During a former voyage, on the 1st of January, 1829, I had an opportunity of examining a specimen of the Diomedea fuliginosa, Sooty Albatross, or quaker-bird, which was captured (by a hook and line, and a piece of salt pork by way of bait,) in latitude 39° 40′ south, and longitude 101° 5′ east. The wings, when expanded, measured six feet eleven inches from point to point. This was called Pio by some of the sailors on board. The bill was of a beautiful shining black, with a distinct white membrane passing about two-thirds down the lower mandible; the legs were naked, and, as well as the feet, of a flesh colour; irides brown, and a circle of white feathers surrounded the orbit; the head, neck, throat, and back, were of a sooty colour; breast and abdomen greyish; wing coverts of a light grey; the pen-feathers of a light black; the tail feathers above of a sooty, inferiorly of a light grey colour; the feet had each three toes, united by a web, slightly serrated at the edges; the first toe had five, the second four, and the third three phalanges.
On the 3rd of January another specimen was caught in latitude 40° 34′ south, and longitude 107° 18′ east, which differed in plumage from the preceding by having the sooty feathers on the head and back intermixed with white, which difference in plumage may have depended on age, as the sex of both birds was the same, being both males.
I have subsequently had opportunities of examining numerous specimens, in many of which there were slight differences of plumage, but none particularly marking the sex, that I could discover.
On the 5th of January, 1829, a specimen of the species named Mollymawk by our sailors, the mountain Albatross of the Americans, was captured in latitude 40° 6′ south, and longitude 111° 49′ east. This I suspect only to be a young specimen of the large wandering Albatross. The bill was of a pale, dirty yellow; the head, neck, breast, and abdomen, were of a delicate and beautiful snowy whiteness; the back black, intermixed with brown, changing to snowy whiteness near the tail; tail feathers above black, underneath white; vent white; irides brown; orbits surrounded by a naked skin of a light bluish colour; black feathers at the inner angle of the eye; legs and feet of a flesh colour. The wings, when expanded, measured five feet from point to point.
“And is that the Albatross? the bird mentioned of such an extraordinary size? Well, I thought it a much larger bird; but having so often heard that travellers’ accounts are exaggerated, I ought not to wonder at my disappointment.”—These remarks are often made by persons who make a voyage to sea for the first time in their lives, and who have in their ideas conjectured that flying fishes, dolphins, albatrosses, &c. so far surpassed all other objects of the creation, that I have scarcely known an instance when such voyagers have not been disappointed at the reality, and considered all that has been related of them as marvellously incorrect. It was during my first voyage I watched eagerly from the stern of the vessel, for the first time, the majestic sailing of the huge Albatross in the air, seemingly enjoying the stormy winds which were at that time pouring their wrath upon our swift craft. It occasionally would sweep the rising billows, washing itself with the spray which broke from the conflicting waves, seemed to delight in the tempest, and looked to the superstitious seamen as if it was hovering over the devoted ship, regarding it, as the foaming billows dashed over its decks, as nigh destruction, and the inmates soon doomed to become its prey. It is a most interesting sight to see these birds during stormy weather flying with and against the wind, and approaching so close to the ship, as if they were about to alight, and seem “gayest of the gay” in the midst of foaming waves and howling winds.
