OR, PLAIN 



rowed on the sides, and crooked 

 at the point ; the lower mandible, 

 smooth and cut short : the nos- 

 trils, lateral and placed like small 

 rolls in the furrow of the man- 

 dible. The feet are short, with 

 three of the toes long and com- 

 pletely webbed, and the wings 

 long and very narrow. The 

 common species is most frequently 

 met with in the seas of Southern 

 Africa, though as often and plen- 

 tifully found in the northern as 

 in the southern latitudes. It is 

 the largest sea-bird known, and, 

 on account of its size and colour, 

 is often called the sheep of the 

 Cape. 



The top of the head is ruddy gray, the rest of 

 the plumage white, with the exception of several 

 transverse black bands on the back, and a few 

 of the wing feathers ; the feet and web are of a 

 deep flesh colour ; the bill a pale yellow. The 

 poAver, size, and endurance of this bird may be 

 judged from the fact that it weighs from 

 eighteen to twenty-eight pounds, that the ex- 

 panse of wing when both fans are extended 

 reaches from twelve to fourteen feet, and that 

 the bird will follow, or hang over a ship for 

 days, without pause or rest, through the stormy 

 solitudes of the south cape, and lowest latitudes. 

 These birds are found in immense flocks about 

 Behring's Straits, and Kamtschatka, about the 

 end of June, and are attracted there by the 

 shoals of migratory fish, whose movements the 

 albatross follows with unshaken persistency. 

 Their voracity is so great, that they will often 

 seize and attempt to gorge a salmon of four or 

 five pounds weight, which being unable en- 

 tirely to swallow, the pressure of the fish in its 

 throat produces a kind of stupor, which pre- 

 vents the bird's flight, when the natives easily 

 knock them down with a stick. Though so 

 large, the albatross is an extremely cowardly 

 bird, and never attacks another ; indeed, it is 

 often beaten and insulted by the little gull, from 

 whose assaults on his belly he escapes by im- 

 mersing his body in the water. The flesh is 

 tough and dry, and seldom eaten ; the Kamt- 

 schadales make floats for their nets of the 

 inflated intestines, and tobacco-pipes of their 

 wing bones, which being hollow, and as long 

 almost as the bird's body, make a good substi- 

 tute for the more fragile clay and expensive 

 wood, both of which are beyond their reach. 



The black-cocky 9, is one of the 

 grouse family, so well known to 

 sportsmen. The male bird is 

 about two feet in length, and the 



TEACHING. 133 



expansion of his wings two feet 

 nine inches. The prevailing co- 

 lour of the plumage is black, 

 richly glossed with blue on the 

 neck and back, the rest of the 

 body being dull black. The bill 

 is dark ; the eyes deep blue ; 

 below each eye is a spot of dull 

 9 ' 



440. 



white, and eyebrows formed of a 

 naked space of bright scarlet. 

 The lesser wing-coverts are dusky 

 brown; the greater, white, which 

 extends to the ridge of the wing, 

 forming a spot of that colour on 

 the shoulder when the wing is 

 closed; the quills are brown, the 

 lower parts and tips of the se- 

 condaries white, forming a bar of 

 white across the wing ; the tail is 

 black, changing to deep violet, 

 and, when spread out, the fea- 

 thers form a curve on each side; 

 the under tail-coverts are pure 

 white, 383 ; the legs and thighs 

 dark brown, mottled with white 

 the feet brown. These birds are 

 common in Russia, Siberia, arid 



