Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AL'BA-TROS, n.

An aquatic fowl, belonging to the order of Ansers. The bill is strait; the upper mandible crooked at the point, and the lower one truncated; the nostrils are oval, open and little prominent, and placed on the sides; the wings are pennated, and there are three webbed toes on each foot. The upper part of the body is of a spotted brown, and the belly white. It is of the size of a pelican or larger, very voracious, preying on fish and small water fowls. These fowls are seen in great numbers about the capes of the two continents, and on the northern shores of Asia. They are sometimes called the great gull. – Encyc.