864 THE SHORT TAII.I'.l) Af.r.A'I'ROSS. 



NovLMiibcr and is not halclicd till l""el)ruar\ . Tlie >"un^ reciuirc to he fed for 

 six months hefiire venturing abroad, so that it is m n until the 1st of Sei)teni- 

 ber that the hard-working parents may take a two months' vacation.'' 



It is, therefore, on account of the exactions of family cares upon the 

 adults that immature birds, or "bmwn goonies." are much more frequently 

 sten u]ion the high seas. 



No. 3-lS. 



SHORT-TAILED ALBATROSS. 



A. O. 17. Xo. 82. Diomedea albatrus I'ail. 



Description. — .hhtlt: Body plumage white; head and neck white. UKjre or 

 less washed, esjiecially behind, with tawny yellow ; wings and tail sooty gray or 

 dusky, with admixture of white in varying i)ro])ortions ; exposed portions of flight 

 feathers and rectrices chiefly dusky : no re-entrance of feathers on sides of 

 mandible; outline of feathering at base of bill nearly even on culmen and sides; 

 bill pale reddish yellow; feet livid flesh-color, or pale bluish, drying darker. 

 Young: Entire plumage sooty brown, lighter ( inclining to .sooty gray ) on chin 

 and belly. Length of adult about 3 feet (1)14.4): wmg 20.00 (508)'; tail 5.73 

 (146.1) bill 5.00-6.00 (127-152. 4) in length, 2. 00 (50.8) in cle])th at base: outline 

 of culmen concave. 



Recognition Marks. — Eagle size; white plumage, large beak of adult ; nearly 

 uniform sootv i)lnmage of young bird zi'ithoiit white "face" (but chin whitish). 



Nesting. — Does not nest in Washington. i '.reeds in colonies, laying its 

 single equal-ended white egg upon the bare ground. .\v. size of egg, 4.25 x 2.60 

 (108x66.1). Season: Nov. -Dec. ? 



General Range. — The North Pacific Ocean ; of regular occurrence, save in 

 breeding sea.son, otT the coasts of western North America to California, and 

 eastern Asia to Japan. 



Range in Washington. — .As above; also casual on the Straits of Juan de 

 Fuca. 



Authorities. — /'. hrarliYiira. Tcnini., Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858, 

 p. 822. C&S. E. 



Specimens. — (U. of W. ) Prov. BN. 



THIS species is rather more common off our shores than the last-named, 

 l)ein<>- ustiallv the first of the GoiMiies to join out-hound vessels at the entrance 



a. "By Executive Order Xo. loig. dated February 3. iQoo. tl>e 'Hawaiian Islands Reservation' was 

 establisht. This national bird preserve includes I.aysan, Neckcr, and adjacent small islands, upon which 

 great numbers of pelagic birds nest, such as .Mbatrosses, Shearwaters, and Terns. Persistent rumors have 

 circulated in the newspapers of late, to the effect that Japanese were planning to land on the rookeries 

 to destroy every bird obtainable, the feathers to he saved for various commercial purposes and the bodies 

 to be made into fertilizer. The fact that not a few s|>ccies. which are confined in the breeding season to 

 these small islands would thus be exterminated, makes the establishment of this preserve with little doubt 

 the most important step, from a strictly ornithological standpoint, in the history of bird preservation m 

 this country. The annihilation of sfecics was threatened" (The Condor. March, 1909). 



