from New Zealand and adjacent Islands. 559 



the adult. The species is easily recognised by its stout bill, 

 of which the least depth measures 1*2 inch, and also by the 

 black line at the base. 



" The nests are solid structures made of guano." 



The only example of this species in the British Museum 

 may be at once distinguished by having the sides of the 

 neck and the greater part of the basal two-thirds of the 

 inner webs of the primaries white ; these additional characters 

 do not appear to have been recorded when distinguishing this 

 species from D. salvini. 



Mr. Walter Rothschild has kindly lent me for examination 

 three examples of the so-called Layard's Albatros procured 

 in New Zealand waters. After carefully comparing these 

 with the types of Diomedea cauta Gould, and Thalassogeron 

 layardi Salvin, we have no doubt whatever that the latter 

 name is synonymous with the former, the type of D. cauta 

 being merely an older and slightly larger bird. 



We have also studied the description and figure of 

 Diomedea platei Reichenow, from Chile (c/. J. f. O. 1899, 

 p. 118, and 1900, p. 244, fig.), and have satisfied ourselves 

 that it is founded on an immature specimen of D. cauta. 



33. Diomedea salvini (Rothsch.). 



Diomedea cauta Buller, B. New Zeal. ii. p. 203 (1888). 



Thalassogeron salvini Salvin, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxv. 

 p. 450 (1896). 



Captain Hutton writes : — "There is a specimen of Salvin's 

 Albatros in the Christchurch Museum which, together with 

 an egg, was procured on the Bounty Islands. 



" Captain Bollons assures me that he has never seen any 

 species of ' Molly-mawks ' on the Antipodes Islands, and it 

 is now certain that none breed there, but that both D. cauta 

 and D. salvini breed on the Bounty Islands. 



" The bill in the present species is less stout than in 

 D. cauta, its least depth measuring 1 inch, the membrane 

 separating the culminicorn from the latericorn is very 

 narrow, and there is no sign in the dried specimen of a 

 black line at the base of the bill." 



2r 2 



