140 



It was observed at once that the two birds were readily distinguishable. Diomedea regia is 

 appreciably larger than the common species, with a far more powerful bill, which differs further in 

 having a broad black line along the cutting-edge of the upper mandible. In Diomedea exulans 

 even the adult birds are more or less marked or mottled with brown on the crown ; in Diomedea 

 regia the head and neck are pure- white from the nest. In Diomedea exulans the bare eyelids are 

 greenish-purple ; in Diomedea regia the eyelids from youth to maturity are jet-black. In all other 

 superficial respects the two species are alike ; but they keep quite apart on their breeding grounds, 

 and do not commingle except when sailing and soaring over the mighty deep, where a community 

 of interest and a common pursuit bring many members of this great family together. So far as I 

 am aware, their breeding habits are the same ; but I was able to exhibit to the meeting an egg of 

 Diomedea regia, from Campbell Island, alongside of the egg of Diomedea exulans, from the 

 Auckland Islands. There is a manifest difference in size, as might have been expected. I do 

 not, however, attach any special importance to this, knowing how variable the eggs of the 

 Albatros are as to size. Nor, indeed, can we look for anything very remarkable in the habits of 

 this bird to distinguish it from the common species. There can be no doubt, however, that this 

 Koyal Albatros is the one singled out for special mention in the following passage in my ' Birds 

 of New Zealand ' (vol. ii., p. 195) :— 



On my last voyage from the Antipodes, by direct steamer by way of Cape Horn, I made careful observa- 

 tions on the Albatroses that followed us. During the first few days from the New Zealand coast (middle of 

 March), and in lat. 56° S., some twenty or more of D. exulans were in daily attendance. Nearly the whole of 

 these were in the dark plumage characteristic of the young birds, the fore-neck, breast, and upper parts of the 

 body being of various shades of chocolate-brown, and the face, throat, and abdomen pure white. In some the 

 brown on the breast was very pale, and in one or more of them was reduced to a mere cloud of speckled 

 markings. One bird, however, and the only one in the white body-plumage mentioned above, was conspicuous 

 among the group. It had the head, neck, back, and all the under-parts of the purest white ; and the upper 

 surface of the wings blackish-brown, with a broad white patch at the humeral flexure. It was a bird of con- 

 siderable size— larger, indeed, than any of the others— and seemed to take much wider sweeps over the ocean, 

 and often approached so near to the stern of our ship that I could detect the pinky flesh-colour of the beak. 

 Its tail was white, with what appeared to be a terminal band of black. In long. 126°, the weather being 

 bitterly cold, all the Albatroses had left us. But three days later, lat. 56° '22 S., long. 107° 9' W., a pair of 

 young birds (in brown plumage) came up to us about noon ; and on the following day (March 21), with a stiff 

 gale blowing, an old one appeared in the midst of a flock of Petrels, but did not remain very long. The last 

 appearance of this species was on the 22nd March, lat. 56°, long. 88°, when two birds (one of them in the 

 young plumage) joined us about noon and followed our ship till dark. At this time we were steaming before 

 the wind at a great rate, our log having registered a run of 320 miles for the previous twenty-four hours. 



The late Captain Fairchild, of the ' Hinemoa,' who had for some years made a close study of 

 the Albatros on its breeding-grounds, had long maintained that there were two species. Originally 

 he was of opinion that the large white-headed form was only to be found breeding on Campbell 

 Island and other places to the south of the Auckland Islands. Until one of his last cruises, 

 indeed, he had never found it breeding anywhere but on Campbell Island, whilst the common 

 species appeared to have exclusive possession of the Auckland Islands, Antipodes Island, and the 

 other islands to the north ; and he had always found this species nesting four or five weeks earlier 

 than the other — that is to say, the Campbell Island bird commenced to lay about the end of 

 December, and the Auckland Island bird about the first week in February ; in other words, 

 Diomedea exulans was commencing to lay in the Auckland Islands just when the larger species 

 was hatching out its young further south. On a later visit, however, to the last-named group, 

 Captain Fairchild found a colony of Diomedea regia nesting there, but occupying a separate 

 locality, and quite apart from Diomedea exulans. Here, too, in the Auckland Islands, the same 



