54 BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF GEELONG 
about us once or twice, disappeared in the distance. 
While I feel fairly satisfied about it, I should observe 
that it may conceivably have been a Flat-billed 
Albatross (Thalassogeron chrysostoma culminatus) which 
has not been recorded for this neighbourhood. 
WHITE-CAPPED OR SHY ALBATROSS 
Diomedella cauta cauta 
You may be pretty certain, if you pick up an Albatross's 
skull, or find a dead Albatross or any of its feathers 
anywhere on the beach between Point Lonsdale and 
Lorne, that this is the bird. For the breeding-colony 
on Albatross Island, Hunter Group, the nearest one 
to our shores, belongs to this species, which is conse- 
quently the Albatross most often seen in Bass Straits. 
At times it comes up through the Heads, and even 
as near home as the Hopetoun Channel, where a 
fisherman once caught one by throwing it scraps of 
fish, till growing bolder and bolder it came at last 
within reach of a sudden grab of his hand. 
At the Rip, and about the Scammell Reef off Tor- 
quay, throughout the winter months, the Shy Alba- 
trosses are ever waiting for the advent of the barra- 
coutta boats and the feast of old baits and fish offal 
which at such times falls to their lot. If ever a name 
was given on the lucus a non lucendo principle, it is 
that of " Shy " applied to this bird. As it is the 
most numerous, so it is the boldest and most confident 
