PART I.-PROCELLAEIID^. 



CHAPTER I. 



DIOMEDEIN^ (THE ALBATROSSESt. 



"And a good south wind sprang up behind, 

 The Albatross did follow, 

 And every day, for food or play, 

 Came to the mariners' halloa." 



Coleridge. 



HE ALBATKOSSES (Diomedeime) are a subfamily and the giants of the great 

 Petrel tribe (Frocellariidce). They may always be recognised by their lateral 

 nostrils ; as all the rest of the family have them tubular on the ridge of the 

 bill. The two different arrangements are clearly shown in Plate I., the Great Wandering 

 Albatross {Dioviedea cxidans) ; and in Plate V., the Giant Petrel (Ossifraga gigantea). 



The Albatross is the monarch of Ocean Birds. No one who has watched one of these 

 birds following a ship in " open water," its broad white breast and enormous spread of wing 

 outlined clearly against the glorious blue of the sky as it soars over the taffrail, will be 

 disposed to question its right to the title. For not only is it the largest in point of size 

 of body, but its extent of wing dwarfs that of all other wanderers on " blue water," and 

 its carriage and flight are stately and imposing to a unique degree. 



In an old book entitled 'Grose's Voyage' it is stated that the name Albatross is 

 derived from the fact that the Portuguese called the bird Alcatraz (Ostrich), on account 

 of its size, from which word, by corruption, is derived Albatross. Others, again, say that 

 alcatraz is the Spanish for a Gannet. So I think it must be admitted that the etymology 

 is doubtful. 



