There are several different kinds of albatross. The largest measures over 11 feet across the out stretched wings. They are inhabitants of the southern seas.
By permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild] [Tring.
CARTING ALBATROSS EGGS ON THE ISLAND OF LAYSAN.
At one time these birds were protected; as this photograph testifies, this is no longer the case.
After the Albatrosses, the largest bird of the group is the Giant Petrel. The sailors call it "Break-bones," "Nelly," or "Stinker." In habits it differs much from its aristocratic relative the albatross, haunting the coasts in search of dead seals and whales, and the bodies of other birds. Professor Moseley aptly likens it to the vulture: "It soars all day along the coast on the look-out for food. No sooner is an animal killed than numbers appear as if by magic, and the birds are evidently well acquainted with the usual proceedings of sealers, who kill the sea-elephant, take off the skin and blubber, and leave the carcase. The birds gorge themselves with food, just like the vultures, and are then unable to fly. I came across half a dozen at Christmas Harbour in this condition. We landed just opposite them; they began to run to get out of the way. The men chased them; they ran off, spreading their wings, but unable to rise. Some struggled into the water and swam away, but two went running on, gradually disgorging their food, in the utmost hurry, until they were able to rise, when they made off to sea."
The Fulmar Petrel is a British bird. On St. Kilda, Professor Newton tells us, from 18,000 to 20,000 young are killed in one week in August, the only time when, by the custom of the community, they are allowed to be taken. These, after the oil is extracted, serve the islanders for winter food.
The Storm-petrel is a small bird which breeds abundantly in St. Kilda and the Orkneys, and so fearless that it will allow itself to be taken from the nest by hand. Immediately this is done, the bird vomits a quantity of pure oil from its mouth. The wild-fowlers make use of this habit, capturing the bird, collecting the oil, and setting the prisoner free again. A story is related of a storm-petrel which was kept in a cage for three weeks. It was fed by smearing its breast with oil, which the bird swallowed by drawing the feathers separately through its beak. These birds are popularly supposed to be seen only before stormy weather, and therefore are not welcomed by sailors, who call them "Devil's Birds" and "Witches." This bird seems to commend itself to some palates; thus the late Mr. Seebohm says: "Cooked on toast, like snipe, we found them delicious eating, very rich, but not at all fishy."
We cannot refrain from a brief mention of the remarkable little Diving-petrel—remarkable because of its unlikeness to all the other Petrels and its strong resemblance to the Auks. But its tubular nostrils and certain anatomical characters proclaim its true affinities. "This is a petrel," says Professor Moseley, "that has given up the active aerial habits of its allies, and has taken to diving, and has become specially modified by natural selection to suit it for this changed habit, though still a petrel in essential structure." On two occasions Professor Moseley met with them in the Strait of Magellan, and describes the water as being covered with these birds in flocks extending over acres, which were made black with them.