6332 



Birds. 



plumage is a magnificent sight, as he, with outstretched wings, sails over the surface 

 of the sea, — now rising high in the air, now, with a bold sweep, descending till his 

 lower wing all but touches the crests of the waves as he skims over them ; suddenly he 

 sees something floating on the surface of the water, and he prepares to alight; but 

 look how changed he is ! Instead of the fine noble bird, all grace and symmetry, his 

 head goes back and his back goes in, down drop two enormous webbed feef, straddled 

 out to their full extent, and, with a hoarse croak, between that of a raven and a sheep, 

 he falls "souse" into the water : here he is at home again, breasting the foam like a cork ; 

 presently he stretches out his neck, and, with immense exertion of his wings, runs along 

 the top of the water for seventy or eighty yards ; at last he gets sufficient momentum, and, 

 tucking up his legs, he is fairly launched in the air. The albatross ( Diomedea 

 exulans ) breeds in Prince Edward's Island, and others in about the same latitude ; 

 they congregate there in August and September, although a few always remain at sea: 

 they breed on high flat plains, and lay one white egg ; the nest is of the shape of a 

 frustrum of a cone, with a slightly hollow top, made chiefly of dirt, which they obtain 

 chiefly by digging a circular ditch and throwing the earth towards the centre, until 

 they have heaped it up twelve or eighteen inches high, forming a miniature Martello 

 tower. In January the parents leave their young, who remain behind in their nests 

 until the next breeding season ; while they are there it is difficult to imagine how they 

 exist, as no old birds are seen to approach them for months together; next year, when 

 the old birds arrive, they visit their former nests, and, after a little billing and cooing 

 with their young (to make up, I suppose, for their neglect) they very unceremoniously 

 turn them out, and, sending them, like a sailor boy, to find their "bread on the water," 

 repair their nests for the next brood. They walk very badly, using their wings to help 

 them, and cannot rise from a flat surface. The average breadth across the wings is 

 about 10 feet, but they vary a good deal, reaching from 9 to 12 feet, — the accounts 

 that make them 18 and 20 feet are fabulous; the length, from the tip of the 

 beak to the end of the tail, is about 3 feet 6 inches. It is of no use describing 

 so well-known a bird ; so I will only remark that some of them have a rose- 

 coloured ring round their necks, but I do not know if this is a distinct species, or only 

 marks the sex. The albatross is not found north of the 30th parallel of south latitude, 

 and abounds most between 38° S. and 47° S. ; they monopolize nearly the whole of 

 Prince Edward's Island and Kevgueland's land. There are three species of albatross: — 

 the great albatross (D. exulans), the one we have been mentioning ; the black-backed 

 albatross (D. melanophrys), called by sailors the " Molly hawk " or " Nelly and the 

 sooty albatross (D. fuliginosa or D. fusca, Audubon), which sailors call the " Cape hen" 

 or M pea-u.'' The yellow-nosed albatross (D. chlororhynchos of Latham) is, I suspect, 

 only a variety of D. melanophrys. The Molly hawk is smaller than the albatross, 

 being only 7 feet acoss the wings and 2 feet 7 inches in length ; its back between the 

 wings is of a dark brown colour : unlike the albatross, it sometimes dives for its food, 

 but does not appear to be very fond of it, generally preferring to let a mutton bird fish 

 it up, then, giving chase and running along the water croaking and with its wings spread 

 out, oblige the poor beast to drop it, which it then picks up before it can sink. The 

 sooty albatross is about the size of the last-named bird, of a sooty complexion and with 

 a head very much like a jackdaw's: it is a magnificent flyer, sometimes not moving its 

 wings for an hour at a time ; they breed in the cliffs, and their nests are consequently 

 very difficult to get at ; it has a very bad habit of screeching at night. — F. Wollaston 

 Italian, Lieut. 23rd R. W. Fusileers. 



