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But the specimen in the Otago Museum to which Mr. Eeischek refers is not, as his remarks 

 would imply, a nestling covered with white down, but a well-grown fledgling, with tufts of white 

 down still adhering to the plumage. This fledgling has not assumed " plumage of a dark-brown 

 colour," but is of pearly whiteness. It is thus described in my second edition of the ' Birds 

 of New Zealand ' (vol. ii., p. 192) : " A fledgling, however, in the Otago Museum— obtained 

 at Campbell Island— is entirely without the dark plumage. It has not yet completely lost 

 the dense, fluffy, pure-white down which forms the clothing of the nestling. The head, neck, 

 shoulders, rump, tail, and entire under-surface are of the purest white, having a fine silky gloss ; 

 the interscapular region is traversed longitudinally wjith club-shaped marks of greyish-black, 

 increasing downwards, the larger feathers having their apical portion completely covered; 

 upwards, towards the shoulders, these marks diminish till they become mere arrow-heads ; 

 on the mantle there are numerous marginal bars, but there is no vermiculation. The wings are 

 brownish-black on their upper surface, varied with white, all the coverts having white margins, and 

 the quills are black. Bill yellowish horn-colour, with a bluish tinge on the upper mandible." 



This is undoubtedly the " beautiful specimen " referred to by Mr. Eeischek, because Professor 

 Parker mentions in a. letter to me that he had called his attention to it specially after his return 

 from the Auckland Islands. Its condition is quite inconsistent with Mr. Eeischek's account of a 

 direct transition from the snow-white down into the dark plumage. It seems to me unfortunate 

 that, with such excellent opportunities for studying the subject, Mr. Eeischek did not place 

 that matter beyond all doubt. 



As to its requiring five years for the Albatros to attain the mature white livery, this must of 

 necessity be only conjecture. In my account of the bird I have described no less than ten phases 

 of plumage in its progress towards maturity. That it takes a considerable time — probably several 

 years — to develop the fully-adult plumage is perfectly clear, but it is manifestly impossible to fix 

 the annual changes of plumage without having the birds constantly under observation. 



Nestling. — Covered with short and thick down of a purplish-grey colour, which fades away to 

 white on the head and upper part of neck. 



Dr. Kidder in his Eeport on the Birds of Kerguelen Island, published in Washington, in 

 1875, says (p. 20) : "AH the nesting Albatroses that. I saw, without exception, showed a slight 

 pinkish discolouration of the neck, as if a bloodstain had been washed out, usually on the left 

 side, and extending downwards from the region of the ear." Dr. Bennett, in his ' Gatherings of 

 a Naturalist in Australia ' alludes to '' a streak of delicate rose-tint " on each side of the neck, 

 which fades after death. Mr. Sanford, in a communication to the Zoologist (1889, p. 387) writes : 

 "" I have never seen any mention of the beautiful rose-coloured powder which covers the white 

 parts of the adult or nearly adult D. exidans in December ; this comes off on a handkerchief, but 

 is evanescent, or rather it changes to a dirty brown colour in the preserved skin. In this respect 

 it resembles, to a certain extent, the rose-colour of Caccatua leadbeateri, and that on the breast of 

 the Great Eed Kangaroo of Australia in the breeding season, though the fading in these animals 

 is less than in the Albatros. The beak is also of a delicate rose-colour at the same season. . . 

 With regard to the food of Diomedea exulaus, I caught several of these during my voyage to 

 Australia in the sailing ship ' Anna Eobertson,' in the year 1857, and skinned and dissected them. 

 Without exception, I found in the stomach the beaks of large cuttlefish, apparently Calamaries. 

 The beaks were quite as large as those of large Octopi, 4 ft. long, which I' have dissected; and I 

 have frequently seen the birds lift some large object from the water, which might well have been 

 the animals to which the beaks belonged." 



The late Captain Fairchild brought in from near the Chatham Islands (early in September) 

 two birds, apparently male and female, in both of which the blood-red mark, first described as 

 above, was visible on the sides of the neck. This character cannot, therefore, be a sexual one, 

 .although it may be peculiar to the breeding season. 



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