306 ALBATROSS. 



frequenting thefe places feems to be plenty of food ; and their 

 arrival is a fure prefage of fhoals of fifh following. At their firft 

 coming are very lean, but foon grow immenfely fat. Are very 

 voracious birds, and will often fwallow a Salmon of four or five 

 pounds weight 5 but as they cannot take the whole of it into 

 their ftomach at once, part of the tail end will often remain out 

 of the mouth ; and the natives, finding the bird in this fituation, 

 make no difficult matter of knocking it on the head on the fpot. 

 Before the middle of Auguft they migrate elfewhere. They are 

 often taken by means of a hook baited with zfi/h*; but it is not for 

 the fake of their flefh that they are valued, it being hard and unfa- 

 vouryt, but on account of the inteftines, a particular part of 

 which they blow up as a bladder, to ferve as floats to buoy up 

 their nets in fifliing. Of the bones they make tobacco-pipes* 

 needle-cafes, and other ufeful-things J. "When caught they defend 

 themfelves ftoutly with the bill. Their cry is harfh and difa- 

 greeable, not unlike the braying of an A/s§. The breeding 

 places of the Jlbatrofs, if at all in the northern hemifphere, have 

 not yet been pointed out; but we are certain of their multiply- 

 ing in the fouthern, viz. Patagonia || and Falkland IJlands ** : to 



* Forjler mentions nine being caught with a line and hook baited with a bit 

 of peep's fiin — Voy. i. p. 87. — Cook's Voy. i. p. 84. 



+ Yet they were eaten by our voyagers. — As foon as caught they were feinned, 

 and foaked in falt-water till next morning ; then parboiled, and the liquor being 

 thrown away, flewed with frelh-water till tender ; and being ferved up with fa- 

 voury fauce, they were much commended. — Hawkef. Voy. iii. p. 66. 



X The New Zealand women wear pieces of the down in the holes of their ears, 

 by way of ornament. — For/}. Voy. i. p. 141. — Id. Ob/, p. 310. — Ha<wkef. 

 Voy. iii. p. 456. 



§ Or rather like a trumpet, fuch as the children buy at fairs,— Clayton. 



\\ Ar8. Zool. ** Clayton. 



6 this 



