278 SWIMMERS. 



but in the Southern Pacific, a few examples only having been 

 observed as far north as the coast of California. 



It should be remembered, however, that this entire family of 

 birds are noted wanderers, — the most extensive wanderers of all 

 this wandering race, — and their strength of wing and power of 

 endurance render them capable of any journey. 



There is something truly sublime, as Hammerton has suggested, 

 in the travelling of these sea-birds. " Think of one of these birds," 

 he writes, " leaving some barren rock in the ocean, and without fur- 

 ther preparation than the unfolding of his mighty wings, setting 

 forth on a voyage of two or three hundred leagues ! . . . Nothing 

 but the natural forces aid him ; he propels himself by his own un. 

 wearied pinions, and seeks his food in the waves below. Self- 

 reliance of that genuine kind is quite beyond us. . . . The great 

 lonely birds are self-reliant ; and what a noble absence of fear is 

 needed for the daily habit of their lives ! " 



WANDERING ALBATROSS. 



DiOMEDEA EXULANS. 



Char. Prevailing color yellowish white; tail sooty black; wing- 

 coverts more or less varied with dusky. Average length about 50 inches. 

 Young birds are uniform sooty brown, and become white, gradually the 

 white feathers increasing at each moult. 



Nest. In an open situation on an ocean island, — a bulky structure of 

 coarse herbage and mud, lined with fine grass and feathers. By the 

 yearly addition of fresh material the nest rises to mound-like propor- 

 tions, some having been seen as high as eight feet. 



Egg. I ; white, the surface rough, sometimes marked on the larger end 

 with dull brown; average size 4.95 X 3.15. 



The Albatross inhabits the Atlantic as virell as the Pacific, 

 and sometimes wanders accidentally to the coasts of the cen- 

 tral parts of the Union. Vagabond, except in the short seasoh 

 of reproduction, these birds are seen to launch out into the 

 widest part of the ocean ; and it is probable that according to 

 the seasons, they pass from one extremity of the globe to the 

 other. Like the Fulmar, the constant attendant upon the 

 whale, the Albatross, no less adventurous and wandering, pur- 

 sues the tracks of his finny prey from one hemisphere into 

 another. When the flying-fish fails, these birds have recourse to 



