274 ORNITHOLOGY OF THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



to the foregoing quotation: "This bird appears to agree with the ' Mollymauk ' 

 (Thalassogeron sp. inc.) mentioned by Mr Eagle Clarke amongst the birds of Gough 

 Island (see p. 287 of this volume, ' The Birds of Gough Island '). Those that we 

 saw were evidently adult. They had the bill entirely black and the head white, 

 shading on the occiput, or sometimes on the hind-neck, into grey, which deepened on 

 the sides of the neck to form a well-marked grey collar incomplete on the fore-neck. 

 The feet were rosy pink. In other respects, as in size, the bird closely resembled 

 D. melanophrys. We saw it several times in March from 55 S. lat. northwards as 

 we came up to the Auckland Islands from Wilkes Land. We saw nothing of it in the 

 South Pacific; but in July we found it again in the South Atlantic between 30 and 

 40 S. lat. as we came north from the Falklands in 1904." 



It appears highly probable that the " Black-billed Albatros " of the Scotia was the 

 same bird as that described by Dr Wilson in the extracts just quoted. Also, as he 

 suggests, it is possible that the Gough Island specimen (see Section IX., p. 287) is 

 likewise of this species. This specimen has, in the meantime, been submitted to 

 Mr Godman and other eminent authorities, and in his great work on the petrels 

 the former says : * 



" Mr Eagle Clarke, in his paper on the ' Birds of Gough Island,' procured by 

 the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, mentions (The Ibis, 1905, p. 265) a bird 

 which he was unable to identify with any known species. . . . Mr Rothschild, to 

 whom he referred it for examination, recognised its resemblance to Thalassogeron 

 carteri, but noticed that it differed in having the toes nearly '75 in. shorter, and 

 also the hind-neck washed with grey like the back, instead of being white (Bull. 

 Brit. Orn. Club, xiv. p. 6). Mr Eagle Clarke has now kindly lent me this specimen 

 for examination, and I find that the short foot is occasioned by the absence of a 

 phalanx in two of the outer toes on both feet, but in other respects it agrees very 

 well with Thalassogeron carteri. There are, however, some minor points worthy of 

 notice, viz. : the extension of the dark colour of the back to the hind-neck as mentioned 

 above, and a slight difference at the base of the culminicorn ; there is also a grey tinge 

 on the face and crown ; these characters, however, appear to me of trivial importance. 

 I ascribe the absence of a joint in the toes to a malformation, or an individual peculiarity, 

 and I am the more inclined to do so as the feet look out of proportion to the size of the 

 bird. Moreover, I am not aware that any other member of the order Tubinares is 

 without the full complement of toe-bones ; consequently I place this bird, for the 

 present at all events, under Thalassogeron carteri." 



Accordingly, we may say that it seems probable that the " Black-billed Albatros " 

 of the Scotia's log, as well as the similar birds mentioned by Dr Wilson, may belong 

 to the species Thalassogeron carteri. 



From April 10th to 19th inclusive (49 30' to 43 S.) a grey-headed species of 

 albatros with dark bill and yellow culmen, and otherwise resembling Diomedea 



* A Monograph of the Petrels, 1907-1910, ]> 3(51. 



