WANDERING ALBATROSS. 121 



before they can get fairly under weigh. We had the 

 curiosity to take one of them by the point of the 

 wings and fling it over the rock, yet, though it had 

 several hundred feet of a clear fall, it never recovered 

 itself, but dropped down like a stone. On this account, 

 when not engaged with their young, they usually rest 

 upon the edge of the precipice, from which they can 

 launch at once into the air ; and on entering again 

 upon that difficult part of our roiite, we had to kick 

 iipwards of a dozen to the right and left of us before 

 we could get on." — ("Linnean Transactions," vol. xii, 

 p. 490.) 



Dr. Bennett remarks that, although the smaller species 

 of Albatross appears in undiminished numbers, the 

 Wandering Albatross has been more rarely seen during 

 the last few years, not only about the shores of 

 Australia, but in its more general range in the latitudes 

 of Cape Horn and Cape of Good Hope. 



The plumage of the Albatross differs with age, but 

 not according to sex. Of seven specimens of the 

 Wandering Albatross, obtained by Dr. Bennett on the 

 8th. of June, in latitude 37° 15' south, longitude 16° 

 27' east, he says, "The back of five of them was more 

 or less beautifully pencilled with black upon a white 

 ground; the upper part of the wings and scapularies 

 being of a very dark brov,-n; the breast, neck, and 

 abdomen were snow white; the upper part of the head 

 white; back part of the neck dark brown; under 

 surface of the wings white; upper part of the tail 

 feathers handsomely marked v/ith black; the under 

 surface of a delicate white; on each side of the neck, 

 near the occiput, and extending a short distance down, 

 there was a streak of delicate rose tint, which beauti- 

 fully contrasted with the snowy plumage around it. 



