172 Notes on Natural History, %c. [March, 



Nothing can be more majestic than the long, sweeping flight of this 

 bird, as he skims closely over the face of the deep, almost without 

 moving his wings, which are kept at full stretch, until he suddenly 

 throws himself far above the waves, and then with a long sweep dashes 

 down again, and skims away as before for many yards without any 

 apparent motion of the wing, save now and then a slight bending near 

 the tip as he avoids the foaming crest of a wave. They always alight 

 on the water before taking their prey, holding the head and neck very 

 erect when swimming, and looking both bold and graceful. 



The sooty albatross (Diomedea fuliginosa), called by the officers of 

 the ship, a " Peeroo," is both more numerous and more familiar than 

 the other kinds, and flies rather differently, not sweeping so long and 

 steadily over the surface of the deep as the larger albatrosses, and rising 

 far above the yards, impudently skirting the sides of the ship, and 

 looking down upon the decks* ; they flap their wings frequently in 

 flying, which the larger birds do not. If the weather is calm, how- 

 ever, and the wind very light, they all flap their wings oftener, so that 

 the above description is more applicable to windy weather. 



The sooty albatross or Quaker bird, was first seen on the 26th 

 September, latitude 33°30' south, longitude 3°5' west, thermometer 54, 

 weather cold wind variable ; and left us on the 26th October in latitude 

 33°34' S. longitude 77°16' E. thermometer 59|°. Thick hazy wea- 

 ther ; wind S. S. E. 



The other albatrosses continued to be seen until the 29th October, 

 in latitude 29°37' S. longitude 82°28' E. thermometer 69°. Fine wea- 

 ther; wind easterly. 



In Griffith's translation of Cuvier, the petrels are stated to " drop 

 upon their prey with extreme promptitude, and carry it off with their 

 bill, as with a harpoon : but they have not the habit of diving to at- 

 tain it. They are in fact never seen to submerge, and when the 

 animal they are watching is somewhat below the surface, they sink a 

 portion of their body in the water to seize it." 



This is not correct, as the petrels, or at least the Cape petrel, as I 

 have already stated, can dive very prettily, and I frequently saw them 

 do so, after the pieces of pork which we threw overboard to them. 

 They certainly alight very quickly upon their prey, but not with the 

 sudden and headlong rush of the rapacious tribes, as the word "drop" 

 would lead one to expect. It must however be remembered that I speak 

 only of the Cape petrels, which also devoured their prey before rising 

 from the water : other species may perhaps act differently. 



* Perhaps Coleridge may have alluded to this bird, in his " Antient Mariner." 



