364 BIEDS OF SOUTH AFKICA. 



could ascertain, the parent birds having long left the islands. How- 

 ever, this statement, though made in full sincerity, may not represent 

 the facts of the case. We know that a few hundred miles of flight 

 would be nothing to a bird of such vast powers as the albatross. 

 Nocturnal visits may therefore be made to the young, and entirely 

 escape detection. This appears to me a likely solution of the difficulty. 

 Since the above was written, I have spoken to many of the sealers 

 frequenting these islands. They declare the albatrosses visit their 

 young daily, and turn them off the nests when the next breeding 

 season comes round. 



676. Diomedea Melanophrys, Temm., PL Col. 



456 ; The Small Albatross, or " Mollymaw" 



BACK, wings, and tail, brown-black, the latter with a grey 

 tinge ; head, neck, rump, and under parts, pure white ; a 

 blackish line passes over the eye. Length, 36" ; wing, 21" ; 

 tail, 11". 



Very abundant in all our bays, and on the coast generally. Hundreds 

 are caught by the fishermen while out pursuing their usual trade, and 

 are sold for three-pence each in the fishmarket. They are much eaten 

 by the lower orders, and I am told are very palatable. They retire 

 with the preceding to breed, and their eggs resemble theirs in every 

 particular, save size, being : axis, 3" 9"' ; diatn., 2" 6'". 



This and the next species alight readily on the water to pick up 

 garbage thrown from ships, and are easily caught with a hook and line 

 in calm weather. 



677. Diomedea Chlororhyncha. (Gmei.) Lath. 



Syn., t. 94 ; PI. Col., 468 ; D. Profuga, Banks; D. 

 Chrysostoma, Forst. Icon. Ined, t. 100, 101. 



WINGS, back, and tail, sooty black-brown ; the shafts of the 

 latter white ; the rump and rest of the plumage, pure white, 

 with the faintest tinge of black for an eyebrow ; bill black, 

 with broad yellow stripe commencing about 4'" of an inch 

 from the feathers, and extending along the ridge of the 

 upper mandible to the tip, which is reddish ; lower mandible 

 black, with the exception of the extreme tip, which is livid. 

 Length, 31"; wing, 19"; tail, 11". 



Not uncommon off the South Coast, but does not approach so near 

 to land as the preceding. All albatrosses feed much on squids. From 

 the stomach of one I took a handful of their hard, horny, parrot- 

 billed-shaped jaws. 



678. Diomedea Culminata, Gould; Proc. z. 



S., 1843, 107. 



UPPER part of back, pale sooty-black ; head and neck lighter ; 

 wing much darker, and tinged with brown ; eyebrow, above 



