AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 33 



Head, neck, under, upper base tail white; blackish-gray 

 streak through eye; wings dark-brown; back slaty- 

 black; tail dark-gray; bill buff-yellow; f., young sim. 

 Fish 

 60 White-capped Albatross, Shy Mollymawk, D. {Thalassa- 



geron) cauta, A. Seas, Bass St. c. ocean 31 



Back slaty-gray; rump white; wings dark-gray; tail slaty- 

 gray; head, neck, under white; blackish streak through 

 eye; bill horn-color; f., smaller. Fish, barnacles, 

 shrimps. 

 61 Flat-billed Albatross (Yellow-nosed (e), Gray-headed), 

 Gould Yellow-nosed Mollymawk, D. chrysostoma (cul- 

 minata), A., Indian 0., Pacific 0., Oregon (cas.), G. of 

 St. Lawrence (cas.). r. ocean 28 



Back, wings, tail dark grayish-black; head, neck gray; 

 faint blackish streak through eye; under, rump white; 

 bill black, tip, crest, lower-edge yellow; f., sim. Food 

 see 60. 

 62 Yellow-nosed Albatross D. chloroi'hynchus, S. Atl. 0., 



S. Ind. 0., A., T. c. ocean 30 



Under, head, neck, rump white; back, wings brownish- 

 black; tail brownish; bill black, crest bright orange- 

 yellow, tip blood-orange; faint dark streak through 

 eye; f., sim. Food see 60. 

 1 63 Sooty Albatross, Phoeoetria palpebrata (fuliginosa), S. 

 1 Oceans, Oregon (cas.), A., N.Z. c. oceans 29.5 



Sooty-brown; white ring almost round eye; bill black; f., 

 sim. Food as 60. 

 F. 31. Alcidae, Auk, Garefowl, Puffin, Razorbill, Guillemot, 

 Murre, 28 sp— 22(1) P., 27(6)Nc. 



The mighty Albatross, with its enormous wing-span of possibly 

 up to 14 feet, is also largely a southern bird. That this bird 

 has spread to the North Pacific Ocean, but has not yet penetrated 

 any distance into the Atlantic, is another piece of evidence as to 

 the age of these two oceans. The Pacific Ocean is a very ancient 

 depression, while the Atlantic is much younger, and has been 

 formed since the lands which border its shores. The Black- 

 browed Albatross, however, was once seen in England. Probably 

 this bird might have been carried north on board ship, and then 

 set free again. Fossil bones of Albatrosses have been found in 

 France and England. Their remarkable power of wheeling 

 round and round a vessel, with no perceptible movement of the 

 wing, has excited much interest and controversy. 



Mr. Froude, in his Oceana, has given a vivid description of this 

 flight. The Albatross "wheels in circles round and round and 

 for ever round the ship — now far behind, now sweeping past in a 

 long, rapid curve, like a perfect skater on an untouched fi>ld of 

 ice. There is no effort; watch as closely as you will, you rarely 

 or never see a stroke of the mighty pinion. The flight is gene- 

 rally near the water, often close to it. You lose sight of the 



