290 



are sometimes taken. It may be observed that, soon after death, the lower part of the bill, the legs and 

 the feet change to a delicate purplish colour from congestion of the blood in the small vessels, and 

 ultimately become yellow or yellowish brown in the dried specimen. 



Young. Forehead and the whole of the face and throat pure white ; crown of the head, nape, neck all 

 round, back, and scapulars sooty brown ; upper surface of wings and tail sooty black, the shafts of the 

 quills yellowish white, changing to black at the tips ; breast and all the underparts sooty brown, 

 inclining to ash-grey on the abdomen ; lining of wings and axillary plumes pure white, the latter with 

 vermiculations of sooty brown near the tips. Irides brownish black ; bill white horn-colour ; legs and 

 feet flesh- white. 



Nestling. Covered with pure white down. 



Progress towards maturity. As it takes a considerable time to attain the fully adult plumage, birds are to be 

 met with in every intermediate stage, and are often very beautifully barred and freckled with dark 

 brown, especially on the upper parts and sides of the body. In very old birds the wavy markings 

 described above diminish considerably or entirely disappear. 



What voyager on the high seas has not watched with wonder and admiration the sailing flight 

 of the Albatros ! It has been the theme of poets and philosophers from the earliest times; and 

 various ingenious theories have been propounded to account for the amazing power which this 

 bird possesses of sailing in the air for an hour at a time without the slightest movement of its 

 expanded wings. Captain F. W. Hutton, whose observations on the buds inhabiting the 

 Southern Ocean (Ibis, 1865) are full of suggestive information, has contributed an essay* on the 

 flight of the Albatros; and although his mathematical treatment of the subject has been 

 challenged, his paper shows a very clear apprehension of the mechanical principles on which 

 the explanation rests — his main object being to show that if an Albatros started with a certain 

 velocity it could, by slightly altering the angle at which it was flying, continue to support itself 

 in the air without using its wings until its velocity had been reduced below a certain point. 



Dr. Bennett, who has written on the same subject, remarks : — " It is pleasing to observe this 

 superb bird sailing in the air in graceful and elegant movements, seemingly excited by some 

 invisible power ; for there is scarcely any movement of the wings seen after the first and frequent 

 impulses are given, when the creature elevates itself in the air, rising and falling as if some 

 concealed power guided its various motions, without any muscular exertion of its own." 

 Mr. Gould adds the following testimony : — " The powers of flight of the Wandering Albatros 

 are much greater than those of any other bird that has come under my observation. Although 

 during calm or moderate weather it sometimes rests on the surface of the water, it is almost, 

 constantly on the wing — and is equally at ease while passing over the glassy surface during the 

 stillest calm, or flying with meteor-like swiftness before the most furious gale ; and the manner 

 in which it just tops the raging billows and sweeps between the gulfy waves has a hundred times 

 called forth my wonder and admiration. Although a vessel running before the wind frequently 

 sails more than 200 miles in the twenty-four hours, and that for days together, still the Albatros 



* Philosophical Magazine, August 18G9. 



