PLATE 



D I O M E D E A EX U L A N S (Linnaus ). 



WANDERING ALBATROS. Genus: Diomedea. 



GREATER in size than the Swan, of magnificent extent of wing, and of noble and gallant bearing 

 when either sailing through the air or resting upon the water, the Wandering Albatros ranks high 

 above all his ocean competitors. Endued with great strength, and of a most savage disposition, he holds 

 undisputed sway over the rest of the ocean haunting birds and inspires them with the most palpable 

 terror. It is commonly asserted and believed that this bird will attack and tear out the eyes of a man 

 when swimming in the water ; and such is its ferocity and size, that Gould remarks from his observation 

 of it that he could well believe that such a feat would be readily attempted. The sea is the home of this 

 species, and save for the purpose of breeding, in such desolate places as the Auckland and Campbell 

 Islands, it never resorts to the land. Perpetually sailing on tireless wing, scanning with eager e\'e the 

 surface of the water for medusae and other marine organisations that form a portion of its food, it never 

 rests by day or night and seems to scorn repose. The sight of a dead whale drifting on the ocean, or 

 of a whaleship with the carcase of one attached alongside, at once ensures the attendance of some 

 hundreds of these birds eager to enjoy a repast of the blubber, and in defiance of the sailors, who will 

 attack them with whaling spades and lances, these fierce roamers of the air and sea will sometimes even 

 swoop upon the decks, and attempt to seize the pieces of blubber as they are cut up and thrown into 

 the try-pots ; and, indeed, a single Wandering Albatros, from the velocity of its onslaught, great size and 

 weight, is no despicable antagonist. During the prevalence of calms, when the refuse thrown overboard 

 floats in the immediate vicinity of the ship, numbers of these birds, floating or swimming about the glassy 

 surface, with ease and beauty of movement beyond all conception, make a noble and elegant picture, 

 and the impression of the poetry of motion thus depicted will long remain in the memory of the 

 traveller. On such occasions as these, the birds, more after the manner of the domesticated Swan than 

 that of the untamed ranger of the seas, will swim up to the very sides of the vessel and seize in their 

 powerful beaks any food that may be thrown to them ; or may be easily caught with a hook and line. 

 But it is during a storm, when the surface of the water has been lashed into heaving mountains and valleys 

 by the violence of the gale, that the movements of this superb bird when on the wing excites the greatest 

 wonder and admiration. Apparently borne aloft on its mighty wings by some unknown and invisible 

 power, skimming with meteor-like swiftness the crests of the towering waves, descending and ascending 

 the watery depressions and elevations with no perceptible muscular exertion, and then darting through 

 the air and almost touching the spars of the rolling and tossing ship with the tip of its pinion, it gazes 

 down with calm defiance upon the deck as it passes, to again resume its erratic and wonderful flight. 



The average weight of these birds Gould gives as seventeen pounds, and the extent of wing 

 from tip to tip ten feet one inch ; but Dr. McCormick, R.N., states having met with examples 

 weighing quite twenty pounds, and whose outstretched wings measured twelve feet. Latham speaks of 

 one in the Leverian Museum measuring thirteen feet, and alludes to one mentioned by Ives as having 

 been shot off the Cape of Good Hope, which measured seventeen feet six inches from wing to wing. 



The breeding places in Australian seas are the Auckland and Campbell Islands, these barren 

 solitudes being generally favoured by all the Albatroses that range the southern latitudes. The nest is 

 larger than that of any other species, being eighteen inches in height, six feet in circumference at the 



