86 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



the great number of secondaries. Formerly, two other distinctive marks were attri- 

 buted to the albatrosses, viz., want of aftershafts, and lack of hind toe, but rudiments 

 both of the former and of the latter have recently been proved to exist. 



The longest and perhaps best known species is the wandering albatross (Diomedea 

 exulans), the one represented by the accompanying cut, the largest water-bird in exis- 

 tence, and the bird with the greatest stretch of wing, some specimens being said to 



FIG. 37. Diomedea exulans, wandering albatross. 



measure fourteen feet between the tips of the wings. The color is white, more or less 

 waved, and vermiculated with blackish, the hand-feathers being black ; the eye is 

 brown, the naked ring round it light greenish, the bill pinkish white, and the legs of 

 a light flesh color. Like all the members of the family, they are inter-tropical and 

 sub-antarctic in their distribution, and it is a significant fact which should not be lost 

 sight of, when discussing the affinities and genesis of the Tubinarcs, that the group 

 reaches its greatest development and number of forms south of the equator. 



No traveler has witnessed the albatross in the state of nature without expressing 



