56 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



Adult female. Entire head and neck all round, back, rump, and upper tail- 

 coverts, breast, sides of body, abdomen, under tail-coverts, axillaries and under 

 wing-coverts pure white ; scapulars white mottled with greyish -brown subterminally, 

 chiefly on the outer webs ; upper wing-coverts also white mottled and externally 

 marked with greyish-brown ; bastard-wing dark brown, the inner webs for the most 

 part white ; primary -co verts and primary -quills white at the base, dark brown on 

 the terminal half, the white encroaching farthest towards the tips on the inner webs, 

 shafts of outer primary-quills straw colour and much flattened ; secondary-quills 

 similar, but the dark pattern almost restricted to the outer webs, the white reaching 

 to the tips on the inner webs and sometimes encroaching along the margins of the 

 outer webs ; under-surface of quills similar to that of above but many of the second- 

 aries pure white ; tail white both above and below with the outer feathers on each 

 side marked and mottled with greyish-brown. Bill pinkish-cream ; eyes black, 

 feet cream. Total length 1,050 mm. ; culmen 165, wing 600, tail 195, tarsus 123. 



Adult male. Differs from adult D. e. exulans in its larger size and whiter 

 coloration, only the primaries, outer webs of the outer secondaries, and the lesser 

 wing-coverts and inner secondaries, with the tips of the scapulars, being black ; the 

 rest of the plumage is white. The soft parts do not appear to have been described 

 from life. Wing 660 mm. Breeding birds always in white coloration. 



Immature. The young of the year are quite black, or very dark brown, 

 excepting the under parts of wings, throat, and cheeks, which are white, more or 

 less mottled with black. 



Nestling. Covered with pure white silky down. 



Nest. Made up of peaty grass interwoven with fibrous earth. A typical nest 

 measured 37 inches, diameter of bowl 18 inches, depth of bowl 5 inches. The floor 

 of this bowl would be about 2 inches deep, as all was simply matted with the natural 

 short grass, and appeared as if merely placed upon it. Many nests are raised 

 1J feet. Some have well -trimmed sides of earth, and are conical, but they are in 

 the minority. 



Egg. Chalky-white ; coarse to the touch. Dimensions 127-132 mm. by 

 81-84. 



Breeding -season. January (fresh eggs) ; February (half-incubated eggs). 



Distribution and forms. Apparently round the Sub-antarctic Circle, but owing 

 to ignorance of breeding places no certainty can be expressed. Only definitely 

 known from Kerguelen Island, but conflicting accounts even from that locality. 

 May breed on one of the Neozelanic Sub-antarctic Islands, or even in the South 

 Atlantic. 



Diomedea epomophora. ROYAL ALBATROSS. 



Diomedea epomophora Lesson, Ann. Sci. Nat., Paris, 1st ser.. Vol. VI., p. 95, 1825 : Campbell 

 Island (breeding). 



DISTRIBUTION. Australian Seas (Campbell Island, New Zealand breeding). 



Adult. Snow-white on the head, neck, back, tail and all under-surface, including 

 the under wing-coverts and axillaries ; on the lower back and rump a few narrow 

 cross-bars may be seen, but it is probable these disappear with age ; a few dark 

 speckles are sometimes seen towards tips of outer tail-feathers ; scapulars white at 

 the bases, the ends being solid black ; wing coloration generally black, an indistinct 

 olecranal patch of white being noticeable on the oldest specimen, the feathers along 

 the bend of the wing showing white tips ; primaries black, the inner webs white 

 towards their bases ; secondaries mostly white on the inner web ; eyes very dark 

 brown, almost black ; bare eyelids jet-black ; bill white, with a roseate or pinky 

 tinge in life, yellowish -horn coloured on the terminal hook ; legs and feet flesh -white. 

 Culmen (exp.) 170 mm., wing 660, tarsus 117, tail 206. 