One of my amusements on board was fishing for albatrosses, Cape petrels, or pigeons as they are commonly termed, (from the supposed resemblance of their flight and bill to that of a pigeon,) with a hook and line, and a piece of fat pork as a bait, and a quantity of spare line to let out when the bird attacked my bait, so as to allow for the sailing of the ship, and give him time to hook himself as comfortably as possible, or as securely as desired. Many a laugh, and sapient gaze, and passing remark, have I had from my fellow-passengers, at the nonsense and folly of “fishing” for birds: I recollect having a crowd of eager, idle gazers looking on to see what success would attend this novel method of sporting among the feathered creation: the wind was light; and after some time spent in expectation, as is customary with that humane body, the fishers, fortune favoured me, for a huge Albatross greedily seized my bait, and hauling the ponderous bird for some distance through the water, at last I landed him safely on deck: the strain of the line was very great, (with the ship not going above two or three knots an hour through the water,) and I was momentarily expecting it to give way. On this gigantic bird arriving on deck, its enormous size, and elegant, sleek plumage, was exposed to the close gaze of all the before disbelieving passengers, who flocked from cabin and steerage to view the splendid prize, which excited both their surprise and admiration, as it lay on the deck, with expanded wings, and half drowned from having been dragged some distance through the water. Nothing more was afterwards heard of the size of the bird being exaggerated; and it proved for a long time after a subject of conversation, all uniting in pronouncing it an enormous and splendid production of the feathered creation. A second specimen was caught soon after: the first measured fourteen feet from the extremity of one wing to that of the other; and the second, ten feet four inches. There was a slight difference of plumage in the two birds; one having the upper part of the head and back of a beautiful pencilled white; while the upper part of the head and back of the other was black. The skin, on dissecting the birds, was found to contain a very large quantity of oil, as is usual with the oceanic birds. A cluster of cartilaginous tumors was found attached to the web of the foot of one of the birds. The pharynx and œsophagus are capable of being distended to a very large size, which enables the bird to swallow large pieces of food entire.
At certain seasons of the year they retire to breed on rocky islands, as the Crozettes, Marion Islands, Tristan d’Acunha, &c. Captain Carmichael[140] describes their manner of breeding, as seen by himself on the Island of Tristan d’Acunha:—“As we walked down the mountain on our return,” he observes, “we passed among flocks of Albatrosses, engaged in the process of incubation, or tending their young. There are four species of them that breed on the island, none of which hatches more than one egg at a time;—the Diomedea spadicea, exulans, chlororynchus, and fuliginosa. The two former give themselves no trouble in constructing their nest, merely choosing a dry spot of ground, and giving it a slight concavity, to prevent the egg from rolling out of its place. The egg is white, very large, and of a peculiar shape, being uncommonly long in proportion to its diameter, and equally thick, or nearly so, at both ends.
“The black Albatrosses (D. fuliginosa) are at this season (January) gregarious, building their nests close to each other. In the area of half an acre I reckoned upwards of a hundred. They are constructed of mud, raised five or six inches, and slightly depressed at the top. At the time we passed, the young birds were more than half grown, and covered with a whitish down. There was something extremely grotesque in the appearance of these birds, standing, on their respective hillocks, motionless like so many statues, until we approached close to them, when they set up the strangest clattering with their beaks, and if we touched them, squirted on us a deluge of fetid oily fluid from the stomach.
“The D. chlororynchus builds its solitary nest in some sheltered corner, selecting, in particular, the small drains that draw the water off the land into the ravines. There it runs up its nest to the height of ten or twelve inches, of a cylindrical form, with a small ditch around the base. A curious circumstance with regard to this bird is, that when irritated, the feathers of its cheeks are separated, so as to display a beautiful stripe of naked orange skin, running from the corners of the mouth towards the back of the head. All these birds nourish their young by disgorging the contents of their stomach. They are never observed to carry any article of food in their bill: those matters indeed, from which they derive the chief part of their sustenance, the blubber of dead whales, seals, and sea lions, would melt away if carried in the bill to any distance. We could not help admiring the utter unconsciousness of danger displayed by them on our approach: they never showed the least disposition to move out of our way: even when kicked, or pulled off their nests, they made not the smallest show of resistance; but quietly returned to their post, or stood still until we passed on.
“Their plumage is of the finest order, copious, and without the slightest stain. They find great difficulty in getting on wing, and must run twenty or thirty yards along the ground with expanded wings, before they can get fairly under way. We had the curiosity to take one of them by the point of the wings and fling it over the rock; yet, though it had several hundred feet of a clear fall, it never recovered itself, but dropped down like a stone. On this account, when not engaged with their young, they usually rest upon the edge of the precipice, from which they can launch at once into the air; and on entering again upon that difficult part of our route, we had to kick upwards of a dozen of them to the right and left of us before we could get on.”