. The Australian Museum magazine. Natural history. 252 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. reach of our hand-nets, and, on one occasion, a fine large specimen was secured and lifted inboard. When placed on the deck it was practically helpless, but uttered shrill cries of protest and flapped its wings in im- potent efforts to escape from its captors. Though failing utterly to take wing from the deck, it soon proved its ability can fly in the teeth of a gale, now swooping into the dark troughs of the sea, now skimming over the white foaming crests. Another bird particularly noticeable was the Giant
. The Australian Museum magazine. Natural history. 252 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. reach of our hand-nets, and, on one occasion, a fine large specimen was secured and lifted inboard. When placed on the deck it was practically helpless, but uttered shrill cries of protest and flapped its wings in im- potent efforts to escape from its captors. Though failing utterly to take wing from the deck, it soon proved its ability can fly in the teeth of a gale, now swooping into the dark troughs of the sea, now skimming over the white foaming crests. Another bird particularly noticeable was the Giant Petrel {Macronectes gigantea), which paid the ship intermit- tent visits either singly or in pairs. In contrast to the almost uniform. No sooner did the winch sound its warning than they gathered close alongside. [Photo.—H. 0. Fletcher. to rise from the surface waters of the sea when ultimately released overboard. Mollyhawks measure as much as six feet from tip to tip of the wings, and lift their heavy bodies into the air much as an aeroplane " takes off " from the ground, assisting their gradual ascent by pushing backwards against the water with their broad webbed feet. They are very strong and graceful on the wing, and, though they scarcely seem to move their rounded pinions, they white of the Mollyhawk, from which they always seem to hold aloof, the colour of these birds was sooty-black, and their heavy orange-yellow bills seemed to be quite out of proportion to their shapely heads. They were as for- midable as they appeared, and contact with them was always avoided by the mollyhawks. At times I was amazed to see a single Giant Petrel drive as many as six or eight of its larger antagonists away from a tasty Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Australian Museum; Australian
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
