----'With his cross-bow
He shot the albatross.'
Whatever delight might be experienced in contemplating the bird
under the mysterious point of view suggested by the poet, would
be rather heightened than diminished by a knowledge of its real
natural character; and this we may obtain from that valuable and
highly-meritorious work, 'The Birds of Australia,' by Mr Gould.
According to this enterprising naturalist--
'The _Diomedea exulans_ (wandering albatross) is by far the largest
and most powerful species of its tribe; and, from its great
strength and ferocious disposition, is held in terror by every
other bird with which it is surrounded. It is even said that it
will fearlessly attack and tear out the eyes of a drowning man,
a feat, from what I have observed of it, I can readily imagine
it would attempt. It is most abundant between the 30th and 60th
degrees of south latitude, and appears to be equally numerous in
all parts of the ocean bounded by those degrees; and I feel assured
that it is confined to no one part, but is constantly engaged in
making a circuit of the globe in that particular zone allotted by
nature for its habitation. The open sea is in fact its natural
home; and this it never leaves, except for the purpose of breeding,
when it usually resorts to rocky islands the most difficult of
access.
'The powers of flight of the wandering albatross are much greater
than those of any other bird that has come under my observation.
Although, during calm or moderate weather, it sometimes rests on
the surface of the water, it is almost constantly on the wing, and
is equally at ease while passing over the glassy surface during
the stillest calm, or sweeping, with arrow-like swiftness, before
the most furious gale; and the way in which it just tops the
raging billows, and sweeps between the gulfy waves, has a hundred
times called forth my wonder and admiration. Although a vessel
running before the wind frequently sails more than 200 miles in the
twenty-four hours, and that for days together, still the albatross
has not the slightest difficulty in keeping up with the ship, but
also performs circles of many miles in extent, returning again to
hunt up the wake of the vessel for any substances thrown overboard.
'Like the other species of the genus, it is nocturnal as well as
diurnal, and no bird with which I am acquainted takes so little
repose. It appears to be perpetually on the wing, scanning the
surface of the ocean for molluscs and medusæ, and the other marine
animals that constitute its food. So frequently does the boldness
of this species cost it its life, that hundreds are annually
killed, without, however, its numbers being apparently in any
degree lessened. It readily seizes a hook baited with fat of any
kind; and if a boat be lowered, its attention is immediately
attracted, and while flying round, it is easily shot.' It is not
surprising that a poetical imagination should have been excited by
such a subject, and Coleridge is not the only bard who has shaped
it into verse. Another writes--
'Now upon Australian seas,
Wafted by the tropic breeze,
We salute the southern cross,
Watch the wondrous albatross--
Circling round in orbits vast,
Pausing now above the mast,
Laving now his snowy breast
Where the billows sleeping rest.
Now he skims the surface o'er,
Rising, falling evermore:
Floating high on stillest wing,
Now he seems a guardian thing,
Now a messenger of wrath,
Cleaving swift his airy path;
Bearing o'er the liquid plain
Warning of the hurricane.'
Mr Gould's description of the _Diomedea melanophrys_,
black-eyebrowed albatross, exhibits other characteristics:--'Of all
the species,' he observes, 'with which I am acquainted, this is the
most fearless of man, and it often approaches many yards nearer the
vessel than any other. I have even observed it approach so near,
that the tips of its pinions were not more than two arms' length
from the tafferel. It is very easily captured with a hook and line;
and as this operation gives not the least pain to the bird, the
point of the hook merely taking hold in the horny and insensible
tip of the bill, I frequently amused myself in capturing it in
this way, and after detaining it sufficiently long to afford me an
opportunity for investigating any particular point respecting which
I wished to satisfy myself, setting it at liberty again. I also
caught numerous examples, marked, and gave them their liberty, in
order to ascertain whether the individuals which were flying round
the ship at nightfall were the same that were similarly engaged
at daylight in the morning, after a night's run of 120 miles, and
which, in nearly every instance, proved to be the case.'
Angling for albatrosses is no modern art, as appears from the
narrative of Sir Richard Hawkins' voyage to the South Sea in 1593,
in which it is pretty certain that these birds are spoken of.
'Certaine great fowles,' says the narrator, 'as bigge as swannes,
soared about us, and the winde calming, setled themselves in the
sea, and fed upon the sweepings of our ship; which I perceiving,
and desirous to see of them, because they seemed farre greater than
in truth they were, I caused a hooke and line to be brought me,
and with a piece of pilchard I bated the hooke, and a foot from it
tied a piece of corke, that it might not sinke deepe, and threw it
into the sea, which, our ship driving with the sea, in a little
time was a good space from us, and one of the fowles beeing hungry,
presently seized upon it, and the hooke in his upper beake. It is
like to a faulcon's bill, but that the point is more crooked, in
that manner, as by no meanes hee could cleere himselfe, except that
the line brake, or the hooke righted: plucking him towards the
ship, with the waving of his wings he eased the weight of his body,
and being brought to the sterne of our ship, two of our company
went downe by the ladder of the poope, and seized on his neck and
wings; but such were the blows he gave them with his pinnions, as
both left their hand-fast, beeing beaten blacke and blue; we cast
a snare about his necke, and so triced him into the ship. By the
same manner of fishing we caught so many of them, as refreshed and
recreated all my people for that day. Their bodies were great, but
of little flesh and tender; in taste answerable to the food whereon
they feed. They were of two colours--some white, some gray; they
had three joyntes in each wing; and from the pointe of one wing to
the pointe of the other, both stretched out, was above two fathoms.'
