Page:Cassell's book of birds (IA cassellsbookofbi04breh).pdf/235

 THE SOOTY OR BLACK ALBATROSS.

The or  (Diomedea or Phœbetria fuliginosa) is principally of a dark sooty grey; the head and wings are brown. In this species the tail is wedge-shaped.

The Sooty or Black Albatross, one of the commonest species, is universally spread over all temperate latitudes south of the equator. According to Latham, these birds breed on the Island of Tristan d'Acunha, and are gregarious, many of them building their nests close to each other; in the area of half an acre were reckoned upwards of a hundred. The nest is of mud, raised five or six inches, and slightly depressed at the top; when the young are more than half-grown they are covered with a whitish down; they stand on their respective hillocks like statues, until approached close, when they make a strange clattering with their beaks, and if touched squirt a deluge of fetid oily fluid from the nostrils. "The Black Albatross is common," says Layard, "along the south coast of Africa, at a little distance from the land. It is fond of hovering over a ship's deck, and I have obtained specimens by sending a small rifle bullet through them, thus killing them instantly; if struck with shot, their feathers are so dense that they seldom receive a death wound, but drift seaward and perish miserably. I have never observed any of the other Albatrosses hover over the deck as this bird constantly does; I have seen it almost touch a man on the royal yard. On these occasions it seems actuated by curiosity, and keeps turning its head from side to side, scanning everything with its brilliant dark eye." The eggs of this species resemble those of D. exulans, but are somewhat smaller, being about four inches two lines long by two inches six lines broad.

All the birds belonging to this family are oceanic, nevertheless each species seems to confine its occupancy within certain zones or climates. They are less numerously met with in the torrid zone than in the more temperate and colder regions, and are more abundant in the southern than in the northern hemisphere. During the breeding season they resort to the coasts, but the greater part of their life is spent upon the open sea. They can scarcely be said to walk, but they swim with ease and buoyancy, still they seldom alight upon the water, passing by far the greater part of their lives upon the wing. From the deck of a ship they may be seen pertinaciously accompanying it for whole days together, sweeping constantly along with an unbroken equable pace, mounting gently over the crests of the highest waves, plunging headlong into the valleys between them, only staying their course now and then for a moment, to enable them to pick up any stray morsel thrown from the ship, or seen floating upon the water. They are less capable of diving than most other sea-birds, probably from the difficulty they must encounter in submerging their soft thick plumage. They are even more saucily obtrusive than the Albatrosses, and will fearlessly seize upon any proffered bait, even when they have seen their fellow caught with a hook and line. Their food, besides fishes, consists of any animal substances that may be found floating on the waves. Their voracity is almost insatiable; with the prospect of a feast before them, they think nothing of danger, and will even allow themselves to be knocked down with sticks, or caught with the hand. The Petrels breed in the vicinity of the sea, generally upon solitary and almost inaccessible rocks. They can hardly be said to make a nest, but lay their eggs on the bare ground, and immediately commence the work of incubation. Their eggs are broad in proportion to their length, coarse-shelled, and of a pure white, without any markings. The young when hatched are covered with grey down; they grow very slowly, but are carefully tended by their parents, who defend them by ejecting fetid oil from their crops in the face of the assailant. After the young are able to fly, the families distribute themselves over the surface of the sea. They are sociable birds, and may sometimes be seen keeping together in considerable flocks.

The TRUE PETRELS (Procellariæ) in their general appearance present a certain resemblance to