This animal attacked furiously every thing that was placed before it, screaming with its trumpet-like voice at the same time. It always made some impression with its beak when the hooked end of the mandible came in contact with the object attacked, but not without.
This bird, on being placed on the skylight of the poop, tied by the leg, made one attempt to regain its liberty; finding that attempt fruitless, it never renewed it, but remained with folded wings, apparently content, but appearing to watch the approach of intruders with its large brilliant eyes. When left alone, the bird remained seated, perfectly quiet, pecking its feathers, and looking as content and unconscious of danger as when I have seen them resting tranquilly on the water, undisturbed by the ship, as it has passed quite close to them. I cannot, however, consider its sight very acute, as, although watching me, I found no difficulty at any time in seizing him by the neck. Indeed these, unlike the man-of-war bird, gannet, &c., do not require great acuteness of vision, as their food is principally the sluggish mollusca, not fish, as has been often asserted as serving them for prey, this bird being regarded also, but I consider erroneously, as one of the enemies of the flying fish.
The Albatross does not require that acuteness of vision requisite in the Tachypetes aquila, or man-of-war hawk, which hovers to a great height in the air, and then darts with rapidity on its finny prey. The flight of the Albatross, on the contrary, is low, and it frequently skims the surface of the water, watching for the objects which serve it for food, or the sepiæ, as they leap from, or swim tardily near, the surface of the ocean.
Sometimes the Albatrosses form a sea-dish, and are eaten by the crew; but it is seldom they are used for this purpose in the present day, although formerly they were caught and esteemed for that purpose, as a change to the miserable salt junk. Captain Cook mentions, in his first voyage, the method used to prepare the birds before cooking them, and passes much commendation on the dish. “The Albatrosses,” he observes, “we skinned, and, having soaked them in salt water until the morning, we parboiled them, then, throwing away the liquor, stewed them in a very little fresh water till they were tender, and had them served up with savoury sauce: thus dressed, the dish was universally commended, and we ate of it very heartily, even when there was fresh pork upon the table.”
I was not aware, until I perused the entertaining “Fragments of Voyages and Travels,” by Captain Hall, that the Albatross was ever found so near the equator. “On the 24th of May,” he writes, “the day before crossing the equator, a number of those huge birds, the Albatrosses, were seen soaring over the face of the waters, and the flying fish, when rising into the air to avoid their natural enemies, the dolphin and bonito, were frequently caught by these poaching birds, to the very reasonable disappointment of the sporting fish below, on whose manor they were trespassing. These intruders proceeded not altogether with impunity, however, for we hooked several of them, who, confident in their own sagacity and strength of wing, swooped eagerly at the baited hooks, towed far astern of the ship, and were thus drawn on board, screaming and flapping their wings in a very ridiculous plight.”
On the 23d of July, 1832, in latitude 40° 16′ south, longitude 46° 45′ east, an Albatross was hooked; and when about to haul it in, the line (which was out its whole length) accidentally slipped; the bird consequently swallowed hook, bait, and a portion of the line; the remainder hung out from his bill. He was seen about the ship in the afternoon with a long portion of the line pending from the beak. This morning he was seen following the ship, but the length of line which hung from his beak was now reduced to very short dimensions: he had, probably by gradually swallowing, thus reduced it. From this bird being thus marked, we have ascertained that he has followed the ship for two days; and as we have been sailing at the rate of two hundred miles per day, (from the irregular flight of this bird, their actual flight may be correctly quadrupled,) it has followed us in a direct line four hundred miles. How long previously it had been about the ship, or subsequently followed it, we had no means of ascertaining, as the following day none of the Albatrosses had a string pending from the beak: our friend, no doubt, having swallowed the whole of it.
Sometimes the bait would attract an Albatross, cause him to alight, and shake it with his beak; but, “putting on a knowing look,” he eyed it again, perhaps suspicious of its appearance, would refuse it, and fly off. Perhaps he had had a good feast of cuttle-fish, and therefore, being in a dainty mood, did not like the bit of skinny pork that was offered for his acceptance.
These birds are the greatest part of their existence on the wing; but there are other of the oceanic birds which merely seek their food during the day, returning to the land to roost at night; but, from sometimes being blown away by heavy gales, they are obliged to bear away for the nearest port, and take refuge, much exhausted, on the rigging of ships. The booby is one of these; and from the circumstance of being easily captured at night on the rigging, has received its common name, whereas it is as much gifted with sense as any of the oceanic tribe of birds, which, at the best, is not an overplus; but Nature, no doubt, has given them as much as they require for their existence in this world.
So marked is the form of the superorbital depression in aquatic birds, that I have no doubt, judging from my limited series of observations, the genus may be determined by it alone. So marked is it in the Albatross genus, that from it the skull of that bird may be easily recognized. The Petrel tribe have it only half bony, the membranous portion projecting from the outer edge of the bone, which membranous portion is usually found wanting in the prepared skulls of those birds. In the Larus or gull tribe, the flatness of the cavities, and their extending over the anterior part of the skull, so as nearly, if not actually, to touch, seems a distinguishing mark in that genus. In the booby, duck, and some others, there is no depression, although the gland exists, being situated over the orbit, merely on a membranous projection.