Nov. $0, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



555 



statural f^tetorg* 



THE ALBATROSS. 

 The albatross (Diomedea), the largest and strongest of 

 the petrel group, belongs to the family of Longipennatce, 

 or long-winged birds ; order, Natatores. Its name 

 Diomedea, assigned to it by Linnaeus, is said to bear 

 reference to the mythical metamorphosis of the com- 

 panions of the old Greek warrior Diomedes into birds. 

 Its popular name of albatross is a corruption of the 

 Portuguese " alcatraz," a word applied by the early 

 navigators of that nation to cormorants and large sea 

 birds generally. The albatross is an inhabitant of high 

 southern latitudes, but it frequently visits Behring's 

 Straits and the vicinity of Kamtschatka, particularly the 

 Kurile Isles, the Bay of Pentschinensi, and the Inner 

 Sea, attracted thither by large shoals of migratory fish. 

 Its chief home, however, is in the Southern Seas, and it 

 breeds principally on the lofty cliffs of Tristan d'Acunha, 

 in the South Atlantic Ocean, the Crozette Islands, 

 Marion Islands, etc., flocking in great numbers round 

 the Cape of Good Hope, where the sailors know them 

 under the name of " Cape sheep." During the breeding 

 season, which in the Southern hemisphere is about 

 September, these birds assemble in considerable num- 

 bers in their favourite haunts, which then present a 

 rather impressive appearance to the chance human 

 observer. Mr. Earl gives the following description of a 

 visit to one of these homes of the albatross: — "A 

 death-like stillness prevailed in these high regions, and 

 to my ear our voices had a strange unnatural echo, and 

 I fancied our forms appeared gigantic, while the air was 

 piercingly cold. The prospect was altogether sublime, 

 and filled the mind with awe. The huge albatrosses here 

 appeared to dread no interloper or enemy, for their 

 young were on the ground completely uncovered, and 

 the old ones were stalking calmly round them. They 

 lay but one egg on the ground, where they make a kind 

 of nest by scraping the earth round it. The young is 

 entirely white, and is covered with a woolly down, 

 which is very beautiful. As we approached they 

 snapped their beaks with very quick motion, making a 

 great noise. ... I again visited the mountain about 

 five months afterwards, when I found the young 

 albatrosses 'ill sitting in their nests as if they had 

 never moved away from them." The rough nests of 

 which Mr. Earl speaks are probably those of the wander- 

 ing albatross (Diomedea esculans). The sooty albatross 

 (D. fulginosa) bestows rather more care upon the con- 

 struction of its nest, which is formed of a pile of mud 

 some five or six inches high, with a depression on the 

 top, while that of the yellow-beaked albatross (D. 

 chlororhynchns) is, comparatively speaking, quite an 

 elaborate affair, the mud at least a foot high, smoothly 

 rounded, with a well-defined hollow at the top, and a 

 little trench all round the base. All these species seem 

 equally indifferent to the presence of human beings in 

 their homes, and manifest but little irritation even when 

 kicked aside or knocked off their nests, although 

 occasionally one of less placid temperament than the 

 rest may retaliate by squirting oil out of its beak on to 

 the clothes of the intruder. The parent birds seem to 

 have a large supply of this oil, and are said to some- 

 times feed their young with it. The eggs are about four 

 inches long, and according to Sir James Clark Ross are 

 esteemed great delicacies by the seal hunters in the 



Southern seas, who also pronounce the young birds 

 delicious, which latter, however, would seem to be some- 

 what of an Esquimaux taste. The flesh of the older 

 birds is distinctly unpalatable ; it can only be rendered 

 eatable by being laid in salt for a long time, and then 

 boiling it with some piquant flavouring. 



The plumage of the albatross is usually all white, 

 save the wing-feathers, and some transverse bands 

 across the back ; its flesh-coloured feet are short and 

 webbed ; its yellow beak very strong and hard, as long 

 as the whole head, and straight, save at the extremity, 

 where it suddenly curves. The upper mandible is 

 deeply furrowed, and the nostrils are placed laterally in 

 the roll of the furrows. On examination of the skull of 

 an albatross, a deep cavity is found just above the eyes, 

 which during life contains a gland, whose use and pur- 

 poses are still somewhat dubious. Dr. Bennet, after 

 carefully dissecting several of these glands, announced 

 thatjthey were " formed of a hard granular substance 

 of a pale colour, consisting of numerous distinct oval 

 bodies, [and on being cut are found abundantly 



Albatross. 



(From an instantaneous photograph taken by Mr. McDongall, ot 



Invercargill, N.Z.) 



nourished with blood vessels. The nerves supplying 

 them come from the minute foramina seen on the floor 

 of the cavity, and are distributed in and about the sub- 

 stance of the gland." The body of this bird is bulky, 

 and averages about four feet in length, the total weight 

 of the bird varying from twelve or fifteen, to sometimes 

 as much as twenty-eight pounds. The chief feature of 

 the albatross, however, lies in the immense spread of its 

 narrow powerful wings. Foster estimates this alar 

 extent at ten feet, Captain Cook thought eleven feet a 

 fair average, Parker measured an albatross eleven feet 

 seven inches across, while a specimen in the Leverian 

 Museum measured thirteen feet. The list is crowned 

 by the bird mentioned by both Ives and Parker Gill- 

 more, which was shot off the Cape of Good Hope, and 

 which measured no less than seventeen feet from the 

 tip of one wing to the tip of the other. These great 

 wings have about forty secondary quills, and the bones 

 are perfectly hollow, and as the whole surface of the body 

 is covered with innumerable air-cells, capable of volun. 



