236 
THE ALBATROSS, 
matter of indifference to them. No tempest troubles 
the Albatross, for be may be seen, witb equal vigour, 
sportively wheeling in the blast and carousing in 
the hurricane. Of this noble bird it may indeed be 
literally said. 
His march is o’er the mountain wave, 
His home is on the deep. 
In the gale be will sweep, occasionally, the rising bil- 
lows, and seem to delight in the spray bursting over 
him. Tired, in truth, they rarely are; but should 
they be, though never seen to swim, they can, in con- 
sequence of their feet being webbed and remarkably 
large, walk on the surface of the water, when it is 
smooth, with hardly any assistance from their wings ; 
and the noise of their tread may be heard at a great 
distance *. 
They are most voracious birds, and easily caught 
by baiting a hook with offal, and letting it trail after 
the vessel by a long line : on seizing and swallowing 
the bait, it will sometimes rise into the air, from 
wdience, by hauling on the line, as a boy does a kite, 
it is brought on board. Sometimes, however, they 
break the line and escape, which has afforded a 
proof of the distance and length of time they will 
follow a vessel. Thus, when hauling in one of large 
size, the line slipped, and the bird, consequently, 
swallowed the hook, and a portion of the line, the 
remainder of which hung pendent from the beak. 
From being thus marked, it was ascertained that it 
followed the ship two days, and might have been 
doing so for days before; and in these forty- eight 
Weddell . 
