AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 
33 
Head, neck, under, upper base tail white; blackish-gray 
streak through eye; wings dark-brown; back slaty- 
black; tail dark-gray; bill buff-yellow; f., young sim. 
Fish 
60 AVhite-capped Albatross, Shy Mollymawk, D. ( Thalassa- 
geron) cauta, A. Seas, Bass St. c. ocean 31 
Back slaty-gray; rump white; wings dark-gray; tail slaty- 
gray; head, neck, under white; blackish streak througb 
eye; bill horn-color; f., smaller. Fish, barnacles, 
shrimps. 
61 Flat-billed Albatross (Yellow-nosed (e), Gray-headed), 
Gould Yellow-nosed Mollymawk, D. chrysostoma (cul- 
minata), A., Indian O., Pacific O., Oregon (cas.), G. of 
St. Lawrence (cas.). r. ocean 28 
Hack, wings, tail dark grayish-black; head, neck gray; 
faint blackish streak through eye; under, rump white; 
bill black, tip, crest, lower-edge yellow; f., sim. Food 
see 60. 
62 Yellow-nosed Albatross D. cJiIororhynchus, S. Atl. O., 
S. Ind. O., A., T. c. ocean 30 
Under, head, neck, rump white; back, wings brownish- 
black; tail brownish; bill black, crest bright ornnge- 
yellow, tip blood-orange; faint dark streak through 
eye; f., sim. Food see 60. 
1 63 Sooty Albatross, Phoehetria palpchrata (fuUginosa) , S. 
1 Oceans, Oregon (cas.). A., N.Z. c. oceans 2^.b 
Sooty-brown; white ring almost round eye; bill black; f., 
sim. Food as 60. 
F. 31. Alcidae, Auk, Garefowl, Puffin, Razorbill, Guillemot, 
Murre, 28 sp.— 22(1)P., 27(6)Nc. 
The mighty Albatross, with its enormous wing-span of possibly 
up to 14 feet, is also largely a southern bird. That this bird 
has spread to the North Pacific Ocean, but has not yet penetrated 
any distance into the Atlantic, is another piece of evidence as to 
the age of these two oceans. The Pacific Ocean is a very ancient 
depression, while the Atlantic is much younger, and has been 
formed since the lands which border its shores. The Black- 
browed Albatross, however, was once seen in England. Probably 
this bird might have been carried north on board ship, and then 
set free again. Fossil bones of Albatrosses have been found in 
France and England. Their remarkable power of wheeling 
round and round a vessel, with no perceptible movement of the 
wing, has excited much interest and controversy. 
Mr. Froude, in his Oceana, has given a vivid description of this 
flight. The Albatross "wheels in circles round and round and 
for ever round the ship — now far behind, now sweeping past in a 
long, rapid curve, like a perfect skater on an untouched field of 
ice. There is no effort; watch as closely as you will, you rarely 
or never see a stroke of the mighty pinion. The flight is gene- 
rally near the water, often close to it. You lose sight of the 
