THE ALBATROSS. 



289 



southern Hemisphere. The sailors know it under the name of Cape 

 Sheep, which they give it on account of its enormous size. Its ex- 

 tended wings measure as much as sixteen feet five inches across.* 

 Its plumage is generally white, with the exception of a dark back. 

 Courage is not measured by size. This rule holds good in these 

 birds, for, notwithstanding their wonderful strength and their large, 

 strong, sharp, and hooked bills, they exhibit the most unaccountable 

 cowardice. Even a poor weak Sea-mew will attack an Albatross, the 

 pusillanimous giant finding no better means of getting rid of his 

 enemy than by plunging into the water. Although they are most 



Fig. 107. The Fulmar Petrel. 



gluttonous in taste, they prefer flight to contending for their food. 

 This consists of marine animals, molluscs, mucilaginous zoophytes, 

 and the spawn of fish. When they are filled to repletion, and the 

 prey which they have seized is too large to swallow whole, they may 

 be seen with part of it hanging outside their bill, until the first half 

 is digested. Thus embarrassed, the Albatross has only one mode of 

 escape if it happens to be pursued ; namely, by disgorging the food 

 with which its stomach is overloaded. 



Gifted with an extraordinary power of flight, these birds venture 

 out to enormous distances from land, more especially in stormy 

 weather. They seem to delight in the warring of the elements. When 



* The weight of this bird much varies. A specimen in the Leverian Museum 

 measured thirteen fc-ct from the tip of one wint; to the tip of the other. One shot 

 off the Cape of Good Hope was said to be seventeen and a half feet. ED. 

 84 



