PALMIPEDES. 161 



The most- common (Proc. pelagica, Briss.) is scarcely larger than a lark; 

 stands high ; all brown except the rump, which is white, with a white line on 

 the end of the great wing-coverts- When it seeks shelter on a vessel, it may 

 be considered as the forerunner of a hurricane. 



We separate, with Brisson, under the name of 



PUFFINUS, 



Or Puffins, those in which the end of the lower mandible is curved down- 

 wards along with that of the upper one, and in which the nostrils, although 

 tubular, do not open by one common orifice, but by two distinct holes. Their 

 bill also is proportionally longer. 



Proc. puffinus, Gm. Cinereous above; whitish beneath; wings and tail 

 blackish : the young is darker. Its size is that of a crow. Very common in 

 almost every sea. Another species, sometimes confounded with the preceding 

 one, is not larger than a woodcock ; they breed in immense numbers on the 

 northern coast of Scotland, and the neighbouring islands ; whose inhabitants 

 salt them for their winter provision. It is the Proc. Anglorusis, Temminck, 

 having the plumage above, black ; beneath, white ; the sides of the neck freckled 

 black and white. .' 



Navigators occasionally speak of some birds of the Antarctic Seas by the 

 name of Petrels ; which may constitute separate genera, such as the PELE- 

 CAUOIDES, Lacepede, which have the bill and figure of the Petrel, and the 

 dilatable throat of the cormorant. Such is the Proc. urinatrix, Gmelin, and 

 the Pachyptila, Illiger, to which belongs the Blue Petrel, P. vittata. 



DIOMEDEA, Linnaeus*. 



The Albatross is the most massive of all aquatic birds. The large, strong, 

 and trenchant bill is marked with sutures, and is terminated by a stout hook 

 which seems to be articulated with it. The nostrils resemble short rolls laid 

 on the sides of the beak ; there is no thumb, not even the small nail that is 

 observed in the petrels. They inhabit the South Seas, and feed on mol- 

 lusca, &c. 



D. exulans, Lin., is the species best known to navigators, who, on account of 

 its size, white plumage, and black wings, and because it is particularly common 

 beyond the tropic of Capricorn, have called it The Cape Sheep. 



The English also style it the Man of War Bird, &c. It is the great enemy 

 of the flying-fish. It constructs a high nest of earth, and lays a number of 

 eggs, which are considered good food. The cry of the Albatross is a piping 

 sort of clang, deeper than that of a goose, but something like it. 



* Diomedea, the ancient name of certain birds of the Island of Diomedes, near Taren- 

 tum, which were said to receive the Greeks favourably, and to attack the barbarians. As 

 to the word Albatross, I find that the early Portuguese navigators called the Boobies and 

 other oceanic birds Alcatros, or Alcatrass. 



