1024 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — TUBINARES. 



New Light on the Greater Northwest, 1897, p. 853 ; Key, orig. ed. 1872, p. 325 ; 2d ed. 1884, 

 p. 774 ; 3d ed. 1887, p. 892 ; 4th ed. 1890, p. 906 ; Eidgw. Mau. 1887, p. 51 ; A. 0. U. List, 

 2d ed. 1895, Hypothetical List, No. 4.1. 



(Subgenus Ph<ebastria.) 



D. al'batrus. (New Lat. albatrus, Span, or Port, nlbatroste, albatroz, alcatraz, alcaduz, from 

 Arabic al-cddous, after Gr. (cdSoy, kados, a bucket or water-pot ; first applied to the Pelican 

 of Europe, from its great pouch, subsequently extended to other large water-birds, and then 

 limited as the name of the Diomedeidce in ornithology; Ital. albatro, Fr. alhatros, earlier, alga- 

 tros, Dutch albatros, Germ, albatross, English, alcatraze, algatross, albetross, albitross, alba- 

 tross, and albatros.) Short-tailed Albatross. Johaiki. Bill 5.00 or 6.00 long, 2.00 



dee}) at base, with moderately concave culmen and 

 prominent hook. Frontal feathers forming almost no 

 re -entrance on culmen, running nearly straight around 

 base of upper mandible, and extending scarcely farther 

 on sides of under mandible, with hardly any con- 

 vexity. Tail very short, contained more than 3 times 

 in length of wing. Length 33.00-37.00, averaging 

 about 3 feet ; extent about 7 feet ; wing 20.00 ; tail 

 5.50-6.00 ; tarsus nearly 4.00 ; middle toe and claw 

 5.50. Adult: White; head and neck usually washed 

 with shining rusty-yellow; wings and tail dark or 

 blackisli, with a wholly indeterminate amount of white 

 on the coverts and inner quills — sometimes nearly all 

 Fig. 703. — Bill and Foot of Short-tailed Ai- the wing-coverts white excepting a line along border 

 batross. (After Cassin.) ^^f fore-arm — Sometimes the white restricted to a 



small space at elbow ; shafts of primaries yellow. Bill pale reddish-yellow, drying dingy-yel- 

 lowish; feet livid flesh-color or bluish-white, drying dark. Young: Dark-colored, resembling 

 nigripes, but easily distinguished. North Pacific Ocean ; common oS" our coast from Alaska 

 to California ; Japan ; China. Egg nearly equal ended, 4.20 X 2.60, white. This Albatross 

 shares with the next the sailors' name of Gong or Goney, from gooneg, a provincial English 

 word for a stupid person. D. albatrus Pall. 1780 ; D. brachgura Temm. of most authors, as 

 of former editions of the Key ; D. chinensis Temm. ; D. derogata Sw^inh. 

 D. immutab'ilis. (Lat. immutable, unchanging.) Laysan Albatross. Head, neck, 

 lower rump, and all under parts white ; wings and their coverts blackish -brown ; interscapu- 

 lars and back paler, more smoky brown ; tail black, fading to white at base; lining of wings 

 mixed dusky and white; a sooty space in front of eye. Bill gray, darker at base, blackish at 

 tip, base of under mandible yellow; feet fleshy pinlt; iris brown. Wing 19.00; bill 4.00 ; 

 tarsus 3.20 ; middle toe and claw 4.30. Young in down pale brown with blackish bill, passing 

 to adult coloration on first plumage. Laysan Island, North Pacific; San Geronimo and Guada- 

 lupe Island, Lower California. Rothschild, Bull. B. 0. C. i. No. IX, May 17, pub. June 1, 

 1893, p. xlviii; Ibis, 1893, p. 448 ; 1894, p. 548 ; Avifauna Laysan, 1893, p. 57, plates. New 

 to the Key: see Anthony, Auk, Jan. 1898, p. 38; A. 0. U. Suppl. List, Auk, Jan. 1899, 

 p. 99, No. 82.1. 



D. nig'ripes. (Lat. nigripes, black-footed.) Black-footed Albatross. Gony. Bill 

 about 4.00 (never 5.00), ^ longer than head, slightly longer than tarsus, equal to middle toe 

 without claw, extremely stout; culmen and commissure almost straight to the hook, which is 

 comparatively small, scarcely rising above level of culmen. Culminicorn very broad, espe- 

 cially at base, where it widens and descends to overlap the latericorn. Outline of feathers 



