296 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



bird nests in the Canary, Salvage, and Madeira islands, also in 

 the Pacific ; the Sussex birds were found after strong south- 

 westerly gales. The general colour is blackish brown, greyer 

 round the black bill ; the legs are reddish brown, the webs 

 dusky ; the irides are dark brown. Length, 1 1 ins. Wing, 7-8 ins. 

 Tarsus, i in. 



Family DIOMEDEID^. 



Large, long- winged birds ; nostrils lateral in separate tubes. 



Black-browed Albatross. Diomedea vielanophrys 

 Temm. 



The oceanic wanderings of this southern Albatross, which 

 nests in the Falklands as well as in New Zealand seas, have 

 taken it far to the north of Britain, since it has been captured 

 in the Arctic ocean. There is, however, but one British record — 

 an exhausted bird, apparently immature, found in Cambridge- 

 shire in July, 1897. Dr. Knud Andersen beUeves that one 

 which was shot in the Fasroes in 1893 had been living amongst 

 the Gannets for thirty or forty years. In the mature bird the 

 back and wings are brownish black, the tail is grey, and the 

 head, neck, and under parts are white. A blackish band above 

 the eye, less conspicuous in young birds, is the " brow." The 

 bill is yellowish, as are the legs in old birds, though in the 

 Cambridge example they were flesh-blue ; the irides are dark 

 brown. Length, 29 ins. Wing, 19 ins. Tarsus, 3.3 ins. 



Order COLYlMBIFORMES. Divers. 



Family COLYMBID^. 



Powerful diving birds ; bill strong and straight ; legs set far 

 back, toes webbed, tarsi flit and capable of rotation. 



