226 
In a specimen from Campbell Island the feathers of the hack and mantle are more or less tipped with 
light brown, and have lighter shafts. 
The Giant Petrel, or “ Nelly,” as it is called by sailors, is by no means uncommon in our seas. Of 
late years, with the increase of shipping of all kinds, it has become far more plentiful around our 
coasts and often ventures into the deep sounds or estuaries. I have counted as many as fourteen at 
one time following the steamer within four or five miles of the Wellington heads. Their power of 
wing is something marvellous. For hours together they keep up their rapid sailing movement 
without ever resting or descending to the water for a moment. It is very interesting to watch them 
in this tireless flight, and to observe how completely they have their wings under control. They 
approach the steamer at a swift rate with a low flapping movement of the wings, and then make a 
wide circuit, keeping them perfectly rigid, but shifting the balance of the body in such a way as to 
make alternately one wing and then the other incline upwards or downwards, thus altering the plane 
without the slightest visible alular movement. The manner in which the bird steers itself through 
the air, first ascending far above the masthead, then sweeping downwards, with the point of the wing 
at its lower inclination just skimming but never actually touching the water, even in a turbulent and 
broken sea, is really wonderful, and would seem to indicate very perfect organs of vision as a means 
of measuring distance. Now and then it alters its mode of flight and sails or glides over the surface 
of the sea with its wings formed into a bow shape, and with an occasional flap to give it fresh impetus. 
Like the Albatros, it descends into the water in a very ungainly, straddling way, and, if in 
a hurry, with an awkward splash ; keeps its wings uplifted till the body is steady, then deliberately 
folds them up and settles down to dinner or floats lazily on the surface, with upstretched neck and 
eyes ever on the alert. When garbage or food of any kind is thrown overboard, they all descend 
together and congregate around it, uttering low guttural notes as if disputing for its possession ; but 
they never seem to quarrel or flght over it, and when disposed of, they generally break up into pairs 
and float about in friendly company, till, actuated by some common impulse, they mount again in 
the air and come sweeping up astern. On the wing, the tail is usually spread and has a broad 
cuneiform appearance. 
It is capable, too, of very rapid movements. On one occasion I was attentively watching six or 
seven of them, sailing about in circuits that ever crossed but never clashed, and had turned to my 
note-book for a few seconds to refer to something. On looking up again they had all disappeared as 
if by magic ; and then I descried them in the water more than a mile astern, with their heads 
together, discussing some object that had been thrown overboard and had excited their notice. They 
are untiring, too, in their pursuit ; for I have noticed that at sundown, when the Albatroses have 
drawn oAF from the steamer and disappeared one by one, the Giant Petrel (or “ Stink-pot,” as the 
sailors sometimes call it) has remained, still crossing and recrossing the Wake of the ship, in undi- 
minished numbers and unaAFected by the deepening gloom. 
It is universally dispersed over the temperate and high southern latitudes ; and Mr. Gould has 
expressed his belief that it frequently performs the circuit of the globe, a conclusion inferred from 
the circumstance that an albino variety followed the vessel in which he made his passage to Australia 
for a period of three weeks, the ship often making two hundred miles during the twenty-four hours. 
He adds : — “ It must not be understood that the bird was merely following the vessel’s speed, nor 
deemed incredible when I state that during the twenty-four hours it must have performed a much 
greater distance, since it was only at intervals of perhaps half an hour that it was seen hunting up 
the wake of the vessel to secure any offal that had been thrown overboard, the interim being employed 
in scanning the ocean in immense circles.” He informs us further that on visiting Recherche Bay in 
