(260 



WANDERING ALBATROSS. 



plumbeous, and rounded : the legs are flesh-colour. 

 The young are described as being brown ; and as 

 they advance in age, become more or less mottled 

 with white. 



These birds are principally found in the seas ad- 

 jacent to the Cape of Good Hope, and in those that 

 divide Kamtschatka from the continent of America. 

 They are exceedingly voracious, and feed on various 

 species of fish and mollusca : they are great enemies 

 to the flying-fish, and destroy them when they make 

 their temporary appearance in the air : they likewise 

 devour the salmon, and pursue the shoals of that 

 fish into the mouths of large rivers ; and so gorge 

 themselves as to be prevented by their repletion from 

 rising ; and are said when they cannot take the whole 

 of a large fish into their stomach at once, to swallow 

 the thick end only, leaving the tail sticking out of 

 their mouths ; and in this situation they are taken 

 by the natives, many of whom set a high value upon 

 their feathers, which they use for their arrows. The 

 natives of the South Sea Islands watch the arrival of 

 these birds at the rainy season ; and, when they ob- 

 serve them, they launch from their canoes a light 

 float of wood into the water, baited with a small fish. 

 When one of the birds approaches it a man stands 

 ready with a pole, and on its pouncing upon the bait 

 he strikes at it, and seldom fails of bringing it down. 

 If, however, he miss his aim, he must wait for some 

 other birds, for that will no more be tempted to 

 approach. 



The inhabitants of Kamtschatka make bouys to 

 their nets of the intestines of these birds, which they 



I 



