^^'igi*^"^ ] Nichols and Murphy, Genus Phoebetria. 527 



A. Culmen concave in profile; sulcus of mandible narrow, and blue or 

 purplish in life (dark in dried skins) ; feathers of back and lower 

 parts decidedly paler than remainder of plumage. .P. palpebrata. 

 AA. Culmen nearly straight in profile; sulcus of mandible wide, and 

 straw-color, yellow, or orange in life (and also in skins); feathers 

 of back and lower parts dark like remainder of plumage. P. fusca. 



Mr. Gregory Mathews in his * Birds of AustraHa,' Vol. II, 1912, 

 p. 294, has published diagnostic drawings of the bills of the two 

 species. 



P. palpebrata is the species having the more southerly breeding 

 range, but its normal wandering range overlaps that of P. fitsca 

 in the southern temperate zone. Mr. IMurphy has seen both to- 

 gether in the South Atlantic Ocean, and has found the specific 

 differences striking in life. Curiously enough, the "common" 

 Sooty Albatross {P. fusca), which is the ' P. fuliginosa' of most 

 authors, now seems to be a far rarer bird in collections than are 

 representatives of palpebrata. 



In naming three geographical races of the two species of Phoe- 

 betria, Mr. Mathews (loc. cit.) has failed to present adequate de- 

 scriptions and measurements. Recently, however, Mr. Mathews 

 has personally examined our own material, and has informed us 

 that he studied a large series of topotypical specimens of Phoebetria 

 palpebrata (Forster) before becoming sponsor for the subspecies 

 huttoni and antarctica. We are therefore pro\'isionally recognizing 

 the following four races of palpebrata and two races of fusca, with 

 the hope that some investigator who has series of Pacific and Indian 

 Ocean birds at his disposal may soon make use of our measurements 

 in fixing the status of the Old World forms. 



Phoebetria palpebrata palpebrata (Forster). 



Diomedea palpebrata, Forster, Mem. pres. Acad. Roy. Sci. (Paris), Vol. 



X, p. 571,1785. 

 Type locality, lat. 64° S., long. 38° E. 

 Range, Kerguelen Island (breeding), also presumably the Prince Edward 



Islands, the Crozets, McDonald and Heard Islands, in the Indian 



Ocean. 



Although the Kerguelen bird is the typical race of palpebrata it 

 seems to be the intermediate between the two subspecies next 

 considered, viz. antarctica of Weddell Sea and huttoni of the New 

 Zealand region. 



