824 THE OCEAN. 
and fro, as on suspended wing it examines the ves- 
sel 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, as I was told, because 
it carries a marline-spike. This was, doubtless, P. 
Aitherius; which has the feathers of the tail white, 
but the Pacific species (P. Phenicurus) is much 
more handsome, the tail being scarlet. They are 
thoroughly ocean-birds, rarely approaching the land 
except to lay and hatch their eggs. The Red-tailed 
Phaeton excavates a hollow in the sand for this 
purpose, beneath the shade of bushes, where she 
lays one egg: the islanders frequently take the old 
birds from the nest, for the tail-feathers, which are 
highly esteemed. 
The Albatrosses are large birds, being but little 
inferior to a swan in size. The floating carcass of a 
whale affords a rich feast to many sea-birds, among 
which these are pre-eminent, now swooping in the 
air, now alighting on the body, now swimming and 
feeding on the fragments of oily fat that escape; 
now screaming harshly as they quarrel for the offal. 
They are powerfully endued for flight, and make 
vast excursions from land, ranging through the whole 
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. 
I have already alluded to the singular manner in 
which the body of a sea-bird is penetrated by air. 
Mr. Bennett records a very curious circumstance 
resulting from this structure, in the case of a bird 
allied to the Albatross, taken in the Pacific Ocean. 
