542 



ZOOLOGY. 



resent the group of long-winged swimmers (Longipennes). 

 They have long, slender, compressed bills, long, sharp wings, 

 immense powers of flight, and lay their eggs in rude nests 

 on rocks or upon the ground. The most notable member 

 of the group is the albatross (Diomedca exulans) of the South- 

 ern hemisphere. Its wings expand more than three metres 

 (nearly ten feet). It lays a single egg 12 cm. long, and 

 spends most of its life on the ocean far away from land. 

 The sooty albatross (D. fuliginosa Lawrence, Fig. 464), is 

 occasionally seen on our coast. 



Fig. 4&4. Sooty Albatross. From Cones' Key. 



These birds are succeeded in the ascending series by the 

 tropic-bird, frigate or man-of-war bird, the darter or snake- 

 bird, the cormorants, pelicans, and gannets (Steganopodes), 

 in which all four toes are fully webbed, the web reaching to 

 the tips of the toes. The body, especially in the pelicans and 

 gannets, is buoyed up more than in other birds by a large 

 number of much subdivided air-cells under the subcutane- 

 ous areolar tissue of the body. 



The pelican is remarkable for the large, loose pouch on 

 the under jaw, capable of holding several quarts, or several 



