Greeks, and for the strong objection which they always seemed to evince for the representatives of all other nations. And these, the birds of Diomedes, some learned workers in the remains of antiquity maintain to have been albatrosses. But, unfortunately, the proof is far from being satisfactory; and it is a very great question whether the ancient Greeks and Romans ever saw a real albatross at all.

In Aristotle you may look in vain for mention of an albatross; but Pliny describes a particular kind of birds supposed to bear some resemblance to the mysterious bird of

ocean.

"Neither," as the worthy Philemon has it, in his translation of the learned old Roman -"neither will I over passe the birds called Diomedea, which K. Juba nameth Cataractæ. Toothed they are, as he saith; and thay have eies as red and bright as the fire; otherwise, their feathers be all white."

And after much more, which it is needless to repeat, he says:—

"Found they be in one place of the world, and but in one, namely, in a certaine island, innobled, as we have written before, for the tombe and temple of Diomedes, and it lieth upon the coast of Apulia. These birds are like unto the white sea mewes, with a blacke cop. Their manner is to cry with open mouth incessantly at any strangers that come aland; save only Grecians, upon whom they will seem to faun and make signs of love and amitie in all flattering wise. A wonderfule thing that they should discerne one from another, and give such friendly welcome to them as descended from the race of Diomedes. Their manner is, every day to charge their throats and wings full of water, and to drench therewith the said temple of Diomedes, in token of purification. Whence arose the fable that the companions of Diomedes were turned into these birds."

Taking the general original description and locality into account, these remarks on the Diomedean birds, whatever they really were, apply about as nearly as anything to the common or white pelican, which is strictly confined to the old world, and is found in the Adriatic.

But whatever the true Diomedean bird may have been—and the descriptions of the ancients strongly favour the notion that the companions of the son of Tydeus were changed into pelicans-however clear it

Nehemiah Greco, in his catalogue of "The Natural and Artificial Rarities," describing a certain engraved head and bill referred to by Linnæus, flounders about as follows:

"The head of the 'man-of-war,' called also the 'albitrosse,' supposed by some to be the head of a dodo. But it seems doubtful. That there is a bird called the 'man-ofwar' is commonly known to our seamen ; and several of them who have seen the head here preserved do affirm it to be the head of that bird, which they describe to be a very great one, the wings whereof are eight feet over. And Ligon ('Hist. of Barbad.'), speaking of him, saith that he will commonly fly out to sea to see what ships are coming to land, and so return. Whereas the dodo is hardly a volatile bird, having little or no wings, except such as those of the cassoary and the ostrich. Besides, although the upper beak of this bird doth much resemble that of the dodo, yet the nether is quite of a different shape. So that either this is not the head of a dodo, or else we have nowhere a true figure."

And this is all the exact information the naturalists had about the "albitrosse," as it was called, so late as the year 1694, when Nehemiah-"Fellow of the Royal Society, and of the Colledge of Phycitians"-wrote thus in his "Museum Regalis Societatis."

George Edwards, in 1743—nearly half a century later-gives a very fair description of the albatross.

"This bird," he says, "is big-bodied and very long-winged. I take it to be one of the largest, if not the very biggest water-bird in the world. By measuring him crossways, from tip to tip of the wings, he measures near ten feet. The first bone of the wing, which joins it to the body, equals the length of the whole body, as appears in the skeleton of one of these birds I have by me."

The confusion made by the old navigators between the albatross and the man-of-war or

frigate bird has doubtless been the cause of even the accepted name albatross being in

correct.

soon grow immensely fat. Their voracity is enormous.

"One albatross will often swallow a salmon of four or five pounds weight; but as it cannot take the whole of the fish into its stomach at once, the tail will often remain out of the mouth. When found in this state of gluttony, the natives knock the too-voracious birds on the head, without difficulty, on the spot. It is not for the flesh that the natives of those parts kill the albatross, but for the

But, to leave the regions of uncertainty for those of later and more specific information, there is no doubt that Linnæus himself has helped to propagate a good deal of error in his description of the albatross. He places its habitat within the Pelagic tropics-"intra tropicos Pelagi"-and at the Cape of Good Hope, flying very high, and living on flying fish, pursued by the dolphin; with other particulars, drawn certainly not from any actual personal experience of the albatross.

Dr. Latham records four species of this remarkable bird. The wandering albatross, the chocolate albatross, the yellow-nosed albatross, and the sooty albatross; and he states that albatrosses are very frequent in many parts without the tropics, both to the northward as well as the south.

"Indeed," he adds, "they are in great plenty in the neighbourhood of the Cape of Good Hope, as all voyagers can testify; and not only these, but other sorts also; and from thence in every temperate southern latitude."

"These birds," he continues, "are often seen in vast flocks in Kamtschatka and the adjacent islands, about the end of June, where they are called great gulls. They are chiefly seen in the Bay of Penschinensi, the whole inner sea of Kamtschatka, the Kurile Isles, and that of Bering; for on the eastern coast of the first they are scarce, a single straggler appearing only now and then. Food appears to be the main cause of their visits to these desolate regions. When they first arrive they are very lean; but they are the sure harbingers of shoals of fish, and

by wearing pieces of albatross down in the holes of their ears."

