ALBATROSS CAUGHT

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 232, 28 June 1935, Page 12

ALBATROSS CAUGHT

Flew on to Oil Tanker Flying.on to the forecastle of the 0. B. Sorensen, an oil-tanker Wellingtonbound from Auckland, an albatross hurt itself in (he rigging and was captured last week, eventually to find itself in the hands of Mr. C. Lindsay, taxidermist at the Dominion Museum. The bird, which has a wing-span of 10ft. Gin., is a female and weighs IGlb. Particularly in winter lime, when they seek warm climates, albatrosses are by no means rare in New Zealand waters, and several have been seen in Wellington Harbour at. different times. This bird was probably hatched on the Auckland Islands, or on one of the small outlying islands of the Chatham group, and is known as the wandering" albatross or diomedea exulans. As the albatross, although adult in size at about eight months, has an immature state of plumage lasting for about three years, it is difficult to estimate accurately the age of this bird, and while it is thought ’ that it left the nesttaboiit last January, it is probable that it may have left a year previous to that. It is certainly not more than three years old. The egg is laid by the albatross about the month of January, and incubates in eight or nine weeks. The chick is .fed by the parent bird until about October, when it is left on the nest. By this time the young bird has reached adultsize, but is covered in down. It lives on its fat and grows its feathers, and if it has not already left the nest when the parent birds return in December or January to lay the next year’s egg. it is ousted. This method of feeding and development of the chick is more or less common to all the petrels, with few variations. In some cases the young petrol is forced to leave the nest through hunger. The albatross is essentially a stormyweather bird. It is almost impossible for it to take off from a calm sea. ami in still weather the albatross is helpless in the air—in fact, the harder the breeze, the better the bird likes it, for it flaps its wings very little in flight, and usually flies, particularly against the wind, with a gliding movement, its wings outstretched anil almost motionless.

(Picture on Page 7.)