THE BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS. 86i 



ward. Thev are known to the yuillayute Indians, who point out a rock off 

 Cape Johnson upon which tlie birds sometimes roost to the number of a 

 hundred or more. In Britisli Columbia they are recorded as casual in the 

 interior in company with the White Pelican. 



No. 347. 



BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS. 



■ A. O. U. Xo. 81. Diomedea nigripes Aiul. 

 Synonyms. — Cooxey. (io.w. Brown Gooxey. 



Description. — Adult: General color sooty brown, lighter fgrayer) below, 

 except on throat and chest ; space all around bill grayish white, thence shading thru 

 grayish brown on sides of head and upper throat: anterior half of upper and 

 lower eyelids dusky : posterior half white, that of the lower lid produced backward 

 and downward as a decided white patch; lighter, nearly white, about base of tail; 

 feathers of upperparts tipped with lighter gray, as tho faded ; primaries black with 

 yellow shafts: tail-feathers blackish with white shafts, except on terminal por- 

 tions; bill dark reddish brown: feet black. Young birds: Like adult, but tail- 

 coverts sooty black. Length 30.00-36.00 (762-914.4): wing kj.oo- 20.00 (482.6- 

 508); tail 6.50 ( 165.1 ) ; bill 1.50 (38.1) deep, and 1.25 (31.8) wide at base, 

 length 4.00 ( 101.6) ; tarsus 3.75 (95.3). 



Recognition Marks. — Eagle size ; sooty phnnage of adults and \iiung ; red- 

 dish brown bill; white face: black feet. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in \^'a^hington. Xcsts: in colonies ; single egg laid 

 on bare sand or rock. 



General Range. — The North Pacific; south on American coast to California. 



Range in Washington. — Common off West Coast. 



Authorities. — ? .\udubon, Orn. Biog. \'. 1839, 327. | Xewberrv, Rep. Pac. 

 R. R. Surv. \T. pt. 1\'. 1857, p. 106, "Mouth of the Columbia.") [Cooper and 

 Suckle\-. p. 269, under D. bracliyura. Xot a clear record, but jjrobably valid.] 

 Townsend ( C. H.), Proc. U. S." Nat. Mus. XIII. 1890, p. 142. Hubbard, Zoe. 

 III. July 1892, p. 142. 



Specimens. — Prov. 



THE solace of the ocean voyager — at least after novels and shuffle-board 

 have lost their charm — is the sight of the gooneys. These tireless watchers of 

 the deep adopt our ship almost witlmut our knowing it some thirt\' miles from 

 shore, where the gulls abandon her to lier wilful course across the vast 

 Pacific. For the bare hope of refuse from the cook's galley, they will follow 

 the ship for hours and days together, but they count it no hardship. It is sport 

 rather. Instead of plodding wearily in the wake, they throw great circles of 



