BOS VERTEBRATES 



and wide, to the right and to the left, now a great way ahead, and 

 now shooting astern for several hundred yards, returning again to 

 the ship as if she were all the time stationary, though perhaps 

 running at the rate of ten knots an hour ! But the most singular 

 peculiarity of this bird is its faculty of standing and even running 

 on the surface of the water, which it performs with apparent 

 facility. When any greasy matter is thrown overboard, these 

 birds instantly collect round it, and facing to windward, with their 

 long wings expanded and their webbed feet patting the water, the 

 lightness of their bodies and the action of the wind on their wings 

 enable them to do this with ease. In calm weather they perform 

 the same manoeuvre by keeping their wings just so much in action 

 as to prevent their feet from sinking below the surface. 



The Wandering Albatros, the largest of the genus, is 

 a well-known bird in the southern seas, following ships for many 

 miles in hopes of obtaining the refuse thrown overboard. So 

 voracious is the Albatros, that it will swallow entire a fish of four 

 or five pounds' weight. The flight of this bird is peculiarly ma- 

 jestic. Its extreme length of wing prevents it from rising at once 

 from the ground, but when once launched into the air, it seems to 

 float and direct its course without efibrt. Gould, in describing the 

 flight of this bird, says : 



" The powers of flight of the Wandering Albatros are much 

 greater than those of any other bird that has come under my ob- 

 servation. Although during calm or moderate weather it some- 

 times 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 sweeping with arrow-like swift- 

 ness before the most furious gale ; and the way 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 two 

 hundred miles in the twenty-four hours, and that for days together, 

 gtill the Albatros has not the slightest diflSculty in keeping up 

 with the ship, but also performs circles of many miles in extent, 