Similar instances are recorded, though not in language quaint
and tedious as the above, in Cook's Voyages. The great circumnavigator's
crew were glad to regale themselves on albatross roast and boiled,
after having been many weeks at sea, and confined to salt food. Sir
James Ross, too, after stating that when off the Aguilhas bank,
'the gigantic albatross was seen in great numbers, and many of them
taken by means of a fishing-line,' remarks--'these birds added a
degree of cheerfulness to our solitary wanderings, which contrasted
strongly with the dreary and unvarying stillness of the tropical
region.'
Most marvellous accounts have been given of the spread of wing of
the albatross, rivalling the wonderful roc of the 'Arabian Nights.'
Mr Gould took pains to verify the facts. The largest specimen seen
by him measured 10 feet 1 inch from tip to tip of the outspread
wings, and weighed 17 pounds. But Dr M'Cormick, surgeon of the
'Erebus,' in the Antarctic exploring voyage met with one weighing
20 pounds, and 12 feet stretch of wing. The Auckland Islands,
about to become the head-quarters of our southern whale-fishery,
are a much-frequented breeding-place for the birds; the others
as yet known to naturalists are the Campbell Island--some lonely
rocks off the southernmost extremity of Van Diemen's Land--and the
islands of Tristan d'Acunha. While at the Aucklands, Dr M'Cormick
made himself acquainted with what may be called the bird's
domestic habits:--'The albatross,' he writes, 'during the period
of incubation, is frequently found asleep with its head under
its wings: its beautiful white head and neck appearing above the
grass, betray its situation at a considerable distance off. On the
approach of an intruder, it resolutely defends its egg, refusing
to quit the nest until forced off, when it slowly waddles away
in an awkward manner to a short distance, without attempting to
take wing. Its greatest enemy is a fierce species of _Lestris_,
always on the watch for the albatross quitting its nest, when
the rapacious pirate instantly pounces down and devours the egg.
So well is the poor bird aware of the propensity of its foe, that
it snaps the mandibles of its beak violently together whenever it
observes the lestris flying overhead.'
Mr Earle, whose observations were made on the almost inaccessible
heights of Tristan d'Acunha, remarks:--'The huge albatross here
appeared to dread no interloper or enemy, for their young were on
the ground completely uncovered, and the old ones were stalking
around them. They lay but one egg, on the ground, where they make a
kind of nest by scraping the earth around it: the young is entirely
white, and covered with a woolly down, which is very beautiful. As
we approached, they snapped their beaks with a very quick motion,
making a great noise: this, and the throwing up of the contents
of the stomach, are the only means of offence and defence which
they seem to possess.' It was at one time believed that the head
of the female became of a scarlet colour while she was sitting,
and afterwards resumed its original hue. Be this as it may, the
male is very attentive to her during the time she keeps the nest,
and is constantly on the wing in search of food, which, as before
observed, consists of small marine animals, mucilaginous zoophytes,
and the spawn of fish. When opportunity offers, however, they
attack more solid fare. Commander Kempthorne relates, that while
on a voyage in 1836, in search of the lost crew of the 'Charles
Eaton,' he fell in with the half-putrid carcase of a whale,
surrounded by a host of fishes and birds, albatrosses among the
latter; 'and so occupied were they, that even the approach of our
boat did not disturb them, or put them to flight: many albatrosses
allowed us to attack them with our oars and the boat-hooks, and
several were consequently knocked down and killed.' The egg of
the albatross is about 4 inches long, white, and spotted at the
larger end: although good to eat, the albumen or white does not
solidify in the boiling. The penguin is said to take possession
of the nests when vacated. The albatross is a constant attendant
on fishing parties, and if in low condition from scarcity of food
or other causes, soon regains its flesh and fat, so voraciously
does it devour. It is no uncommon occurrence for one of these
birds to take a fish of several pounds' weight into its mouth, and
having swallowed one extremity, to wait, like the boa-constrictor,
digesting and gulping until the whole is consumed. Towards the
end of June, in anticipation of the fishing season, albatrosses
arrive in thousands on the coasts of Kamtchatka, and are captured
in great numbers, for food and other purposes, by the natives.
With the hollow bones of the wing they make pipe-stems, sheaths,
needle-cases, and combs, the latter being used in the preparation
of flax: they also make use of the inflated intestines as floats
for their nets.
