412 
THE ALBATROSS. 
“And ’tis further observed, that when there is great 
plenty of them, the Lent corn of the country is so much the 
better, and so the cow pastures too, by reason they pick up 
all the worms, and the fern flyes, which though bred in the 
fern, yet nip and feed on the young corn and grass, and 
hinder their growth.” 
We next come to the largest sea-bird that flies, the 
Wandering Albatross (. Diomedea exulccns ), of which we have 
already partially spoken ; hut large as they are to the eye, 
they are not so in reality, for so abundantly covered are they 
with feathers, that when plucked, they appear not above half 
their original size, and when cleaned, their weight is com- 
paratively trifling. With this light body, and an immense 
spread of wing, our surprise is lessened at their being able 
to venture so far from land ; Captain King^ having met with 
them almost a thousand miles from the nearest shore. 
It is a pleasing relief to the eye, when sailing over the 
landless oceans frequented by the Albatross, and where, 
except now and then a passing sea-bird, nothing meets the 
sight hut a tract of boundless water, to observe this superb 
bird sailing in the air, in graceful and elegant movements, 
seemingly under the influence of an invisible power; for, 
when once elevated in the air, there is scarcely any visible 
movement of its wide wings. Eising, as if some concealed 
power guided its various motions, without any muscular 
exertion of its own, and then descending, it sweeps the air 
close to tbe stern of the vessel, with an independence of 
manner as if it were monarch of all it surveyed. 
It has been remarked by an observer, who has given the 
best account of these birds, f that they could lower themselves 
even to the water’s edge, and then again rise without any 
apparent impulse. Whether with or against the wind, seems 
to he a matter of indifference to them. No tempest troubles 
the Albatross, for he may he seen, with equal vigour, 
sportively wheeling in the blast and carousing in the 
* King’s Australia , vol. ii. 
f Rennet’s Wanderings in New South Wales. 
