CHAPTER XXX 



THE ORDER OF TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS,— MID-OCEAN 



BIRDS 



TUBINARES 



These are indeed strange birds. To a lands- 

 man, it requires an effort to imagine a series 

 of birds, some of them small and seemingly- 

 weak, which prefer to live in the watery soli- 

 tudes of mid-ocean, indifferent to calms, and 

 defying both tempests and cold. To my mind, 

 there is no section of the bird-world so strange 

 and so awe-inspiring as this. Just how the 

 albatrosses and the petrels ride but the long, 

 fierce gales, and keep from being beaten down 

 to the raging surface of the sea, and drowned, 

 I believe no one can say. It is no wonder that 

 sailors hold the albatross in superstitious rev- 

 erence, or that Coleridge has immortalized it 

 in the "Rhime of the Ancient Mariner." Well 

 may a sailor feel that any large bird which lives 

 only at sea, and follows his ship day after day, 

 is the bird "that makes the breezes blow."" 



The members of this small group of mid-ocean 

 birds are distinguished by the curious fact that 

 the nostrils, instead of opening through the side 

 of the upper mandible, near its base, are car- 

 ried well forward through two round tubes that 

 either lie along the top of the bill or along its 

 sides. By this arrangement, the nostril opening 

 is about half way between the base and tip of 

 the bill. The bill terminates in a strong, ser- 

 viceable hook, like the beak of a bird of prey. 



This Order consists of the albatrosses, ful- 

 mars, shearwaters and petrels, — all of them 

 deep-water birds, strong of wing, and brave 

 spirited beyond all other birds. Of the thirty- 

 five species and subspecies recognized by the 

 American Ornithologists' Union, only two or 

 three ever wander to inland lakes, even for 

 three hundred miles from salt water. The 

 variation in size from the largest albatross to 

 the smallest petrel is very great; but at least 

 half the species of the Order are to be classed 



as large birds. Three species will suffice to rep- 

 resent the group. 



THE ALBATROSS FAMILY. 



Diomedeidae. 



The Wandering Albatross' is a bird of the 

 southern oceans of the New World; it is the 

 largest and handsomest species in the Order 

 Tubinares. It has the longest wings, but the 

 narrowest for their length, and the greatest 

 number of secondary feathers (over thirty in 

 number) of any living bird. The weight of an 

 adult bird is from 15 to 18 pounds, and when 

 the wings are fully extended, they have a spread 

 of from 10 to 12 feet. Either when on the wing 

 at sea, or mounted with spread wings as a mu- 

 seum exhibit, the wings of an Albatross are so 

 exceedingly long and narrow that they have a 

 very odd and unfinished appearance. They 

 seem to be out of proper proportion, like wings 

 lacking a proper outfit of secondary feathers. 

 But they have their purpose. The Albatross 

 can sail for hours, to and fro, without rest- 

 ing, and with wings so motionless they might 

 as well be mechanically fixed. 



Mr. Charles H. Townsend, who, as Naturalist 

 of the United States Fish Commission Steamer 

 Albatross, has had exceptional opportunities 

 for studying Albatrosses at sea in all kinds of 

 weather, has kindly furnished the following 

 account of the most conspicuous species that 

 inhabits the North Pacific : 



"The Black-Footed Albatross' is a common 

 bird almost anywhere in the Pacific Ocean, from 

 the latitude of California northward. This 

 dark species is frequently seen the first day 



' Di-o-me'de-a ex'u-lans. 

 2 Di-o-me'de-a ni'gri-pes. 



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