Order PEOCELLAEIIFOEMESj . 



[Family DIOMEDEIDiE. 



DIOMEDEA BULLEEI. 



(BIILLEE'S ALBATEOS.) 



Diomedea culminata {nee Gould), Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 201. 

 Diomedea bulled, Rothschild, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. i., p. 58 (1893). 



The bird which had hitherto been called Diomedea culminata in our New Zealand lists was pro- 

 nounced by the late Mr. Salvin to be a new species, and is described in the ' Ibis ' (vol. v., 1893, 

 p. 572) by Mr. W. Rothschild, who has been good enough to dedicate this new form to myself. 

 The type of the species — besides a very large series of representative specimens — is in the 

 Rothschild Museum at Tring. 



The following is his diagnosis : Thalassogeronti culwiinato quoad colores similis, sed rostro 

 pallidiore, culmine ad basin latiore, ad latera attingente, culmine omnino flavo ; alis subtus 

 niveis. He adds: "It differs materially from the true Thalassogeron culminatus (Grould), a species 

 of Ridgway's genus Thalassogeron, the base of the culminicorn being separated by an interval of 

 soft skin from the latericorn. In this respect the present species is somewhat intermediate 

 between Diomedea and Thalassogeron, but the base of the culminicorn, though not so well 

 developed, distinctly spreads and has a well-defined posterior margin." 



The only known breeding place of this species is on the Snares. The nest is quite similar in 

 form and construction to that of Diomedea salvini, already described. My informant has supplied 

 me with a number of eggs. They are very elliptical in form, and vary slightly in size, an average 

 one measuring 4 inches in length by 2*5 in. in breadth. Some are uniform creamy- white ; others 

 have the larger end more or less splashed with extremely fine dots of reddish brown, becoming 

 confluent in some places and forming an indistinct zone. 



According to Mr. Bethune, a very safe authority, this is the only species of Albatros that 

 breeds on the Snares. 



Captain Hutton was at one time under the impression that Diomedea bidleri could not be 

 separated from D. culminata. But in a communication which appears in ' The Ibis,' for April, 

 1903, he says : — 



Dr. Davidson of s.s. ' Morning,' has brought to the Museum two specimens of a Mollymawk from the 

 Indian Ocean, which I take to be the true T. culminatus. They are certainly distinct from D. bidleri, of the 

 Snares, and therefore the latter remains a good species. The difference between D. bidleri and T. culminatus 

 is in the culminicorn, which is much more expanded posteriorly in D. bidleri than in T. culminatus. If D. 

 bulleri had been put into the genus Thalassogeron, and the difference between it and T. culminatus pointed 

 out, there would have been no difficulty in the matter. D. bidleri is certainly congeneric with T. salvini. 

 Neither of these are such typical Thalassogerons as T. culminatus and T. chlororhynchus, but they cannot be 

 separated generically. 



Mr. Rothschild writes to me : "As to Diomedea bulleri, it seems to me to be intermediate 

 between D. culminata and D. layardi, and that species was founded (at Mr. Salvin's instigation) 

 on fifteen specimens in my collection." 



A beautiful water-colour drawing of this species, on a large scale, by Mr. Keulemans, 

 hangs in my library, and is a constant reminder of those storm-swept rocks at the Antipodes 

 where this Albatros has its breeding station. A successful photograph of this picture, by my 

 friend Mr. J. K. Campbell, is reproduced on page 152. The scene selected is one of the rocky 

 points on the Snares ; and in the distance a bird is shown sitting on its peculiar cheese-shaped 

 nest. 



