500 
THE STORY OF THE BIRDS. 
onies, the nest being situated in marshes, and formed of decayed pieces of 
plants or heaps of wreck, which rise and fall with the tide; sometimes they are 
placed on the firmer hummocks of bog in the middle of shallow parts. The 
eggs are three in number, of various shades of ochreous clay, olive-brown, or 
olive-green, blotched with dark brown, especially at the larger end. The food 
of this tern consists chiefly of beetles and dragon-flies, with some small fish; 
it is also very partial to leeches. 
White Albatross—As its name indicates, the prevailing color of the plum¬ 
age is white but with a yellowish cast. Even the beak and feet are whitish. 
The span of the wing is from ten to twelve feet, although this bird only 
weighs seventeen pounds. Its home is in the south seas, but it occasionally 
gets north of the equator, where it is sometimes known as the wandering- 
albatross. The name albatross is a corruption of the Spanish word Albatraz 
meaning a gannet. It was given to them by the old-time voyagers. All 
the albatrosses are ocean birds and rarely visit the land except in the breed¬ 
ing season. They are almost constantly on the wing, and are equally at 
ease in the stillest calm and the most furious gale. The manner in which 
it just tops the raging billows and sweeps between the gulfy waves calls 
forth wonder and admiration. Although a vessel running before the wind 
frequently sails more than two hundred miles in the twenty-four hours, and 
that for days together, still the albatross has not the slightest difficulty in 
keeping up with the ship, but also performs circles of many miles in extent, 
returning again to hunt up the wake of the vessel for any substances thrown 
overboard. They make a round nest of tufts of grass, clay and sedge which 
stands up from the ground, and at the proper season contains a single white 
egg about the size of that of the swan. The egg is held in a kind of pouch, 
so that the bird has to be driven from the nest before one can see whether 
the egg is there. 
Cape Pigeon—From its slight resemblance to a dark-colored pigeon, the 
bird properly known as the Cape petrel is commonly called the Cape pigeon. 
It is a bird of medium size and is easily recognized by the sooty head and 
neck, the dusky and white plumage of the upper parts and spotless white 
underparts. It is an inhabitant of the South Atlantic and South Pacific 
Oceans. They follow vessels in great numbers, are so eager for scraps 
thrown over the ship’s side, that any number of them have been caught 
with small hand-nets. In stormy weather they frequently come close into 
land. When gracefully hovering in the air, the bird may be seen to make a 
sudden dart downward to the water, in order to secure some floating mor» 
