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one and then by another of its companions in quick succession. Over the floating morsel they seem 
to hold a “ caucus,” with all their heads together and wings partially raised, and in a few minutes are 
left far astern of the moving steamer, rising and falling with the rolling wave, till they are well nigh 
out of sight ; then mounting in the air again, one after the other, after a preliminaiy lun on the uater 
to get the required impetus, they come sweeping up to their former position with almost incredible 
swiftness. They follow the coastal steamers in all weathers, seldom, however, venturing further than 
the entrance when a port is reached ; although on several occasions I have known young birds continue 
in pursuit almost to the anchorage. 
Perhaps no writer has more graphically described the flight of this noble bird than Froude in 
his ‘Oceana’ (pp. 65, 66): — 
“From the Cape to Australia the distance is 6000 miles, or a quarter of the circumference of 
the globe. Our speed was thirteen knots an hour, and we were attended by a body-guard of Alba- 
troses. Cape-hens, and Sea-hawks-the same birds, so the sailors said, following the ship without 
resting all the way. I know not whether this be so, or how the fact has been ascertained. One 
large ^Gull is very like another, and the islands in the middle of the passage are their principal 
breeding-places. Any way, from fifty to a hundred of them were around us at sunrise, around us 
when the night fell, and with us again in the morning. They are very beautiful in the great ocean 
solitude. One could have wished that Coleridge had seen an Albatros on the wing before he wrote 
the ‘ Ancient Mariner,’ that the grace of the motion might have received a sufficient description. 
He wheels in circles round and round, and for ever round, the ship-now far behind, now sweeping 
past in a long rapid curve, like a perfect skater on an untouched field of ice. There is no effort ; 
watch as closely as you will, you rarely or never see a stroke of the mighty pinion. The flight is 
generally near the water, often close to it. You lose sight of the bird as he disappears in the hollow 
between the waves, and catch him again as he rises over the crest ; but how he rises and whence 
comes the propelling force is to the eye inexplicable ; he alters merely the angle at which the wings 
are inclined— usually they are parallel to the water and horizontal ; but when he turns to ascend or 
makes a change in his direction the wings then point at an angle, one to the sky, the other to the 
water. Given a power of resistance to the air, and the air itself will do the rest, just as a kite 
flies ; but how, without exertion, is the resistance caused 1 However it be, the Albatros is a grand 
creature. To the other birds, and even to the ship itself, he shows a stately indifference, as if he had 
been simply ordered to attend its voyage as an aerial guardian, but disdained to interest himself 
further ” *. 
On my last voyage from the Antipodes, by direct steamer by way of Cape Horn, I made careful 
observations on the Albatroses that followed us. During the first few days from the New-Zealand 
coast (middle of March), and in lat. 56'’ S., some twenty or more of D. exulans were in daily attend- 
ance. Nearly the whole of these were in the dark plumage characteristic of the young bird, the foie 
neck, breast, and upper parts of the body being of various shades of chocolate-brown, and the face, 
throat, and abdomen pure white. In some the brown on the breast was very pale, and in one or 
more of them was reduced to a mere cloud of speckled markings. One bird, however, and the only 
one in the white body-plumage mentioned above, was conspicuous among the group. It had the head, 
* “ A singular incident at sea is reported by the captain of the ship ‘ Gladstone,’ which arrived in Port Jackson from London 
on November 20. At 1 p.m. on October 22, in lat. 42° S., long. 90° E., the ship was running down her easting across the Southern 
Ocean when one of the hands fell overboard from the starboard gangway. Immediately on the alarm being given the ship was 
smartly rounded to, and the life-boat, manned by the first officer and four hands, lowered in hot haste, ihe boat reached the 
unfortunate man after a long pull, and found him supporting himself in the water by clinging dcsperatel} to a large Albatros, 
wHcb, on coming to the surface after his plunge, he had succeeded in making his prize. Holding to the huge bird with a 1 t e 
energy of a drowning man, he had utilized him as a life-buoy until rescued by his comrades. This is probably the first case o 
the kind on record .” — The Colonist, Jan. 20, 1882. 
