bers being apparently in any degree lessened; it readily seizes a hook baited with fat o f any kind, and if a.
boat be lowered its attention is immediately attracted, and while flying round it is easily shot. Many
exaggerated and marvellous accounts having been published respecting the weight and the dimensions of
this bird, particularly o f the extent from tip to tip of the wings, I paid much attention to the subject, and
after killing numerous examples of both sexes and o f all.-ages, I found the average weight of the Diomedea
exylamXo,.be seventeen pounds,.apd the extent from tip to tip of the wing- ten feet one inch. Dr. McCormick
R.N., however, informs me that he has met with examples weighing ,as much as twenty pounds, the extent
of whose outstretched wings measured twelve feet.- The known breeding-place? of|th§ JDipmedpa exulans are
the islands o f Tristan d’Acunha, Auckland and Campbell ; that it also breeds on the. Mews tone, Eddystone,
and the adjacent rocks to the southward of Van Diemen’s Land, ! have but little-doubt, asi'some of the finest
adult specimens I procured were shot within a few miles o f those barren and inaccessible rock§; .but as I
have not had an opportunity of observing the nidification of this bird, I avail myself o f Mr; Augustus Earle’s
“ Narrative o f a nine months’ residence on the island of Tristan d’Acunha,” wherein he says,—
“ Yesterday, May the 28th, being a fine morning, accompanied by two of the men, I determined to ascend the mountain. As
several parties had before gone up, they had formed a kind of path ; at least we endeavoured to trace the same way, but it required a
great deal of nerve to attempt it : thè sides of the mountain are nearly perpendicular ; but after ascending about 200. feet, it is there
entirely, covered witfr wood, which renders the footing much more safe ; but in order to get to the wood, the road is so dangerous
that it made me almost tremble to think of it ; slippery grey rocks and many of them, unfortunately loose, so that when we took
hold they separated from the mass, and fell with a horrid rumbling noise ; here and there were a few patches of grass, the only
thing we could depend upon to assist us in climbing, which must be done with extreme caution, for the least slip or false step would
dash one to atoms on .the rocks below. By constantly looking upwards and continuing to haul ourselves up, by catching firm bold
pf. the .grass, after an hour’s, painful toil we.gained. the siimmit, where we found ourselves on an extended, plain of several miles’
pxpanse, .which terminates in .the peak, composed of .dark grey lav,a, bare and frightful to behold. We proceeded towards it, the
plain gradudly rising, but the walk was most fatiguing over strong rapk grass and fern several feet high. A deathlike stillness
prevailed in these high regions, apd, to my ear, our voices had a strange unnatural echo, and I fancied our forms appeared gigantic,
whilst the air was piercing cold. The prospect was altogether sublime and filled the mind with awe: the huge Albatros here
appeared to dread no interloper-or enemy, for their young were on the ground completely uncovered, and the old ones .were stalking
around them, .Thgy iay.but.one eggt.on.the ground, where tbey.make.a kind of nest .by scraping, the earth around it ; the young
is entirely white.apd ??.v<rF®d T$h a woolly, dom, which is yery beautiful. As we approached .they snapped their beaks with a
y py quick^ipotion, m.aking a great noise,; this apd the throwing up of the contents of the stomach are the only means of offence
.and defence they seem to possess. I again visited the mountain about five months afterwards, when I found the yòung Àlbatroses
still sitting on their nests, and they had’never moved away from them.”
To this interesting account I beg to append the following notes, kindly furnished me by Dr. McCormick,
Surgeon o f H.M.S. Erebus during the late expedition to the South pole
“ The Diomedea exulans breeds in Auckland and Campbell Islands, in the months of November and December. The grass-
covered declivities óf the hills, above the thickets of wood, are the spots selected by the Albatros for constructing its nest ;
which consists of a mound of earth, intermingled with withered grass and leaves matted together, 18 inches in height;
6 feet in circumference at the base, and 27 inches in diameter at the top, in which only one egg.is. usually deposited ; for after an
examination of more than, a hundred .nests, I met with, two eggs in the, sa me nest in one solitary instance only. The eggs.I had an
PPRPitumty of weighing varied in weight from 1.4J to 19 oz., thirty, specimens giving an average weight of 17 oz. ; colour white.
The.Albatros during the period of incubation.is frequently found asleep, with its head'under its wing: its beautiful white head
neck, appearing above the grass, betray its situation at a considerable distance off. On the approach of an intruder it resolutely
defends its egg, refusing'to'quit the nest until ’forced off, when it slowly Saddles away in an awkward manner to a short
distance, without attempting to take wing. Its greatest enemy is-a fierce speeies of Lestris, always on the watch for the Albatros
quitting its nest, when this rapacious pirate instantly pounces down and devoursthe.egg. So. well ,is. the. popr,'.bird aware .of the
propensity of its fqe, that it .snaps the, mandibles, of,its beak violently tpgethe^ whenever it observes the Lestris flying overhead.” ,
I am indebted to Dr. McCormick for a fine egg of this species, which is four inches and 'three-quarters
long by three aud a quarter broad, of a pure white and of the ordinary shape; another, presented by this
gentleman to the Royal College of Surgeons, is much longer and nearly equal in size at both.ends,,.
Mr. Earle states that the young are a year old before they can fly, but on this point I fear lie must be
mistaken ; for although a long period must elapse before their lengthened wings are sufficiently developed to
sustain their heavy .bodies during their lengthened-flights, still it is natural to suppose that the young
.would leave the .nest before the. recurrence of the brepding-season and we know that such is-the case, from
the circumstance of,young birds and newly laid eggs not having been found at the same time on the islands,
visited by the officers of the late expedition under Captain Ross.
The Wandering Albatros varies much in colour at different ages: very old birds are entirely white, with
the exception o f the pinions, which are black; and they,are to be met with in every stage, from pure white,
white freckled and barred with dark brown, to,dark chocolate-brown approaching to black, the latter
colouring being.always. accompanied by a white face, which in some specimens is vyashed with buff ; beneath
the true feathers they are abundantly supplied with a fine white down;-the bill is delicate pinky white
inclining to yellow at the tip ; irides very dark brown ; eyelash bare, fleshy and of a pale green ; legs; feet
and webs pinky white.
.The young-are at-first clothed in a pure white down, whioh gives place to the dark brown colouring
mentioned; abovp.
. Tjie figure? represent- a bird of the middle age, and a bird supposed to be two years of age, about half
the natural size.