PALMIPEDES. 169 



and black plumage, the THALASSIDROMA, Vigors, are particularly designated 

 by sailors under the name of " Mother Carey's Chickens." 



The most common, Proc. pelagica, Briss. is scarcely larger than a Lark; 

 stands high? all brown except the rump which is white, and 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 



PUFFIKUS, 



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. puffinuSj 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. 



DIOMEDEA, Lin.(l) 



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, L., 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 ene- 

 my of the Flying-fish. It constructs a high nest of earth, and lays a num- 

 ber of eggs, which are considered good food. 



LARUS, Lin. 



The Gulls have a compressed, elongated, pointedbill, the superior mandible 

 arcuated near the end, and the inferior forming a salient angle beneath. 

 The nostrils, placed near its middle, are long, narrow, and bored quite 

 through; their tail is full, their legs tolerably long, and their thumb short. 

 They are cowardly and voracious birds, which swarm along the sea coasts, 

 feeding on fish, the flesh of dead bodies, &c. They breed in the sand, or 

 in clefts of rock, laying but few eggs. When they fly into the country, 

 bad weather may be expected. 



(1) Diomedea, the ancient name of certain birds of the Island of Diomedes, 

 near Tarentum, which were said to receive the Greeks favourably, and to 

 attack the barbarians. As to the word Albatross, I find that the early Por- 

 tuguese navigators called the Boobies and other oceanic birds Alcatros, or 

 JLlcatrass. 

 W 



