336 FOREIGN BIRDS, 



The Man-of-War-Bird, ('^) with a fish in his 

 mouth, 

 Look'd grotesque as he heavily rose from the south ; 



('<S) Order, Anseres, (Linn.) Ai.uatross, the Wandering, 

 the Chocolate, the Sooty, the Man-of-War-Bird. 



The genus Diomedea, (Linn.) or Albatross, consists of 

 four species, distinguished by a straight bill, the upper mandible 

 hooked at the point, the lower truncate ; nostrils oval, wide, 

 prominent, lateral ; tongue very small; feet four toed, all placed 

 forwards, palmate. They are as follow : 



The Exulans, Albatross, fVanderivg- Albatross, or Man-of- 

 H'or-Bird, is from three and a half lo four feet long ; its general 

 colour is white; back and wings with white lines; bill pale- 

 yellow, legs flesh-colour ; quill feathers black ; tail rounded, 

 lead-colour; wings, when extended, from ten to thirteen feet ; 

 inliabits most seas, but chiefly within the tr(>pic.s; rarely flies 

 at a great distance from the water, unless obliged to do so by 

 high winds; seen sometimes in the southern ocean, six or seven 

 hundred leagues from land. 



Eggs numerous, larger than those of a goose, the white not 

 hardened by boiling; the flesh i< tough, but occasionally eaten. 

 The cry of this bird is haish and brayinif. It sometimes swal- 

 lows a salmon of such leiigth that th(^ whole cannot enter its 

 stomach, the tail part hanging out of its mouth. At such tinies 

 it is easily knocked down and killed; but, at other times, it 

 makes a stout resistance. Tlie male watches the female while 

 sitting, and supplies her with food. The large intestine is used 

 in some countries as a floating bladder to buoy up tishiug nets ; 

 the bones are employed by some of the South Sea Islandeis for 

 tobacco pipes, needle cases, and other trinkets. As scon as the 

 young of this bird leave the nest, the Penguin takes possession 

 of it, and hatches its young in turn. 



The Spadiccu, or Cijocolate-Aleatross, has the body a 



