Robert Myers. age 9. of Lancaster. Penna.; for his question:

What is an albatross?

The albatross is a lonely bird. He begins life as an only child. His later life is spent winging over the wide expanses of ocean far from land. Sometimes he follows a ship in hopes of food scraps. The sailors welcome him. For. they say. he brings good luck. Gony bird or goony bird is the sailor's name for wandering albatross ‑ biggest of his family. They call ` his smaller cousins molly mauks.

Since he rarely comes to land. the sailors know most about the wide‑winged bird. Their gony bird is white with a long yellow bill. His tail and slender wings are tipped with black. In flight. from tip to tip. those wide wings may measure twelve feet. Yes. he has the widest wingspread of any modern bird. The sailors may watch him follow the ship for several days. He wheels and soars in the air. sits on the water takes off and rests again.

Airplane designers study the way he soars. He can stay aloft for many hours without flapping his wide wings. He is splendid in the air and on the water. but clumsy on land. His big webbed feet are placed rather far back on his body. Sometimes a sailor catches him. The great bird cannot launch himself from the deck and the rolling ship makes him sea sick. But his take off from the water is something to see. He flaps his great wings and runs along the water facing the wind. There is a fine picture of ah albatross take‑off in your gift encyclopedia.

The young albatross is born on some lonely island. maybe inside the Arctic or Antarctic Circles. The mother lays but one chalky white egg. The nent.is no more than a hollow in the ground or maybe only a patch of trampled grass. For a time. Mama and Papa Albatross give up their _ wandering for life at home. They take turns in sitting on the one egg. It takes a long time. maybe two or three months. to hatch. Junior is a gawky young fellow and of course. hungry. Mother and Father take turns feeding him. Their food is mainly cuttlefish and squid. This tough meat is partly digested in the parent's crop.

In a few months. the only child is ready to begin hit lonely ocean‑going life. He has no need to go near land until time comes to start his own family. He can travel vast distances and rest like a duck sitting on the water. In 1914. an albatross was banded in the Indian Oceans Three years later. he was taken off Cape Hope. 6.000 miles away.

Not every albatross is white like the great wanderer. The smaller sooty albatross is nearly black. Others are greyish. others dark brown. One has a pink bill. another has pink feet. another has black feet. Some of the albatross cousins keep closely to the waters of the Southern Hemisphere. Three are natives of the far northern Pacific.

The albatross depends a great deal upon the wind and air currents for flying. With a strong tail wind. a big fellow may soar along at 100 miles an hour. But the winds can often fool him. Once in a while an albatross starts out to enjoy the powerful winds of a hurricane. They may carry him far from his favorite haunts.