83 XEW ZEALAXD Bllir)i=:. 



"" I know of only one instance of the occurrence of this beautiful 

 Tern in New Zealand. On the 12th of December, 18G8, the late 

 Mr. D. Monro shot a pair of them on the Waihopai river-bed, in the 

 Province of Nelson ; and one of these is now in the Colonial ]\Iuseum. 

 They were in full summer plumage, and were associating with a large 

 breeding colony of Sterna frontalis ; but whether they were actually 

 nesting themselves, Mr. INIonro was not able to ascertain. He men- 

 tions, however, that there was only a single pair of this species in the 

 flock, and that they uttered at intervals a harsh croaking note. 



" This Tern has likewise been discovered in Aiistralia since the 

 publication of jNIr. Gould's 'Handbook;' and, as it is unquestionably 

 the same form as that inhabiting the palaearetic region, the species 

 enjoys a wide geographical range." — Buller. 



PROCELLAEID^. Petkels. 

 Bill, hooked at the tip ; nostrils, in tubes. 



DiOMEDEA. L. 



Bill long, nasal tubes disjoined, lateral ; wings, long and narrow ; bind toe absent. 

 Colder parts of both hemispberes. 



119. Diomedea exulans. L. 



< Wandering Albatros. Toroa. 

 Wbite, with the back generally more or less pencilled with black; quills, dark-brown. 

 Young. — Cbocolatc-brown, with a wbite face. 

 L., 48; W., 27; B, 7; T., 45. 

 ^.(7.9.— Wliite ; length, 5 ; breadth, 3-25. 

 Ilab. — Southern Ocean, below 30^ S. 



" What voyager on the high seas has not watched with Mondcr 

 and admiration the sailing flight of the Albatros ! It has been the 

 tlieme of poets and philosophers from the earliest times ; and vai'ious 

 ingenious theories have been propounded to account for the amazing 

 power which this bird possesses of sailing in the air for an liour at a 

 time without the slightest movement of its expanded wings. Captain 

 Y. W. Ilutton, whose observations on the birds inhabiting the 

 Southern Ocean ('Ibis/ 18G5) arc full of suggestive information, has 

 contributed an essay on the flight of the Albatros ; and, although his 

 mathematical treatment of the subject has been challenged, his paper 

 shows a -v cry clear apprehension of the mechanical ])rinciples on which 

 the explanation rests, his main object being to show that it an Alba- 

 tros started with u certain velocity it could, by slightly altering the 

 angle at which it was flying, continue to support itself in the air 

 without using its wings until its velocity had been reduced below a 

 certain point." — Buller, 



