ore 
PROCELLARIIDH, ALBATROSSES.— GEN. 296-7. 325 
contrasting with gulls and terns in this particular; many or most are gregarious, 
congregating by thousands at their breeding places or where food is plenty. 
Birds of this family abound on all seas ; but the group is yet imperfectly known. 
Bonaparte gaye 69 species, in 1856 ; my memoirs upon the subject (1864-6) present 
92, of which 17 are marked as doubtful or obscure; last year, Gray recorded 112; 
there are probably about seventy good species. They are sharply divided by the 
character of the nostrils into three groups; two represented in North America, as 
beyond, and the Halodromine. These last, consisting of one genus and three species 
or varieties, are remarkably distinguished from the rest, resembling auks in external 
appearance and habits ; the wings and tail are very short; there is no hind toe; the 
skin of the throat is naked and distensible ; the tubular nostrils, in fact, are the prin- 
cipal if not the only petrel-mark, and these organs are unique in opening directly 
upward, the nasal tube being vertical instead of horizontal as in all the rest. 
Subfamily DIOMEDEINA. Albatrosses. 
Nostrils disconnected, placed one on each side of the bill near the base. No hind 
toe. Of largest size in this family. There are eight unquestionable species, with 
two or three doubtful or obscure ones. Only three have proven their right to a place 
here. As Mr. Lawrence observes (Bp., 821), there is no well authenticated instance 
of the occurrence of the great wandering albatross, D. exulans, off our coasts ; but 
it has been taken in Europe, and is liable to appear at any time. It is distinguished 
from the first species following by its great size, and the outline of the frontal 
feathers : deeply concave on the culmen, strongly convex on the sides of the bill to a 
point nearly opposite the nostrils. The yellow-nosed albatross, D. chlororhyncha of 
AUDUBON, Vii, 196; Lawr. in Bp., 822, is the D. culminata, a species of Australian 
and other Southern seas, said to have been taken ‘‘ not far from the Columbia river,” 
but there is no reason, as yet, to believe it ever comes within a thousand miles of 
this country. It has the bill black with the culmen and under edge yellow. Other 
well known species of Southern seas are D. chlororhyncha, cauta and melanophrys. 
stout, moderately compressed, with rounded 
culmen, the feathers running nearly straight» 
around its base. Wing three or more times as S& 
long as the rounded tail. (Diomedea.) 
Short-tailed Albatross. Bill 5 or 6 inches 
long, with moderately concave culmen and 
prominent hook. Tail very short, contained 
about 34 times in the wing. Length about Fic. 207. Short-tailed Albatross. 
3 feet ; extent 7; wing 20 inches; tail 55; tarsi 32. Adult plumage white, 
| with a yellowish wash on the head and neck; primaries black; other quills, 
the wing coverts and tail feathers, marked with blackish ; bill and feet pale. 
Young dark colored, resembling the next species. Off the Pacific Coast, 
abundant. Cass., Ill. 289, pl. 50; Lawr. in Bp., 822. . . BRACHYURA. 
Black-footed Albatross. Bill about 4 (never 5) inches long, extremely 
stout, with the culmen almost perfectly straight to the hook, which is com- 
