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approaches nearer to the coast, generally following a vessel to the entrance of the harbours, and 
sometimes to their anchorage. After boisterous weather it is sometimes picked up on the ocean- 
beach, not actually lifeless, but so exhausted by fatigue as to be incapable of rising. 
Professor Hutton has observed that this bird “ dives sometimes, but does not appear to like 
doing so, generally preferring, ’when any thing good to eat is under water, to let a Night-hawk fish it 
up ; then giving chase and running along the top of the water, croaking, and with outstretched wings, 
it compels him to drop it, and then seizes it before it sinks again. Mr. Gould refers to it in the 
following terms : — “ Of all the species with which I am acquainted this is the most fearless of man, 
for it often approaches many yards nearer the vessel than any other; I have even observed it so near 
that the tips of its pinions were not more than two arms’ length from the taflfrail. It is very easily 
captured with a hook and line ; and as this operation gives not the least pain to the bird, the point 
of the hook merely taking hold in the horny and insensible tip of the bill, 1 frequently amused 
myself by capturing specimens in this way, and after detaining them sufficiently long to afford me an 
opportunity for investigating any particular point respecting which I wished to satisfy myself, setting 
them at liberty again, after having marked many, in order to ascertain whether the individuals which 
were flying round the ship at nightfall were the same that were similarly engaged at daylight in the 
morning after a night’s run of 120 miles ; and this in many instances proved to be the case. When 
brought upon deck, from which it cannot take wing, it readily becomes tame, and allows itself to be 
handled almost immediately ; still I believe that no member of this group can be domesticated, in 
consequence of the difficulty of procuring a supply of natural food.” 
Much of what I have said of the Wandering Albatros applies equally to this bird, their habits 
in their common field of action on the mighty deep being very much the same. It has the same 
awkward style of dropping into the water, as if its back was broken, but once upon the surface it 
comfortably tucks in its wings and swims with as much buoyancy as grace, lifting its proud head 
well above the body, and glancing shaiqdy around with its piercing eyes ; then, as if impelled by a 
sudden thought, it stretches up its lengthy pinions and mounting in the air glides through space with 
the silence of a spirit, scarcely moving its outspread wings as it sweeps around in never-ending circles, 
but restlessly turning its head from side to side as it scans the water below. 
Mr. Drew sent me the mandibles of a Diving Petrel {Pelecanoides urinatrix) found, together with 
a mass of feathers, in the stomach of an Albatros of this species, which had been cast ashore m a gale 
of wind at the Wanganui heads. Its ordinary food consists of minute oceanic animals, such as 
medusre and mollusca, and floating refuse of any kind thrown overboard from ships, whose course 
these birds descry from an amazing distance, and follow persistently for many days together. Whilst 
thus employed they appear to fraternize freely enough with the larger species. 
Some months ago there was a live one in the Zoological Society’s Gardens, which had become 
quite tame, knowing its keeper and following him, with a gurgling note or deep croak and much 
awkward flapping of its wings, on the approach of feeding-time. It spent most of its time resting 
placidly on a grass mound, and apparently quite indifferent to its banishment from the sea. 
On the nesting-habits of this species of Albatros Mr. W. Dougall has communicated (through 
Mr. Collison-Morley) to the ‘ Southland Times ’ some very interesting notes, from which I have 
culled the following extracts : — “ Every six months the New-Zealand Government sends a steamer to 
the following uninhabited South Pacific Islands, namely, Stewart, Snares, Auckland, Camphell, Anti- 
podes, and Bounty Islands (the last being 415 miles south-east of New Zealand), to overhaul and 
replenish food depots maintained for those who may unfortunately be shipwrecked upon these remote 
islands ; and the following observations were made when accompanying one of these trips. 
“ At Monumental Head (Auckland Island) w^e picked up our hunters laden with Albatroses 
living and dead, and Albatros eggs in abundance. At Campbell Island I ascended one of the highest 
