DIOMEDEID/E — THE ALBATROSSES — THALASSOGERON. 



357 



above the surface to use its wings without wetting them. Its eyesight is exceedi:' j'ly 

 acute ; it can distinguish a discoh)red spot in tlie water a yard in diameter from a dis- 

 tance of at least live miles, and even much farther than our unaicUul eyes can see the 

 bird itself. Its flight, in calm weather, consists of a series of five or six short, sharp 

 stroki!8, made at intervals of a second, or more, apart, followed by a short period of 

 comparative quiet. It appears to subsist mainly c i pelagic crab and the refuse 

 from vessels. It usually flies in flocks of six or eight, but often smaller ; and on one 

 occasion a solitr.ry individual followed the vessel for hundreds of miles without a 

 companion. 



Mr. Dall, in his Notes on the Avifauna of the Aleutian Islands west of Unalashka, 

 referring to the question as to where this species breeds, states, on the authority t)f 

 Mr. George Holder, that it nests on the coral island of tJaspar Kico, near the eimator, 

 in the winter season. This gentleman, who is said to be an intelligent and trust- 

 worthy observer, informed Mr. Dall that, on a voyage in quest of new guano islands, 

 he touched at Gaspar Kico, and found this bird, together with a species of IVtrel, and 

 a Tern, breeding abundantly in a low scrubby growth of bushes, wMch are the oidy 

 representatives of trees on that island. His impression was that it laid but one 

 moderately-sized white egg in a depression in the soil, around which a little sea-weed 

 or dry herbage was gathered. It is not known to breed anywhere on the northwest 

 coast of America, or on the northern Pacific islands. 



Diomedea melanophr]rB. 



THE 8PECTACLBD ALBATB0I8. 



Diomedea inelamphnjs, " 1U>ik," Tkmm. PI, Col. no, 450 (1838). — (ioi i.i), lUrds Austrnliii, VII. pi. 

 43. — CiUKs, Proc, Philml, Acnil. 18flrt, 181. — Hk.vs, Proc, U. 8. Not, Mils, Vol. r., 188J, 170 

 (off coast of Ciiliforiiin, long, 142° 23' W,, lat. 40° 30' N.). 



IIah. Southern oi-eaii« gencndly, ni)rtli to at Icnst 4(»'' 30' north lutitiule, and east nearly to 

 coiist of f'alilornia (IIkan, 1. c). 



Si'. CiiAU. Adult: IJaik and Rcajmlars lirownish slate, beconiing more ashy anteriorly ; wings 

 iniilorin dark l)n)wni«Ii slate ; tail brownish gray, the .slial'ts of tiie reatliew yellowish while ; slml'ts 

 of primaries deep yellow Imsally, dark brownish teniiinally. Head, neck, riini|>, upper tail- 

 I'liverls, and entire lower i)arts white ; an indistiiut grayish stripe through eye, darkest immediately 

 licfore and behind the ey. Hill yellowish, the ungui and luise of eulmeii tinned with horn-eolor ; ' 

 l.'^s and feet " pearly slate " (liglit brownish in dried skin). Wing, 11)..50-20.(K» inches ; tail, H,0(>- 

 X.M; tarsus, 3.(K»-3.25 ; mitUllu toe, 4.00-4,30 ; culnien, 4 30-4.70, 



;li to 

 .sell 

 ngle 



•UtT- 

 UUll 



iidfd 



llSI'll 



Gkxus THALABSOOBRON. Ridowav. 



TImlnmarche, FoitiiKs, Zool. Clmllenger Kx|>, IV, 1882, 57 (not Thulasiuuehe, Ukicii, 18,W). 

 ThiiliimiuyeroH, Uinow. MS, (tyjw, Diomedea ciilmimtln, (lOi'i.n), 



f'lUR. Similar to Diomedea, but culininicorn widely separated from the Lilericorn by the 

 intvr|)osit)on uf a strip of naked skin behind the nostril. Rill inuuli compressed. 



' " No difft'n'nnu whatever is observable i.. Mic plntnaKe of the se.xcs, neither is then' any visible variii- 

 lii>ii in this re8|H'ct between youth iiml maturity ; a iii'vrr-failiiig mark, however, exists, by which these 

 latter may Is- ili.stingnished — the young bird has the bill iliuk brown, while in the iiihdt that organ is ot 

 II Iniglit buffy yellow : and individuals in the sauii' llight may tifi|iiently 1h' .seen in which the bill varies 

 fruni dark hnrn-browii to the most delicate yellow" ((ion.n, Hirdsof Australia, pt. vii.), 



A Miide fni:n Valparaiso, Chili, had the "bill gray, with dark tips ; 'ct light gray ; iris dark brown " 

 (Sii\R|.K, P. Z, a. 1881, p. 12). 



