PALMIFEDES. A411 
DriomEDEA, Lin.(1) 
_, 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 
_ *vesemble short rolls laid on the sides ofthe beak; there is no thumb, 
noteven the small nail that is observed in the Petrels. They inhabit 
the South seas, and feed on Mollusca, &c. 
D. exulans, L., Enl. 2373 Vicill. Gal. 293, is the species best 
known to navigators, who, on account of its size, white plumage, 
_. sand 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 Mun 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 this bird is said to be as powerful as that of the 
Ass.(2) ; 
Various Albatrosses, more or less brown or blackish, have 
been observed; but whether they form varieties of the exulans, 
or are distinct species, has not yet been ascertained.(3) 
a 
4) 
. 
_ Larus, Lin.(4) 
‘The Gulls have a compressed, elongated, pointed bill, the superior 
mandible arcuated near the end, and the inferior forming a salient 
angle beneath. The nostrils, placed near its middle, are long, nar- 
row, and bored quite through; their tail is full, their legs tolerably 
long, and their thumb short. They are cowardly and voracious 
(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 Portuguese navigators 
called the Boobies and other oceanic birds Alcatros, or Alcatrass. Dampier applied — 
this name to the present genus, Grew changed it into 2bitross, and Edwards into 
Albatross. 
(2) The cry of the Albatross has been quite as much exaggerated as its size. I 
have repeatedly heard it when within a hundred yards of the bird, and from various 
individuals, some of large size, and consequently adults—it is a piping kind of 
. clang, deeper than that of a Goose, but something like it. dm. Ed. 
(3) Such is the Diom. spadicea—Add D. brachyura, Tem. Enl. 963;—D. melano- 
phris, T. Col. 456;—D. chlororhynchos, Lath. V, pl. xciv, Col. 468;—D. fuliginosa, 
Col. 469. ' 
on (4) Larus, the Greek name of these birds, Gavia in latin, whence Gabian in 
Provence; they are called Mauves, or Mouettes, in French, from their German 
name Maeve. 
