1835.] made during a Voyage to India. 171 



turned round to bite the innocent means of his discomfiture ; by so 

 doing, however, he contrived to entangle his wing, and to my great 

 jov I succeeded in hauling him on deck, unspotted and unharmed in 

 plumage. 



He belongs also to the genus diomedea, or albatross, but whether 

 a young bird, or a distinct species from the large white-bodied bird 

 usually known to sailors by that name, I cannot positively determine, 

 as I have never had an opportunity of comparing them ; but from the 

 description of both, I am inclined to think them distinct. 



The breadth from tip to tip of the expanded wings is six feet ; and 

 its length from tip of beak to end of tail 2 ft. 5| in. 



The whole of the under parts are pure white, as are the rump and 

 upper tail coverts ; the wings and back and tail feathers are of a very 

 dark chesnut-brown ; the head and back part of the neck are white, 

 faintly clouded with a tinge of bluish ash, which gradually grows dark- 

 er as it joins and blends with the dark colour on the back. 



The legs are of a very pale bluish-white. The beak is very beauti- 

 fully marked on the ridge of the upper mandible with a line of clear 

 bright yellow, which is well set off by the rest of the beak being of a 

 jet black, except the hook, which is rosy flesh-coloured, and is a conti- 

 nuation of the yellow line. 



At the base of the lower mandible is a small caruncle, stretching on 

 each side from the edge to the bottom of the bill in a narrow line of deep 

 orange-yellow. The eye has a narrow stripe of bluish-black running 

 through it, and blending with the plumage on the back of the head and 

 neck. Irides hazle. 



On examining the gizzard of this bird, we found the eyes of a fish, 

 which, to judge from their size, must have been from a pound and a 

 half to two pounds in weight. 



Both of these specimens had a beautifully soft white down, very 

 close, beneath their feathers. 



Whenever the Cape pigeons alighted upon any thing, the albatross 

 immediately perceived it, and sweeping over the waters with out- 

 stretched wing, threw himself into the midst of them with a hoarse 

 croaking scream, and obliged them to abandon the prey to him. 



On first alighting on the water the albatross holds his wings half- 

 folded high over his back, and if he finds any thing to devour, slowly 

 folds them in on his sides; but if he is disappointed in obtaining prey, 

 he throws forward his head and neck, and once more expanding his 

 long wings, runs with three or four splashing steps on the wave, and 

 then rising gradually into the air, skims along with incredible strength 

 and rapidity. 

 z 2 



