306 THE OCEAN. 



it is difficult to identify with any particular region, 

 as tliey are true cosmopolites. The Tropic-birds, 

 Albatrosses, Terns, Petrels, and Boobies, are of this 

 extended character, followinir and attending the 

 voyager for many thousands of miles, and even from 

 one ocean into another. Yet there are certain, 

 though somewhat indefinite, limits to their range ; 

 limits governed, however, by climate, rather than by 

 physical boundaries. Thus the Dusky Albatross 

 {Diomedea fuliginosd) was observed by Captain 

 Ijeechy to be numerous in the Atlantic from the 

 Vdo de la Plata to the latitude of 51° south ; when 

 it suddenly disappeared ; but after rounding Cape 

 Horn, the species again occurred at the very same 

 latitude of 51°, and continued numerous all up the 

 coast of Chili. 



The Tropic-birds [Phaeton) in like manner, as 

 their name imports, chiefly frequent the Ocean 

 within the tropics ; and according to the statements 

 of all voyagers, are very rarely seen beyond the parallel 

 of 85°. Elevated in the air, far above the mast- 

 head, the long projecting tail-feathers looking like 

 a single slender shaft, while it turns its head to 

 and fro, as on suspended wing it examines the vessel 

 below, it is not liable to be confounded with any 

 other ocean-bird. The seamen have given it the 

 name of "boatswain;" perhaps on account of its 

 shrill whistling note, like the official call of that 

 authoritative personage ; or because it carries a 

 marlin-spike. The species which is seen in the 

 Atlantic is P. outlier eus ; wliich has the feathers of 



