244 BACKBONED ANIMALS. 
Southern Ocean. They are powerful fliers, rarely ap- 
proaching the shore except to breed. The wings spread 
often twelve or fifteen feet ; the bill is extremely power- 
ful, curved, and acute ; the nostrils form two tubes at the 
base of the upper mandible. 
The Wandering Albatross (Diomedeaexulans). The 
male is snow-white, except the tail, which is dark; the 
females are sprinkled with gray, and the young are dark 
gray. At Marion Island they breed in great numbers, 
seeming to lose the power of flight during the breeding- 
season. The nest is made up of tufts of grass and moss, 
forming a mound one foot and a half in diameter at the 
top. The one egg is about five inches long, with red 
specks at the large end, and does not rest in the nest, but 
is held in a pouch in the skin. 
The Mollymauk (D. cu/minaia) is about the size of a 
goose. The nest is a cylindrical pile of grass and clay, 
about fourteen inches in diameter and twelve in height, 
hollow on top, the edges overhanging so that they form 
good seats when deserted. The single egg is also held in 
a pouch. These pillar-like nests are also found in the 
streets of the penguin cities, the ground beneath them in 
turn being burrowed by the holes of prions and puffins 
At Tristan da Cunha, the albatross-nests are found in ¢ 
dead crater 8,000 feet above the sea. Their food is gen- 
erally fish. 
VALUE.—The feathers are used for various purposes, the bones of 
the great albatross as pipe-stems, the skin of the feet as purses and 
pouches. The oil of the petrel is used for illumination in the Azores. 
Guano is obtained from their resorts. 
The Gulls (Svercorariide) are found in northern and 
southern seas. The general color is various shades of 
white and black ; the bill is shorter than the head, com- 
pressed, the nostrils not forming tubes but slits ; the feet 
webbed, and adapted for swimming. They are large and 
buoyant and do not dive, though many plunge completely 
