THE ALBATROSS.
(See page 45, vol. i.)
The Albatrosses are the largest of the oceanic birds, and their generic character (Diomedea) is thus defined:—Bill, very long, stout, edged, compressed; upper mandible channelled on the sides, and much hooked at the point; lower mandible smooth and truncated at the extremity; nostrils lateral, like short rolls and open in front; feet short, with only three very long toes, entirely webbed, but without any spur or toe behind, not even the little nail that is seen in the Petrel tribe; wings very long and narrow, with the primary quills short, and the secondaries long.
The known species are D. exulans, D. spadicea, D. chlororynchus, D. fuliginosa; and Cuvier also enumerates D. brachyura, Temm., D. melanophris, Temm.: for the two last species I have not had an opportunity of referring either to drawings or descriptions. There is a species found in Bass’s Straits, of which the description is as follows, copied from my journal at the time: it was captured, during a voyage from England to New South Wales:—
August 21st, 1832. Fine weather, wind from north to north-east, fresh breezes. About one o’clock, P.M., land (King’s Island, at the entrance of Bass’s Strait) was announced from the mast-head, and at the same time an Albatross was captured with a hook and line from the stern; immediately on seizing and swallowing the bait, it again rose into the air, and by hauling on the line, it was safely brought down (as a boy would a kite) on the deck. Several seized the bait, and flew up with it in a similar manner, but this one alone was caught; the hook slipping from the others, and the ship’s way being too great from the stormy state of the weather, to allow them much line to enable them to hook themselves better or swallow the bait. This one was the only specimen of the species we captured.
I placed this specimen in one of the hen coops; it fed heartily on large pieces of fat salt-pork, beef, &c., but seemed to prefer the fattest and most oily food. A great number of the same species of Albatross were about the ship at the same time, and when on the wing were mistaken for the species spadicea or the chlororynchus. On being placed in the hen-coop the bird did not scream, make any noise, or flutter about to regain its liberty, but quietly settled itself, occasionally pecking with the sharp crooked point of the upper mandible against the rails of the coop, but did not continue this for any length of time. It remained during the whole time of its confinement always sitting down, excepting once or twice (the first time it was placed in the coop) walking the length of its prison, and had a perfectly contented appearance. The first two or three days, the bird refused any meat that was given it, but that being lean fresh meat, I do not think it was relished, for soon after giving it a fine fat lump of salt-pork it was eagerly devoured. In three days it was very quiet and tame, pecked its feathers, and seemed to be in good health, having a lively, bright, and beautiful eye; it uttered no cry when caught, nor has it done so during its confinement. After entering the Straits, these, and almost the whole of the oceanic birds which had before been following the ship, had forsaken us. I arrived with it safe at Sydney, on the 25th; it survived until the 29th, when it was found dead in the coop in the afternoon, although it fed well in the morning. The dimensions of the specimen (which was a male) were as follows:—
| Feet. | In. | |
|---|---|---|
| Length from base of bill to the extremity of the tail | 2 | 6 |
| Length of the bill | 4½ | |
| Depth of the base of the bill | 1⅞ | |
| Length of the tail | 9 | |
| Length of ditto, exserted from feathers of the urupigium | 5 | |
| Length of the thigh | 6½ | |
| Length of the tarsus | 3 | |
| Length of the middle phalanges | 5⅛ | |
| Breadth of the wings expanded | 7 | 0 |
| Breadth between the wings from the first joint | 4 | |
| Length of the first joint of the wing | 10 | |
| Length of the second joint of the wing | 10⅛ | |
| Length of the third joint of the wing | 4 | |
| Length of the fourth, or pen-feathers | 1 | 4 |
| Length of inner angle of eye to base of beak | 1⅔ | |
| Breadth of the foot when expanded | 5 | |
| First pen-feather the longest. |
The following is the general description of this species:—The head, neck, breast, and urupigium of a snowy white colour; back, dark lead colour, shaded off to a lighter tint towards the neck; wing coverts, and upper part of the wings and pen-feathers, brownish black; under surface of the wings of a white colour, intermingled with light brown, (forming a white streak, extending the whole length on the under surface,) except the pen-feathers which are the same colour above as beneath; tail, dark lead colour, of a lighter tint on the under surface; irides, light brown; a black mark on the upper and inner part around the eye, lightly shaded off towards the base of the bill; eyelids black; bill yellow, with the tips of the mandibles, especially the upper one, of a reddish colour, shaded with black; a black narrow membrane extends around the base of the bill, forming a distinguishing character in this species; feet bluish, with the web of a bluish brown colour.
The dissection of this specimen was as follows:—The pleura and peritoneum (similar to all the other specimens examined) were found inflated; muscles attached to the air-cells; liver large; right lobe in length three inches and two eighths, left two inches and three-eighths, soft, and easily torn; gall bladder in length three inches, and attached the whole of its length to the stomach, and part of the duodenum, and was filled with bile of a bright grass-green colour; length of the first stomach three inches and a half, longitudinal folds of the inner coat throughout its whole length; a line of demarcation marking the termination of the œsophagus and commencement of the first stomach; length of the second stomach or gizzard one inch, in which were found some small beaks of a sepia; length of the intestines, commencing from the second stomach and terminating at the rectum, six feet; the lower part of the rectum was distended with fœces, white, and of a calcareous deposition in appearance, some of which was concreted, but readily broke like a soft calculus; renal veins much distended; pancreas in length three inches and two-eighths, very narrow at the upper part, and attached by a cellular membrane at that part to the gall bladder, and a portion of the duodenum; it became larger in the middle, and narrower (but not so narrow as at the first part) at the termination; about four inches and a half before the termination of the rectum are two projections, one on each side; in the upper part of the rectum the fœces were dark-coloured, but at intervals were formed into hard lumps. The bird, in its general internal appearance, had not the healthy appearance of those recently killed, which must be attributed to its having been kept in a state of confinement.
The larger species of albatross arrives at the length of three feet, and the wings, from point to point, have a spread of from eight to fourteen feet. I have heard it asserted that specimens have been shot, and the wings, from point to point, found measuring twenty feet, the plumage of those birds being entirely white; but I have never myself seen the spread of the wings greater than fourteen feet. The bill is in the larger species (the type of the genus) of a pale, dirty yellow, the legs and feet flesh colour. The ladies on board generally request the down of these birds for tippets, &c.; and among the New Zealand ladies it is used in small tufts for adorning the ears, being placed in the lobes, which are perforated for the purpose of receiving these or other adornments to satisfy their vanity, or command, if it be possible, public admiration. In New Zealand the bones of the same birds are frequently seen pending from the lobes of the ears and round their necks in the form of whistles and other ornaments. The Kamtschatdales are said to capture these birds chiefly for the sake of their bones, particularly those of the wing, which they convert to various uses.