Buitier.—On the Ornithology of New Zealand. 189 
totara, near the river mouth (Milford Sound), being surrounded by water at 
every high tide. 
In the Museum there is a similar nest of the small gull (L. scopulinus) 
formed of dry twigs, grasses, and sea-weed, a foot long by eight inches 
across, and raised five inches from the ground. This was found under 
similar conditions with the other. And we may fairly assume that the 
same would happen in the case of the closely allied species, L. bulleri. 
DromEDEA EXULANS. 
The following is a description of a perfectly mature aitinls of the 
wandering Albatros, the fresh skin of which was received at the Canterbury 
Museum from one of the emigrant ships. The whole of the head and neck, 
as well as the upper and lower parts of the body, of the purest milk white. 
On each side of the nape, or upper part of the neck, there is a broad longi- 
tudinal mark, of a beautiful roseate pink, covering an area of about six 
inches in length by two inches in breadth, which fades soon after death, 
and ultimately disappears altogether in the dried skin. This is, I believe, 
quite a new fact in natural history, for I have never seen it before myself, 
nor have I found it recorded in any history of the species. Another speci- 
men obtained at the same time shewed traces of this feature, but in a very 
diminished degree; and I conclude that it is to be met with only in very 
old birds, or at some particular season of the year. The only dark markings 
are on the tail and wings ; on the former, each feather has two sub-apical 
irregular spots of black, larger and darker on the other webs. (It is pro- 
bable that these spots ultimately disappear, leaving the tail entirely white, 
for I observed that on some of the lateral feathers there is only a single 
irregular spot on the outer web.) Two of the upper tail coverts (which 
otherwise are perfectly white) are crossed transversely with delicate vermi- 
culations of dark brown ; the under linings of wings and the axillary plumes, 
pure white. At the insertion of the wings some of the upper feathers have 
delicate vermiculations ; the inferior secondaries are broadly marked in this 
manner, and the longer ones have a broad terminal patch of black. Along 
the edge of the humerus there are spots of black, having a very pretty 
effect, each feather having a broad angular spot on the outer vane. At the 
humeral bend of the wing the white plumage predominates, the spots 
appearing again like irregular inky patches, and becoming thicker and 
larger towards the carpal flexure. The secondaries are white in their basal 
portion, greyish-black towards the tips. The primaries are brownish-black, 
with white shafts fading to grey on their inner webs, and white at the base. 
Mr. J. D. Enys writes me that the Albatros is said to breed on rocks 
north of the Chatham Islands, and that the Maoris go out periodically to 
collect the young birds as an article of food. 
