A Bird’s-Eye View 
and unsurpassed in power of flight,’’ able to 
swim, but, with one exception, never diving. 
The birds of this group have, in general, the 
peculiarity of producing a single egg, instead 
of several, and it is quite common for both 
sexes to incubate, which is rare in land birds. 
As king of this group stands the albatross, a 
magnificent specimen of enormous frame, three 
feet long and with a spread of seven feet. He 
is found at large on the Pacific Ocean as well 
as off our own coast, a marvellous specimen of 
strength, energy, and imposing grace. 
As diminutive as the albatross is mighty is the 
dainty petrel, whose spacious mansion of wide 
emptiness has the ocean for a billowy floor, the 
sky’s blue concave for a vaulted roof, and for 
companions only winds and waves. There is a 
sort of grandeur in such gigantic loneliness. In 
this group also is the giant fulmar, hardly in- 
ferior to the albatross, in hue like a leaden 
cloud, and, in distinction from ‘‘ Mother Carey’s 
Chickens’’ (the petrels), called by sailors 
‘¢ Mother Carey’s Geese.’’ Two other species 
no less aérial are the graceful tropic bird, and 
that remarkable specimen, the frigate or man- 
of- war. bird, slender as a tern, and, on ac- 
count of its long-tail feathers, having a total 
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