A Bird's-Eye View 



and unsurpassed in power of flight," able to 

 swim, but, with one exception, never diving. 

 The birds of this group have, in general, the 

 peculiarity of producing a single egg, instead 

 of several, and it is quite common for both 

 sexes to incubate, which is rare in land birds. 



As king of this group stands the albatross, a 

 magnificent specimen of enormous frame, three 

 feet long and with a spread of seven feet. He 

 is found at large on the Pacific Ocean as well 

 as off our own coast, a marvellous specimen of 

 strength, energy, and imposing grace. 



As diminutive as the albatross is mighty is the 

 dainty petrel, whose spacious mansion of wide 

 emptiness has the ocean for a billowy floor, the 

 sky's blue concave for a vaulted roof, and for 

 companions only winds and waves. There is a 

 sort of grandeur in such gigantic loneliness. In 

 this group also is the giant fulmar, hardly in- 

 ferior to the albatross, in hue like a leaden 

 cloud, and, in distinction from "Mother Carey's 

 Chickens" (the petrels), called by sailors 

 " Mother Carey's Geese." Two other species 

 no less aerial are the graceful tropic bird, and 

 that remarkable specimen, the frigate or man- 

 of-war bird, slender as a tern, and, on ac- 

 count of its long-tail feathers, having a total 



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