Order III. TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS.

TUBINARES.

Family 1.ALBATROSSES.Diomedeidæ.4 species.
Family 2.FULMARS, SHEARWATERS, and PETRELS.Procellariidæ.26 species, 1 subspecies.

The Albatrosses, of which about ten species are known, are birds of far southern seas, where they nest on isolated islands. After the young are reared, several species migrate northward and are found off our Pacific coast. The largest known species, the Wandering Albatross, which has been made famous by Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," measures from twelve to fourteen feet in expanse of wing, and, like other members of this family, is a tireless ocean wanderer.

In the museum of Brown University, there is a mounted Wandering Albatross, killed off the coast of Chili by Capt. Hiram Luther, December 20, 1847. When captured, a small bottle was found tied around the bird's neck, containing a slip of paper from which it was learned that the bottle had been attached to the bird December 12, 1847, by Capt. Edwards of the New Bedford Whaler, "Euphrates," when about 800 miles off the coast of New Zealand, or about 3,400 miles from the point at which, eight days later, the bird was secured.

The Fulmars, (genus Fulmarus), are northern birds and nest in immense numbers on isolated islets, somewhat like certain Gulls.

Comparatively little is known of the nesting places of our Shearwaters, but it is believed that most of them breed on the islands of the South Atlantic and South Pacific, and pass their winter, (our summer) off our coasts.

One of the Petrels, (Wilson Petrel), is known to have this habit. It has been found nesting on Kerguelen Island, in S. Lat. 49° 54', in February, and in May it appears off our coasts for the summer.

Petrels nest in holes in the ground, laying one white egg. They are never seen near their homes during the day, the bird then on the nest waiting until night to feed, when the one which has been at sea returns to assume its share of the task of incubation. Those birds are therefore both diurnal and nocturnal.