WHITE-CAPPED OR SHY ALBATROSS 55 
of our larger sea-fowl. Off Torquay I saw them 
come to within a couple of feet of the boat to seize 
a bit of meat thrown on the waves ; one or two sat 
at the channel through the reef waiting for us to 
come through. Quite often they are hooked on the 
barracoutta lines. I saw one which had been so 
caught at Ocean Grove, July 12th, 1902, and another, 
taken at Torquay and brought into town, lived for 
a year or more in Karduna Park. 
Like the other Albatrosses, this bird does not soar 
to any great height above the water, but rather 
wheels to and fro at a few feet from the surface, 
displaying at one time the pure white of its under 
parts and at another the broad dark-grey band of 
the wings and back, the white rump and dark tail- 
edging. There is hardly a wing-beat as the great 
birds rise and fall, the tense curve of the wings pro- 
ducing on the beholder the impression of some sure- 
moving, living boomerang, whose variations in direc- 
tion are produced by no discernible effort ; while in 
the wing-tips as they just flick the surface of the 
water on a vol-flane one imagines a marvellous and 
quivering sensibility. 
An easy way to identify this among our other 
Albatrosses of a similar size is by the colour of the 
bill, which is always bluish horn-colour. On No- 
vember 27th, 1904, I saw a magnificent bird of this 
species sail close past the promontory of Point Addis 
on which I was standing ; on no other occasion have 
I seen one from the land. 
