ALBATROSSES. 85 



of the stomach and the characters of the creca are entirely different in the two 

 groups, and so are the characters of the plumages of the young (adult of both sexes, 

 and young, except the Albatrosses, being alike); the number and color of eggs, etc., 

 all points of special importance in settling the question of affinity. Some of the 

 peculiarities are quite unique among existing birds ; for instance, the tubular nostrils, 

 the structure of the hind toe, and the form of the stomach, features which should 

 secure a distinct position for the group, it being, as mentioned above, rather probable 

 that the Tubinares should be placed in the neighborhood of the Steganopodes and 

 Herodii, notwithstanding the desmognathism of the latter, since the palate in the 

 albatrosses, though yet schizognathous, shows a decided tendency towards becoming 

 desmognathous, being, in fact, intermediate between these two categories of palatal 

 structure. At all events, Professor Huxley's remark, that " the gulls grade insensibly 

 into the Procellariidae," has been shown, by the researches of Garrod and Forbes, to 

 be entirely erroneous, since, from their investigations, it is evident, that the Procel- 

 laroidere represent the rather specialized offshoot (in some features) of a very general- 

 ized ancestor, being certainly a group of considerable isolation, great antiquity, and 

 consequently highly interesting to the systematic ornithologist. 



We shall here adhere to the commonly accepted division of this group, in three 

 families, Diomedidre, Procellariidre, and Pelecanoididie ; the first one characterized by 

 the lateral and separate position of the nasal tubes, while the last is remarkable for 

 the shortness of its wings and the total absence of a hind toe. The albatrosses have 

 usually been regarded as three-toed, but, while one genus really has a minute external 

 hind toe, the ossicles, or rudimentary bones of a fourth toe, have been found under- 

 neath the skin in the others ; the toe proper, in all cases, consisting of one phalanx only. 

 We cannot pass by in silence, however, the arrangement proposed by Garrod and 

 Forbes, distributing the Tubinares in two primary groups, according to the presence 

 (Oceanitidre) or absence (Procellariidaj) of the leg-muscle Y (accessory semiten- 

 dinosus), and the corresponding absence and presence of colic cceca, together with a 

 number of other characters : but we are not prepared to regard these features as so 

 important as those which constitute the characteristic marks of the three families 

 mentioned above, though, with Robert Ridgway, we are willing to admit the Oceani- 

 tinas as a sub-family under the Procellariidae. 



The first family, then, consists of the albatrosses (DIOMEDID^E), those long-winged 

 ocean-birds, which, for hundreds and hundreds of miles, follow the vessels over the 

 tropical and southern seas, circling about them monotonously day after day, picking 

 up the offal, arousing the tired sailor's admiration by the power and endurance of 

 their scarcely moving wings, which seem never to know or need a rest. One of the 

 most important characters of the family has already been mentioned, viz., that the 

 tubes by which the nostrils open outwardly are situated one on each side of the bill, 

 and not more or less closely united on top of the culmen, as in the other families. 

 Whether this feature is an old and generalized one, indicating the way by which, 

 finally, the curious and unique 'double-barrel' on top of the bill was formed, or 

 whether it represents an arrested development during embryonic life, cannot be dis- 

 cussed here. It can only be noted that the albatrosses, so far as color of plumage is 

 concerned, seem to be more generalized than the rest, the young ones being decidedly 

 different from the adults. On the other hand, they have reached a high degree of 

 specialization in some respects; for instance, the proportionate great length of the 

 upper arm-bone, the consequent enormous length and peculiar shape of the wing, and 



