CHAPTER XXX 
THE ORDER OF TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS -MID-OCEAN 
BIRDS 
TUBINAEES 
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 out 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 1 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 2 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. 
