116 EDWARD A. WILSON. 
from tip to tip of the wings. They arrived always in greater numbers towards 
evening, and on the evening of November 18th as many as sixteen were counted at 
one time. Both the light and the dark phases were generally abundant, though on 
November 12th, when we had eight together, they were all of the pale-backed 
variety.* The bird remained with us on November 16th and 17th as we entered 
the outskirts of the pack ice (62° 8., 140° E.). It appears to shun the immediate 
neighbourhood of land, for on approaching and leaving the Macquarie Islands, as 
happened also when we approached and left Cape Town and New Zealand, we invariably 
lost the bird about two days out, and picked it up again at about the same distance 
when we left. Between New Zealand and the ice, at the latter end of December, we 
saw several each day. Some of these were almost white on the back and _ breast. 
On January lst we saw one exceptionally white and another exceptionally dark. <As 
we entered the ice on January 3rd they left us at the outskirts. We did not see this bird 
again until two years later when, on our voyage home, it was the first of the ocean birds 
to meet us. This occurred on February 22nd even farther south than Coulman Island, 
at 74°8. 170° E. It was one of the paler variety, probably Ph. cornicoides, which 
Mr. Eagle Clarke tells me is a more Southern form than Ph. fuliginosa. We saw one 
again on February 23rd, and three or four on February 27th, all of the paler variety. 
Eight or ten appeared on February 29th, when we still had icebergs round us, and 
Pagodroma nivea, the ice-indicator, in abundance. On March 4th we saw several very 
dark birds, and one at least almost white upon the back. Again both extremes 
appeared together on March 8th and 14th. 
I have given for what they are worth the above occurrences of the two extremes 
of colour together. We did not appear to pass from an area of the one phase to an 
area of the other in any definite manner, but though there are innumerable 
intermediate individuals, the white and the black varieties are certainly very noticeable 
at sea, and it becomes a matter of interest to know what is their distribution in the 
breeding season. 
There is no bird in the south with which it is possible to confuse these 
birds. The only other abundant large dark bird is Ossifraga, which, with its 
ungainly body and its enormous and pale yellow bill, in no way resembles the dark- 
billed, close-feathered Phebetria. The latter, moreover, has an easy sailing flight, 
which is perhaps more perfect than that of any other albatross, and many of us 
considered it the most fascinating to watch of all the ocean birds on this account. 
* How many of the birds we saw were really Ph. cornicoides, and how many Ph. fuliginosa, I cannot say. 
I am certain only concerning the specimen we captured, which Mr. Eagle Clarke has kindly identified for me from 
a coloured drawing of the head, made immediately after capture. 
