^°'" 6^1 Ferguson, Observalions on Albatrosses at Sea. 247 



I think that I am right in referring the birds I saw to this species 

 rather than to T. bulleri, which has a similarly-coloured bill. 

 Dark-headed Albatrosses were seen on several occasions. The 

 first specimen was observed on the I2th January, in 41° S. 66° E. ; 

 another, or the same bird, was seen on the following day. No 

 further specimens were seen until 17th January, in 41° S. 100° E., 

 and i8th January, in 41° S. 107° E. All the specimens observed 

 agreed in coloration of head and bill. The head and neck were 

 of a dusky grey, rather lighter on the neck, and the crown of the 

 head was almost pure white. The bill was dark, with a con- 

 si)icuous yellow culmen and yellow along the lower edge of the 

 mandible. This bird agrees best in its coloration with the sub- 

 species T. c. harterti, and this identification agrees with its range. 



Nealbatrus chlororhynchus. (imelin [Diomedea chloyorhynchus, 

 dnielin). 



In most works this species appears under the genus Thalassogeron, 

 but Mathews has separated it subgenerically, introducing the name 

 Nealbatrus. There appears to be still a considerable amount of 

 confusion existing as to the number of sub-species to be recog- 

 nized. Mathews regards as belonging to the typical sub-species 

 N. c. c/ilororhynchiis the birds that occur in the South Atlantic, 

 and refers our Eastern Australian birds to A'', c. bassi, Mathews, 

 and the Western Australian birds to N . c. carteri. Roths. The 

 chief difficulty seems to be in the changes of the coloration of 

 the bill. As is well known, Thalassogeron carteri was described 

 from a single specimen with an entirely black bill ; this Mathews 

 regards as an evidence of immaturity. A species with yellow 

 culmen certainly does occur on the Western Australian coast, as 

 Mr. Alexander has already recorded. I met with numerous speci- 

 mens off the Leeuwin in August, and again in January ; among 

 the yellow culminate birds on both occasions one or two were 

 seen with all black bills. The species appears absent or rare in 

 the Great Australian Bight ; I have noted one as seen on 26th 

 January, when in 2>7° S. 126° E., but no others were seen until 

 passing Cape Liptrap. On the East Australian coast this species 

 is the commonest " Mollymawk " met with, and I have frequently 

 seen it in Sydney Harbour. It is very common between Sydney 

 and Brisbane. Despite numerous observations, I have no note 

 of ever having seen a black-billed form on the eastern coast. Mr. 

 Mathews distinguishes the two sub-species owing to differences in 

 their range, and my observations certainly seem to support this 

 idea. Albatrosses noted off the Cape of Good Hope appeared to 

 belong to this species, but were too far off to enable the bill to be 

 distinguished clearly. The species was observed outside Durban, 

 and on two occasions on the voyage across the South Indian Ocean^ 

 on the loth and nth January, when in 41° S. 51° E. and 41° s' 

 59° E. respectively, but were not again seen until close to the 

 Australian coast. The bird seen on the nth had the culmen 

 reddish-orange. Mathews appears to think that this is a stage 



