DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.
Genus Saxicola. Bechstein, Ornithologisches Taschenbuch, p. 216. (1802.)
Bill straight, with the culmen distinct and somewhat ascending into the feathers of the forehead; a few short and weak bristles at the base of the upper mandible, which is rather wide; wing rather long; first quill spurious, third and fourth longest, and nearly equal; tail moderate, wide, truncate; legs long, rather slender. General form adapted to living on the ground.
Saxicola œnanthoides. Vigors, Zool. Voy. Blossom, Ornithology, p. 19. (1839.)
Form. Rather larger than Saxicola œnanthe, but very similar to that species in form and general characters and appearance; wing long; second primary longest; tail moderate or rather short; legs, especially the tarsi, long; bill moderate, rather wide at base.
Dimensions. Total length of skin, about 6½ inches; wing, 4⅛; tail, 3; tarsus, 1¼ inches.
Colors. Narrow line through the eye, enlarging on the ears, black, which is the color also of the wings; forehead ashy white, fading into the cinerous of the head above; back cinerous; upper coverts of the tail white; under parts white, tinged with pale fulvous, darker on the breast; two middle feathers of the tail white at base; terminal two-thirds of their length black; other feathers of the tail white, tipped with black; bill and legs dark.
Hab. Northern America, Nova Scotia, Oregon. Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philadelphia.
Obs. We are not without doubts that the bird now before us is really distinct from Saxicola œnanthe of Europe, but having unfortunately a single specimen only, we cannot make an examination or comparison in all respects satisfactory. Our specimen is uniformly larger than either of the numerous specimens of the European species in the collection of the Philadelphia Academy, and is, as an especial character, longer in the tarsi. Its measurements do not, however, correspond with those given in the original description in Voy. Blossom; but it is expressly stated that the specimens described were in bad condition, and may not be entirely reliable. It is, at any rate, very closely allied to the European species that we have just mentioned.
With special reference to the present bird, we shall look with much interest for the results of future zoological investigations in the northwestern territories of the United States. There is at the present time no field more inviting to the American naturalist. While much has been done in California, New Mexico, and Texas, the extensive regions which we have above designated have scarcely been entered upon, and will yet contribute much to the fauna of our country.
DIOMEDEA NIGRIPES.—Audubon.
The Black-footed Albatross.
PLATE XXXV. Adult Male.
Those birds whose homes are the sea-coasts and islands, and whose lives are spent in gleaning a subsistence amongst the billows or by the shores of the ocean, have always been objects of interest both to the naturalist and the general observer. Idly reposing on the rocky crag or the sand-bank, or boldly sweeping the surface of the waters alike in the calm and amidst the fury of the tempest, few having the opportunity have failed to mark the sea-birds as a feature in the wild scenery peculiar to the localities for which they are fitted by nature, and perhaps to associate them with the adventurous character of our useful fellow-men whose profession it is, in the beautiful language of the liturgy, to “go down upon the deep.”
The large majority of the many birds that derive their subsistence from the productions of the Ocean, live habitually on its shores, or venture only short and easily-regainable distances from the land. This is the case with the numerous genera comprising the Ducks, Swans, and Geese, as well as the Pelicans, Cormorants, Penguins, and others. These, for the greater part, frequent the margins of the bays and estuaries, and many of them are almost as much birds of the land as of the sea. The Penguins in fact having but rudiments of wings, and incapable of flight, are necessarily restricted, though performing very remarkable migrations by swimming. These extraordinary birds are peculiar to the southern hemisphere, and have been met with amongst the ice and snow of the highest latitudes which navigators have succeeded in reaching within the Antarctic circle.
The bird which is the subject of our present article, is one of a group of species which, possessing great powers of flight and swimming with facility, do not content themselves with the vicinity of the coast, but venture boldly out to sea. The largest and best known species, the Wandering Albatross, has been observed by voyagers at a distance of two thousand miles or upwards from land; and it is even supposed that it performs a flight across the Atlantic from Cape Horn, or about its latitude, to the Cape of Good Hope. The smaller species, of which the present is one, do not venture on so long flights, but several voyagers have recorded their having been seen at two to five hundred miles out at sea.
On the sea-coast of America, on the Atlantic, the Albatrosses are found inhabiting only a portion of the shores of the southern division of this continent north of Cape Horn, but on the Pacific they are abundant throughout the extent of the continent.
Plate 35
The black-footed Albatross
Diomedes nigripes (Audubon)
The species that we present to the reader in the present plate, was discovered on the coast of California by the late John K. Townsend, M. D., and was first brought to notice by Mr. Audubon, in his Ornithological Biography, V., p. 327, but the specimen appears to have been accompanied by no notice of its history.
Since the period of its discovery, this bird has been again observed only by Dr. Heermann, who has kindly furnished the following note from his Journal:—
“The Black-footed Albatross abounds on the coast of California and southward, as do several other species of this genus. It is commonly to be seen skimming over the waves in its flight, and following in the wake of vessels, to pick up the refuse scraps thrown overboard. With the voracity characteristic of these birds, it seizes with little discrimination on whatever is thrown into the water, and of this propensity advantage may be taken by baiting a hook, by which, when seized, the bird is easily secured. From the stern-ports of our ship, during a voyage by sea to California, I have thus captured eight or ten specimens of this and other species of this genus in a single morning. All the species much resemble each other in habits, so far as my observations extend.
“On the coast of California, I observed a White Albatross much smaller than the large Diomedea exulans, but not having succeeded in procuring it, I cannot designate the species.”
The small white species alluded to by Dr. Heermann, is probably new to the ornithology of North America. Of the species known as inhabitants, we may say of the Pacific ocean, several have not heretofore been noticed by naturalists on the shores of the United States.