Buller. — On the Ornithology of New Zealand. 121 



Diomedea melanophrys, Boie. (Mollyhawk.) 



In the perfectly adult bird the bill is of an uniform gamboge- 

 yellow, shaded with orange on the hook, and with a very fine 

 line of black around the base of both mandibles ; feet delicate 

 blue-grey, darker on the joints and interdigital webs ; claws 

 white-horn colour. 



Diomedea exulans, Linn. (Wandering Albatros.) 



I have already mentioned the tame Albatros which lived so 

 long at Government House, under Mr. Gillington's assiduous 

 care." But there is a still more remarkable instance of the 

 kind, for Mr. Martin Chapman had a live one in his possession 

 for several months, having obtained it as a nestling from the 

 Auckland Islands. It partook freely of fat meat, and had an 

 inordinate appetite. It became quite tame, but on being pro- 

 voked would snap audibly with its mandibles. 



Captain Fairchild informs me that when visiting the 

 Brothers and Stephen's Island in June last, in perfectly calm 

 weather, he saw at least six hundred Albatroses resting on the 

 water, and that from the anchorage off the latter he counted 

 as many as a hundred. He says he has noticed that during 

 the last five years they have been getting more and more 

 plentiful off the New Zealand coast. Prior to that he never 

 saw more than a straggler now and then, and generally at 

 Flat Point, about midway between Wellington and Napier. 



Diomedea fuliginosa, Gmelin. (Sooty Albatros.) 



Captain Fairchild states that about the end of May last or 

 beginning of June, when off Milford Sound, in the " Hinemoa," 

 he saw fully a dozen Sooty Albatroses coursing about together 

 — a most unusual circumstance. 



Diomedea bulleri, Eothschild. (Buller's Albatros.) 



The bird which has hitherto been called Diomedea cul- 

 minata in our New Zealand lists has been pronounced by 

 Mr. Salvin a new species, and is described in the Ibis 

 (vol. v., 1893, p. 572) by Mr. W. Eothschild, who has been 

 good enough to dedicate this new form to myself. The type 

 of the species, besides a very large series of representative 

 specimens, is in the Eothschild Museum at Tring. 



The following is the diagnosis : Thalassogeronti cul- 

 minate quoad colores similis, sed rostro pallidiore, culmine ad 

 basin latiore, ad latera attiugente, culmine omnino flavo ; alis 

 subtus niveis. He adds, " It differs materially from the 

 true Thalassogeron culminatus (Gould), a species of Eidgway's 

 genus Thalassogeron, the base of the culminicorn being 



* Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxv., p. 76. 



