ORDER III. TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS. 



TUBINARES. 

 Family 1. ALBATROSSES. DIOMEDEID^. 4 species. 



Family 2. FULMARS, SHEARWATERS, and PETRELS. PRO- 

 CELLARIIM. 26 species, 1 subspecies. 



The Albatrosses, of which about ten species are known, are birds of 

 far southern seas, where they nest on isolated islands. After the 

 young are reared, several species migrate northward and are found off 

 our Pacific coast. The largest known species, the Wandering Alba- 

 tross, which has been made famous by Coleridge's ''Rime of the Anci- 

 ent Mariner," measures from twelve to fourteen feet in expanse of 

 wing, and, like other members of this family, is a tireless ocean wan- 

 derer. 



In the museum of Brown University, there is a mounted Wandering 

 Albatross, killed off the coast of Chili by Capt. Hiram Luther, Decem- 

 ber 20, 1847. When captured, a small bottle was found tied around the 

 bird's neck, containing a slip of paper from which it was learned that 

 the bottle had been attached to the bird December 12, 1847, by Capt. 

 Edwards of the New Bedford Whaler, "Euphrates," when about 800 

 miles off the coast of New Zealand, or about 3,400 miles from the point 

 at which, eight days later, the bird was secured. 



The Fulmars, (genus Fulmarus) , are northern birds and nest in im- 

 mense numbers on isolated islets, somewhat like certain Gulls. 



Comparatively little is known of the nesting places of our Shear- 

 waters, but it is believed that most of them breed on the islands of the 

 South Atlantic and South Pacific, and pass their winter, (our summer) 

 off our coasts. 



One of the Petrels, (Wilson Petrel), is known to have this habit. ' It 

 has been found nesting on Kerguelen Island, in S. Lat. 49 54', in 

 February, and in May it appears off our coasts for the summer. 



Petrels nest in holes in the ground, laying one white egg. They are 

 never seen near their homes during the day, the bird then on the nest 

 waiting until night to feed, when the one which has been at sea re- 

 turns to assume its share of the task of incubation. These birds are 

 therefore both diurnal and nocturnal. 



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