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LIVING CREATURES. 



It weighs about fifteen pounds. When its wings are 

 extended, the distance between the tips of them is 

 eleven feet. The albatross will follow a ship for hun- 

 dreds of miles, to pick up the refuse which may be 

 thrown upon the water. It is furnished with webbed 

 toes so that it may rest and swim on quiet water. 

 " When one of these great birds swoops past the ob- 



Wandering Albatross. 



server, almost within reach of his hand, it is easy to 

 realize the strength which carries him as he cleaves 

 the air on those huge wings. 



"The breeding grounds, both in the Northern and 

 Southern hemispheres, are upon rocky headlands or 

 oceanic islands, and are crowded by countless num- 

 bers of birds. There sit the females or the males, as 

 the case may be, upon the solitary dirty egg placed 

 in a slight hollow in the ground. So close are they, 

 frequently, that it is difficult to walk between them, 



