66 
“The Ancient Mariner” and the bird is still looked upon with a certain 
awe and superstition by old-time sailors. 
Albatrosses come too seldom in contact with man or his works to have 
any economic importance except as victims of one of the most iniquitous 
branches of the millinery trade. It was long the practice for plume- 
hunting ships to fill their holds with the commercial fragments of their 
skins at the islands where they nested in countless thousands. This trade 
was often accompanied by the most horrible unnecessary cruelty. On 
one occasion, hundreds were confined on Laysan island until they starved 
to death that their skins might be the freer of oil and grease. The 
immense number of the birds in nesting localities and the degree of destruction 
that the trade entailed are well shown by the fact that poachers, dis- 
turbed in their work, left behind them on the same island a large shed 
piled to the roof with wing tips alone. 
Fortunately, however, certain countries such as Canada, Great 
Britain, and the United States have forbidden, with certain excep- 
tions, the importation of millinery feathers and so have destroyed the 
greatest markets for the trade and done much to discourage it. 
These tireless fliers are great wanderers and although only three species 
have actually been recognized on our west coast, almost any may occasion- 
ally occur. Specimens should be carefully examined, as any one of them 
may represent species new to the Canadian or even the American list. 
81. Black-footed Albatross, gony. Diomedea nigripes. L, 32. An almost black 
Albatross, slightly lighter about face, with black legs and feet and dark bill. 
Distinctions. The bill plate covering the culmen widen- 
ing back of nostrils and meeting the plates on sides of 
the mandible (Figure 103, compare with 104). This 
feature separates our two most common Albatrosses, the 
Black-footed and Short-tailed, from the rarer Yellow-nosed. 
Plumage, feet, legs, and bill are always dusky or black. The 
feet and bill of the similarly plumaged Short-tailed are 
light. 
Field Marks. A dark Albatross with dark bill, legs, 
and feet. 
Distribution. North Pacific. Breeding on the Hawaiian 
and Marshall islands. 
This is probably the Albatross of most frequent occurrence on the 
British Columbia coast. There are a number of records from the south 
end of Vancouver island and up along the Alaskan coast. 
82. Short- tailed Albatross. Diomedea albatrus. L, 33-37. Adult: a white 
Albatross with wings and tail largely dusky. Bill, legs, and feet light. Juvenile: sooty 
brown like the Black-footed, but with light bill, legs, and feet. 
Distinctions. Plate on culmen widening back to nostrils (similar to Figure 103) 
distinguishes this and the preceding species from the Yellow-nosed. Adult: mostly white 
with tail largely dusky, and without the decided dark mantle and wings of the Yellow- 
nosed. Juvenile: dark like the Black-footed Albatross, but bill, legs, and feet pale. 
Field Marks. A white Albatross with dusky wings and tail, but without a decided 
black mantle or, in juvenility, a dark one with light coloured legs, feet, and bill. 
Distribution. North Pacific ocean, breeding on Wake, Laysan, and Bonin islands. 
This species has been taken near Victoria, and on the Alaskan coast of 
Bering sea. 
Figure 103 
Bill of Black-footed Albatross; 
scale, i. 
