PEOCELLARIID^, ALBATEOSSES. — GEN. 296-7. 325 



contrasting with gulls and terns in this particular ; many or most are gregarious, 

 congregating by thousands at their breeding places or where food is plenty. 



Birds of this family abound on all seas ; but the group is yet imperfectly known. 

 Bonaparte gave 09 species, in 185C ; my memoirs upon the subject (1864-6) present 

 92, of which 17 are marked as doubtful or obscure ; last year, Gray recorded 112 ; 

 there are probably about seventy good species. Thej^ are sharpl}^ divided by the 

 character of the nostrils into three groups ; two represented in North America, as 

 beyond, and the Halodromince. These last, consisting of one genus and three species 

 or varieties, are remarkably distinguished from the rest, resembling auks in external 

 appearance and habits ; the wings and tail are A'ery short ; there is no hind toe ; the 

 skin of the throat is naked and distensible ; the tubular nostrils, in fact, are the prin- 

 cipal if not the only petrel-mark, and these organs are unique in opening directly 

 upward, the nasal tube being vertical instead of horizontal as in all the rest. 



Subfamily DIOMEDEIN^. Albatrosses. 



Nostrils disconnected, placed one on each side of the bill near the base. No hind 

 ■ toe. Of largest size in this family. There are eight unquestionable species, with 

 two or three doubtful or obscure ones. Onlj"- three have proven their right to a place 

 here. As Mr. Lawrence observes (Bd., 821), there is no well authenticated instance 

 of the occurrence of the great wandering albatross, D. exulans, off our coasts ; but 

 it has been taken in Europe, and is liable to appear at any time. It is distinguished 

 from the first species following by its great size, and the outline of the frontal 

 feathers : deeply concave on the culmen, strongly convex on the sides of the bill to a 

 point nearly opposite the nostrils. The yellow-nosed albatross, D. chlororJiyncha of 

 Audubon, vii, 196 ; Lawr. in Bd., 822, is the D. culminata, a species of Australian 

 and other Southern seas, said to have been taken " not far from the Columbia river," 

 but there is no reason, as yet, to believe it ever comes within a thousand miles of 

 this country. It has the bill black with the culmen and under edge yellow. Other 

 well known species of Southern seas are D. chlororhyncha, caiita and melanophrys. 



296-7. Genus DIOMEDEA Linnseus. 



* Sides of under mandible smooth ; bill very 

 stout, moderately compressed, with rounded 

 culmen, the feathers running nearly straight , 

 around its base. Wing three or more times as 

 long as the rounded tail. (Diomedea.) 



S'] Short-tailed Albatross. Bill 5 or 6 inches 

 long, with moderately concave culmen and 

 prominent hook. Tail very short, contained 



about SJ times in the wing. Length about no. 207. short-taiie.i Albatross. 

 3 feet ; extent 7 ; wing 20 inches ; tail 5J ; tarsi 33. Adult plumage white, 

 with a yellowish wash on the head and neck; primaries black; other quills, 

 the wing coverts and tail feathers, marked with blackish ; bill and feet pale. 

 Young dark colored, resembling the next species. Off the Pacific Coast, 

 abundant. Cass., 111. 289, pi. 50 ; Lawe. in Bd., 822. . . beachyuea. 

 SJif Black-footed Albatross. Bill about 4 (never 5) inches long, extremely 

 stout, with the culmen almost perfectly straight to the hook, which is com- 



