54 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



types. The colour could be washed off, by a little friction. Dimensions 104- 

 112 mm. by 66-69. 



Breeding-season. October to November. 



Distribution and forms. Round the Sub-antarctic Circle. Four good races 

 have been separated : D. c. cauta (Gould), from East Australian seas, breeding in 

 Bass Straits ; D. c. salvini (Rothschild) from New Zealand, breeding at Bounty 

 Island, with a smaller bill, darker coloured and with shorter legs and feet ; D. c. 

 layardi (Salvin) from Cape Seas with still smaller and narrower bill, shorter tarsus 

 and toes and whiter head and neck ; and D. c. platei (Reichenow), from west coast 

 of South America, with the culminicorn almost touching the feathers of the head, 

 and of this last named Salvadori's T. desolationis is a synonym, as the bill coloration 

 with pale culminicorn and pale basal portion of lower mandible recalls that of " T. 

 culminata " as noted by Salvadori. 



Genus DIOMEDEA. 



Diomedea Linne, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., p. 132, Jan. 1st, 1758. Type (by subsequent designa- 

 tion, Gray, p. 78, 1840) : Diomedea exulans Linne. 



Albatrus Brisson, Ornith., Vol. I., p. 54, Vol. VI., p. 126, 1760. Type (by monotypy) : 

 D. exulans Linne. 



Albatrossa Briinnich, Zool. Fund., p. 80, 1771. No species added. Type (by monotypy) : 

 D. exulans Linn6. 



Albatros Lesson, Manuel d'Orn., Vol. II., p. 389, June 28th, 1828. Substitute name for 

 Diomedea L. 



Rhothonia Murphy, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. XXXVII., p. 861, Dec. 10th, 1917. 

 Type (by monotypy) : D. sanfordi Murphy. 



Largest Albatrosses with long bills, very long wings, very numerous secondaries, 

 long tails and strong legs and feet. 



The bill is very long and hooked of the usual Albatross character, with the 

 nostrils of two forms as shown by Murphy (loc. tit.). At the base of the lower 

 mandible the feathers run forward, quite unlike those in Thalassarche and recalling 

 that of Phoebetria. 



The wing is notable for its extreme length and extraordinary number of 

 secondaries. The tail is rounded, and though long, is comparatively short, being 

 one-third the length of the wing. 



The legs are very stout, the tarsus about three-fourths the length of the culmen 

 and much less than the toes, the outer of which is longest, the anterior toes being 

 fully webbed and the hind-toe missing altogether. 



Coloration white in the adult, but generally brown in the immature. 



42. Diomedea exulans. WANDERING ALBATROSS. 



[Diomedea exulans Linne, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., p. 132, Jan. 1st, 1758 : Cape of Good Hope. 

 Extra-limitaL] 



Gould, Vol. VII., pi. 38 (pt. xiv.), March 1st, 1844. Mathews, Vol. II., pt. 3, pi. 95, Sept. 

 20th, 1912. 



Diomedea exulans rof/wJcfo'Wt Mathews, Birds Austr., Vol. II., pt. 3, p. 246, Sept. 20th, 1912 : 

 off New South Wales coast. 



Diomedea exulans westralis Mathews, Bull. B.O.C., Vol. XXXIX., p. 29, Nov. 30th, 1918 : 

 Albany, West Australia. 



DISTRIBUTION. Australian Seas. 



Adult male. General colour above white with wavy cross-bars of ash-brown, 

 more narrowly and faintly on the hind-neck, broader and more pronounced on the 

 back and upper tail-coverts ; the scapulars white, vermiculated and broadly tipped 

 with brown, more especially on the outer webs ; short feathers of the numerals 