Notwithstanding its large size, the albatross does not appear to
be a quarrelsome bird; and when attacked by its enemy the skua
gull, it endeavours to save itself by flight. Captain Cook once
saw a contest between two of these gulls and an albatross; the
sole object of the latter appeared to be to defend its breast and
the softer portions of its body from the fierce assaults of its
antagonists: loss of liberty, however, is said to irritate the bird
greatly. Its voice, according to Sonini, resembles that of the
pelican, with a cry approaching the bray of an ass. This author
further observes with regard to the flight of the albatross:--'The
manner of these birds' flying is very astonishing; the beating of
their wings is perceived only at the moment of taking wing, and
often they make use at the same time of their feet, which, being
webbed, enable them to rise by striking the water. This impulse
once given, they have no longer need to beat their wings; they keep
them widely extended, and seek their prey, balancing themselves
alternately from right to left, skimming with rapid flight the
surface of the sea. This balancing serves doubtless to accelerate
their course, but it would seem scarcely sufficient to support
them in the air. Perhaps an imperceptible fluttering; of their
feathers is the principal cause of this extraordinary movement. In
this respect they would require to have muscles especially adapted,
and for this reason I consider that the anatomy of these birds
merits the greatest attention.'
By the Germans the albatross is named 'der wandernde schiffsvogel'
(the wandering ship-bird); the Dutch term it 'Jean de Jenten;'
English sailors, looking to its bulky appearance, call it
'the Cape sheep;' and with them also the sooty albatross is
'the Quaker-bird.' There are seven species particularised by
naturalists: the technical description, however, of the _Diomedea
exulans_, given by Mr Gould, will apply in general terms to the
whole. 'The wandering albatross,' he observes, 'varies much in
colour at different ages: very old birds are entirely white, with
the exception of the pinions, which are black; and they are to
be met with in every stage, from pure white, white freckled, and
barred with dark-brown, to dark chocolate-brown approaching to
black, the latter colouring being always accompanied by a white
face, which in some specimens is washed with buff; beneath the
true feathers they are abundantly supplied with a fine white down;
the bill is delicate pinky-white, inclining to yellow at the tip;
irides very dark-brown; eyelash bare, fleshy, and of a pale-green;
legs, feet, and webs, pinky-white. The young are at first clothed
in a pure white down, which gives place to the dark-brown
colouring.' The 'cautious albatross,' as its name indicates, is
very shy, seldom approaches the land, and is not easily captured:
the yellow-billed species, when in pursuit of its prey, will dive
and swim for several yards under water.
Mr Bennet, in his 'Wanderings,' has some interesting passages on
the subject of the albatross. 'It is pleasing,' he writes, 'to
observe this superb bird sailing in the air in graceful and elegant
movements, seemingly excited by some invisible power, for there
is scarcely any movement of the wings seen after the first and
frequent impulses are given, when the creature elevates itself in
the air; rising and falling as if some concealed power guided its
various motions, without any muscular exertion of its own, and then
descending, sweeps the air close to the stern of the ship, with an
independence of manner, as if it were "monarch of all it surveyed."
It is from the very little muscular exertion used by these birds
that they are capable of sustaining such long flights without
repose.... When seizing on an object floating on the water, they
gradually descend with expanded or upraised wings, or sometimes
alight, and float like a duck on the water, while devouring their
food; then they again soar in mid-air, and recommence their erratic
flights. It is interesting to view them during boisterous weather,
flying with, and even against the wind, seeming the "gayest of the
gay" in the midst of the howling and foaming waves.' In another
passage, the author makes some further remarks as to this bird's
powers of flight. 'I remarked,' he says, 'that the albatross would
lower himself even to the water's edge, and elevate himself again
without any apparent impulse; nor could I observe any percussion of
the wings when the flight was directed against the wind, but then,
of course, its progress was tardy. Many, however, have differed
with me in considering that the birds never fly "dead against the
wind," but in that manner which sailors term "close to the wind,"
and thus make progress, aided by, when seemingly flying against,
the wind. This bird is evidently aided by its long wings, as well
as tail, in directing its flight; it is never seen to soar to any
great height, and is often observed to change its course by turning
the wings and body in a lateral direction, and oftentimes, when
raising itself, to bend the last joint of the wings downwards.'
From our extracts it is evident that for those who possess the 'art
of seeing,' a voyage across the wide ocean is not necessarily a
scene of monotonous weariness: there is food for instruction and
inspiration everywhere; and here, with some further lines from the
poem already quoted, we may appropriately bring our article to a
close:--
'Oh thou wild and wondrous bird,
Viewing thee, my thought is stirred.
Round and round the world thou goest,
Ocean solitude thou knowest--
Into trackless wastes hast flown,
Which no eye save thine hath known:
Ever tireless--day or night;
Calm or tempest--ceaseless flight.
Albatross, I envy thee
Oft thy soaring pinions free;
For we deem the realms of air
Too ethereal for care.
Gladness as of endless springs
Seems to me is born with wings.
Thou canst rise and see the sun,
When his course to us is done:
A moral here may us engross,
Thou the teacher--albatross!'