTAIN HTTITOn's PKECEDING PAPEB. 245 



not seen all of them. He could not call to mind any except the Albatross 

 and the Cape Pigeons, which were seen by every voyager round the 

 Cape of Good Hope, and from that to VanDiemen's Land. The Shear- 

 waters he had seen further north. The whole of the sea from some two 

 or three degrees south of the Cape of Good Hope to Van Diemen's Land 

 was alive with birds to a degree that was not to be observed in any 

 other part of the ocean. In the Atlantic only an odd bird or two were 

 met with, as a rule — perhaps a Frigate Bird soaring in the zenith — until 

 land was approached on shoals, like the Bank of Newfoundland, 

 which, being covered with fish, also swarmed with birds of different de- 

 scriptions. But in the Indian Ocean, in latitude about 35°, or there- 

 abouts, the air was alive with birds, and the water was alive with Cape 

 Pigeons, while great Albatrosses could be seen sailing over the ships. 

 Once, while on a voyage in those seas, he and others divided the 

 horizon into quarters, for the purpose of making a hasty estimate of the 

 number of Albatrosses in sight at the same time, and they counted 

 no less than 400. Catching the Albatross with a line and hook, baited 

 with a bit of pork, was only practicable when the ship was sailing 

 slowly — say, about three knots an hour. Captain Hutton's description 

 of this was quite accurate ; the Albatross comes awkwardly down into 

 the water, with a loud croak, and the Cape Pigeons instantly get out of 

 his way ; he then picks up the piece of pork and is hauled on board. 

 He had often cut Albatrosses open and invariably found nothing in their 

 stomachs except the beaks of Cuttle Pish. He had met these birds, in the 

 way he had described, thousands of miles from land. 



Mr. Robert J. Montgomery asked Captain Hutton where the Les- 

 tris catarrhactes bred ? In the Orkneyjslands the L. catarrhactes was 

 to be found breeding in lofty cliffs, and not on the ground, like some 

 of the Gulls. 



Dr. E. H. Bennett said, that Captain Hutton's paper noticed an ana- 

 tomical point of considerable interest — namely, the structure of the bill 

 of the Albatross. He understood him to say that the bill of that bird 

 was not, so far as its structure was concerned, the best suited for taking 

 its prey, but was, in fact, rather peculiar to the species, than adapted 

 to the mode of life of the individual to which it belonged. This was at 

 variance with what was observed in the Kingfisher, and in other aqua- 

 tic birds. The fact was important, when it was remembered that in 

 every department of anatomy facts turned up in this way ; and it de- 

 pended upon what interpretation they put on them — whether they 

 proved community of descent, or unity of type, or special adaptation to 

 particular modes of life. He did not know that this fact had been pre- 

 viously noticed in connexion with the same class of birds. "With re- 

 ference to the explanation he had given of the mode of flight of the 

 Albatross, he presumed that Captain Hutton did not claim originality, 

 as it corresponded with the account given by Darwin of the flight of 

 the Condor. 



