PROCELLARID^. 36 S 



The Sub-Family, DIOMEDEINiE, or Albatrosses, 



have the nostrils short, tubular, widest anteriorly, and placed 

 near the base of the lateral groove. 



Genus DIOMEDEA, Linn. 

 Bill longer than the head, very robust, straight ; the sides 

 compressed and longitudinally grooved, with the tip greatly 

 curved and acute ; the lateral margins dilated and curved ; 

 the culmen broad, convex, and rounded ; the lower mandible ' 

 weak, compressed, with the tip truncated ; the nostrils placed 

 near the base in the lateral groove, covered by a tube which 

 is short, widening and spreading anteriorly from the side of 

 the bill, with the aperture somewhat rounded and open in 

 front ; wings very long, very narrow, with the second quill 

 the longest ; tail short and rounded ; legs short, strong, with 

 the tarsi one- fourth shorter than the middle toe, and the 

 inner toe the shortest ; the two lateral toes margined ex- 

 teriorly by a narrow membrane ; the web between the toes 

 full and entire ; the hind toe and claw entirely wanting ; the 

 claws short and obtuse. 



675. Diomedea Exulans, Linn.; pi. Eni. 237; 



Less. Manuel D'Orn., Vol. 2, p. 351 ; The Great 

 Albatross, or Cope Sheep of Sailors. 



Adult : general colour pure white, mottled minutely on the 

 back with wavy black lines ; wings black and white, mot- 

 tled ; tail spotted with black. Young : dull-brown, with 

 white face and neck. Length, 3' 9" ; wing, 2' ; tail, 12". 



The Albatross is a well-known inhabitant of our seas, and though it 

 seldom ventures into the bays, it is sometimes caught by the fishermen 

 between Robben Island and the mainland, together with the next 

 species. It retires from our shores about November, and breeds on 

 the Island of Tristan D'j^chuna. An egg brought thence by Capt. 

 NoUoth, of H. M. St. Frolic, and now in the South African Museum, 

 is of a dull-white, minutely spotted with brown at the obtuse end : 

 axis, b" ; diam., 3" Z'". 



I was on that Island at Christmas, twenty-one years ago ; but I 

 still retain a vivid recollection of the marvellous number of albatrosses 

 of all kinds which we encountered on our arriving in that neighbour- 

 hood, and of the thousands that we found sailing about the singular 

 peak, looking at that great attitude (9800 feet) like mere specks in 

 the sky. 



Eggs have been brought to me by Capt. Armson from the Crozette 

 Islands. This gentleman informs me that they make no nest, but 

 simply lay in a depression in the soil caused by their frequenting the 

 same spot for many successive years. He tells me the young birds 

 remain for several months in the nest, not eating anything, that he 



