1835.] Observations on the Albatross. 109 



Now the Albatross being a sea bird, and furnished with webbed 

 feet — what hinders it from sleeping on the waves like other water- 

 fowls ? 



Is not motion the effect of will ? And does not sleep seal up our 

 eyes in forgetfulness ? How then can the Albatross continue its 

 flight, when the will to move its pinions, and direct its course, is lost 

 in sleep ? The quotation proves the absurdity of the supposition by 

 showing that the bird is " running his head against a wall !" What 

 the wandering Albatross may do near land I cannot say, but at sea 

 I never saw one rise so high even as the yards of the ship, although 

 the Sooty Albatross (Diomedea fuliginosa) very frequently did. 



With regard to the bird or birds which sailors call a " Booby*," I 

 can say little, as I never had the good fortune to see one captured ; 

 but certainly from its flight and appearance at a distance, I should 

 pronounce it to be a gull or petrel, but decidedly not an Albatross ; 

 here, however, I speak at random, and shall be happy to receive cor- 

 rection if necessary, Be it what it may, I cannot understand what 

 " desperate necessity" there is for the bird's sleeping on board of ship, 

 when it has a fine smooth sea to rest on, and a pair of good broad 

 webbed feet, and a thick impenetrable plumage, made for the very 

 purpose of enabling it to rest on the waters ; we know that all water- 

 fowl resort to the land occasionally, and the Booby, being some 

 hundreds of miles at sea, may choose to rest on the only solid foot- 

 ing it can find, in order to break the dull monotony of a daily seat 

 on salt-water ! 



But joking apart, may I not ask, on what did the Booby rest, be- 

 fore ships had made the passage round the Cape ? unless they could 

 sleep on the water, their necessities must have been much more dis- 

 perate than in the present day ! 



To the trivial names applied by sailors and casual observers, to these 

 birds, I attach no value whatever, as I have seen the folly of trusting 

 to such names ; for instance, one of the Albatrosses which I caught 

 on my last voyage to India, was termed by the officers of the ship, 

 '■ a Mollymawk," and they laughed at the idea of its being an Albatross, 

 merely because in size and plumage it did not agree with the bird 

 which they were accustomed to term an Albatross. Nevertheless, it is 

 a true Albatross ! Another bird, the Sooty Albatross, was named 

 " a Peeroo !" 



* On 2nd May, "a Booby" was caught asleep on the rigging of the " Wil- 

 liam Fairlie." It had the plumage wholly brown, and not white, as stated in 

 Loudon. On being seized, it disgorged " five flying fish," all of good size. Does 

 not this prove that there is no scarcity of food ? 