About the most interesting details connected with the albatross which we remember to have read are those given in a book entitled "Wanderings in New South Wales," by Mr. Bennett, and published in 1834. Speaking of the favourite latitudes of these birds, he says that albatrosses were not seen until the ship in which he was sailing arrived in latitude 36° south, longitude 5° 18', when several species of the bird were often about the vessel. This traveller seems to have taken an enthusiastic interest in watching the peculiarities of the albatross, and his notes on the subject are consequently valuable. Speaking of their general appearance, he says:

"When these elegant birds are captured and brought on board, their sleek, delicate, and clean plumage is a subject of much admiration; and the fine snow-white down which remains after the removal of the outer feathers is in requisition among ladies for muffs, tippets, &c."

The spread of wing of the albatross is something enormous. The average, from tip to tip of the extended wings, is from eight to fourteen feet. "I have even heard it asserted," says the traveller to whom we have just referred, "that specimens have been shot of this species, the expanded wings of which measured twenty feet across; but the greatest spread I have seen has been fourteen feet."

According to Professor Owen, the largest albatross in the British Museum Natural History Collection would present a span, from tip to tip, of a hundred and twentyfive inches, if the wings were fully expanded. An albatross, however, in Sir Ashton Lever's

museum is said, according to a similar measurement, to have given thirteen feet.

When seizing an object floating on the water, the albatross will gradually descend, with expanded or upraised wings, or some times alight and float like a duck on the water while devouring its food. Then, elevating itself, it skims the surface of the ocean with expanded wings, giving frequent impulses since the great length of its wings prevents its rising with facility from a level surface-as it runs along for some distance, until it again soars in mid-air, and recommences its erratic flight.

The great difficulty of albatrosses in commencing their flight is to elevate themselves from the water. To effect this object they spread their long pinions to the utmost, giving them repeated impulses as they run along the surface of the water. Having by their exertions raised themselves above the wave, they ascend and descend, and cleave the atmosphere in various directions, without any apparent muscular exertion. The explanation of this facility of flight in the albatross is curious.

The whole surface of the body in this, as well as most if not all the oceanic tribes, is covered by a number of air-cells, capable of a voluntary inflation or diminution by means of a beautiful muscular apparatus. By this power the birds can raise or depress themselves at will, and the tail and great length of the wing enable them to steer in any direction. Indeed, without some provision of this kind to save muscular exertion, it would be impossible for these birds to undergo such long flights without repose as they have been known to do; for the muscles appertaining to the organs of flight are evidently inadequate in power to the long distances they have been known to fly, and the immense length of time they remain on the wing with scarcely a moment's cessation.

The voraciousness of the albatross we have already alluded to, and this very vulgar predilection takes away a good deal of the poetic sentiment which, thanks to the famous author of "Christabel," has been associated in people's minds with the monarch of sea-birds. Another unromantic fact is, that when several species-albatrosses, petrels, and other oceanic birds-are hovering round a ship at the same time, no jealous conflicts ever take place between them; but if one happens to come to an untimely end

by any accident, the surviving members of the company immediately proceed to fall upon and devour their defunct brother.

Turning from albatross voracity to that of the lords of creation, it may be acceptable to know how the albatross eats. When one of these birds is captured and brought on deck, it looks plump and inviting from at cook's point of view; but, unfortunately, feathers predominate over flesh. The quantity of down, the thickness of the integument, and the inflation of the air-cells, make a wonderful deception. Remove them, and your albatross is very poor picking. But even if there was more of him, we doubt if he would ever become fashionable eating. When sailors, in defiance of the supposed superstition against killing the albatross, manage to secure one, they generally skin it, and soak it in salt water till next morning. They then parboil it, throw away the liquor, stew it in fresh water till tender, and then the dish is ready. If at hand, a little savoury sauce is an additional recommendation. Cook, in his first voyage, speaks with great approval of albatross served up in this way, saying "We ate it very heartily, even when there was fresh pork upon the table."

But, like Mrs. Glasse's hare, you must first catch your albatross before you can cook it. This is generally done by means of a hook and line, and bait of fat pork, thrown out over the ship's stern. Mr. Bennett gives rather an amusing description of the capture of one of these birds. He says:

"This individual was caught by getting its wing entangled in a line which was out with a bait attached, as it flew under the ship's stern; for though it was too old a bird to take bait, it was not sufficiently wise to escape entanglement in the line. When, in the gentlest manner imaginable, we commenced measuring him, he vehemently exclaimed against it, and was declared by all on board to be a very noisy bird. He was probably an old stager, perfectly well aware of the fate that awaited him. He received the usual share of commiseration from the ladies when they understood he was to be dissected, accompanied by a request for the down."

Like most of the petrel tribe-for, after all, our old friend the albatross is but a gigantic gull, with a dash of the petrel in him

- this bird lays only one egg, of a pure white, varying in weight from fifteen to twenty-one ounces. There is only one instance on record where, out of a hundred