218 Transactions. — Zoology. 



bill bluish horn-coloiir, lighter and tinged with yellow along the culmen, 

 and also on the under surface of the lower mandible ; the sides of the unguis 

 or hooked extremity, as well as the terminal expansion of the lower 

 mandible, dull black ; the ujDper mandible margined at the base with a 

 narrow black band which broadens on the ridge and extends along the 

 groove on each side to the nostrils ; base of lower mandible fringed on 

 each side with a membrane of a bright yellow colour, bordered behind 

 with black, and forming a very distinguishing feature in this species. 



Total length 2 feet 11 inches; extent of wings 7 feet 7 inches; from 

 carpal flexure to the tip 22-5 inches ; tail 9 ; bill, following the curvature of 

 upper mandible, 5-3; length of lower mandible 5; tarsus 3-25 ; middle toe 

 and claw 5-7. 



The species was first described by Mr. Gould in the "Proceedings of 

 the Zoological Society" (Part VIIL, p. 177), and named by him the shy 

 albatros, in allusion to its cautious habits when on the wing. In his 

 " Birds of Australia " he gives the following account of it : — 



" I first saw this species of albatros off the south coast of Tasmania, and 

 had frequent opportunities of observing it during my stay in Eecherche 

 Bay, at the southern entrance of D'Entrecasteaux Channel, where I was 

 wind-bound for nearly a fortnight. Unlike other albatroses it was most diffi- 

 cult to procure, for it seldom approached our ship sufficiently near for a 

 successful shot. I succeeded, however, in shooting several examples while 

 they were flying round the bay in which we had taken shelter. It is not usual 

 for albatroses to approach the land or enter a secluded bay like that of 

 Eecherche, and I attribute this deviation from the ordinary habits to the 

 tem^Dtation presented by the vast quantities of fat and other remains of 

 whales floating about, the locality being one of the principal whaling-stations 

 on the coast of Tasmania. I have no doubt likewise that it was breeding 

 on the Mewstone and other isolated rocks in the neighbourhood, as the 

 j)lumage of some of the specimens I procured indicated that they had 

 lately been engaged in the task of incubation. 



" It is a large and powerful bird, the male being scarcely a third less in 

 size than the D. exulans ; is rapid and vigorous on the wing, and takes 

 immense sweeps over the surface of the ocean. It will be interesting to 

 learn the extent of the range of this sioecies. A head in the possession of 

 Sir William Jardine was said to have been procured at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, but I believe this was by no means certain. When fully adult the 

 sexes differ but little in colour ; the female may, however, at all times be 

 distinguished by her diminutive size, and the young by the bill being 

 clouded with dark grey. Besides being larger than the three succeeding 

 species (namely, D, cnhninata, D, chlororhyncJia, and D. melanoi^krys, to 



