The ALBATROSS[29] is the largest and most bulky of all the birds which fly over the surface of the sea. It belongs principally to the southern hemisphere. The sailors know it under the names of Cape Sheep and Man-of-war, which they give it on account of its enormous size. Its extended wings measure as much as five mètres across.[30] Its plumage is generally white, with the exception of a dark back. Courage is not measured by size. This rule holds good in these birds, for, notwithstanding their wonderful strength and their large, strong, sharp, and hooked bills, they exhibit the most unaccountable cowardice. Even a poor weak Sea Mew will attack an Albatross, and endeavour to tear its stomach open. The pusillanimous Albatross can find no better means of getting rid of his enemy than by plunging into the water. Although they are most gluttonous in taste, they prefer to fly away rather than contend for their food. This consists of small marine animals, mollusks, mucilaginous zoophytes, and the eggs and spawn of fish. They will even swallow large fish without tearing them to pieces. When they are completely gorged, and the fish which they have seized is too large to swallow whole, they may be seen with part of it hanging outside their bill, until the first half of their prey is digested. The same is done, as is well known, by several kinds of Serpents. When thus embarrassed, the Albatross has only one mode of escape if it happens to be pursued; namely, by disgorging the food with which its stomach is overloaded. [29] From the Portuguese word _Alcatraz_, applied by the early navigators of that From the Portuguese word _Alcatraz_, applied by the early navigators of that nation to Cormorants and large sea-birds.--ED. [30] The weight of this bird much varies. A specimen in the Leverian Museum measured thirteen feet from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. One shot off the Cape of Good Hope was said to be seventeen and a half feet.--ED. Gifted as they are with an extraordinary power of flight, these birds venture out to enormous distances from all land, more especially in stormy weather. They seem to delight in the warring of the elements. When overcome with fatigue, they take repose on the surface of the sea, placing their heads under their wings. When in this position they are very easy to capture: in order to do this, the sailors have only to approach silently, and knock them down with a boat-hook or spear them with a harpoon. Navigators have found opportunities of observing these birds in the Polar regions, where there is no night during half the year. They see the same flocks hovering around their vessel during many successive days without exhibiting the least signs of fatigue, or the slightest relaxation in their strength. The peculiarity in their mode of flight is that, whether they are ascending or descending, they seem to glide, for they flap their wings but seldom.