Order PEOCELLAKIIFOBMES.] 



[Family DIOMEDEID.F. 



DIOMEDEA CULMINATA. 



(GEEY-HEADED ALBATEOS.) 



Diomedea culminata, Gould; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 201. 



There is little doubt that this species, whose true home appears to be the Indian Ocean, 

 occurs at times in the New Zealand seas, as well as its near congener, Diomedea hulleri. 



Having reference probably to this species, I copy the following entries from my diary for 

 1894 :— 



Off the Cape of Good Hope. February 14th. — The wind has freshened, and there is now a rough 

 sea. The Grey Petrel (if the same) has been joined by a mate, and they have remained with us all day. 

 About noon we bore down upon a flock of about fifty Cape Gannets (Sula capensis) floating on the water. 

 This species is distinguished by its nearly black tail. During the whole of the afternoon we were attended, 

 at a long distance astern, by a small Albatros which I take to be the true Diomedea culminata. 



February 15th. — The wind freshened during the night, and to-day we have had a heavy swell setting in 

 from the westward, along the wide expanse of ocean stretching away to Cape Horn. We have been steaming 

 most part of the day only about fifty miles from land, and have seen more birds. In the afternoon we came 

 upon a flock of Diomedea culminata (?), about twenty in number, disporting themselves in the water on our 

 weather-bow. Thej' took no notice whatever of the steamer, although we passed quite near to them. 



u 





DIOMEDEA CHLOllOHHYNCHA. 



(YELLOW-NOSED ALBATEOS.) 



Diomedea chlororhyncha, Gmelin; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 202. 



Captain Hutton says in a letter to myself : U T. clilororhynchus and T. culminatus are both 

 found occasionally in our seas, but I do not know that they breed here. Dr. Filhol says that 

 Thalassogeron clilororhynchus breeds at Campbell Island, but he probably did not distinguish 

 the species accurately. I saw none when I was there in 1901 — only D. melanophrys, which 

 was extremely abundant, and a few D. hulleri or T. culminatus." 



A specimen of Diomedea chlororhyncha (Gmelin) in the Museum at Brussels has a bill fully 

 one-third smaller than in D. culminata, Could, which stands alongside of it. The former 

 has the culmen and edge of lower mandible yellow, as in our D. hulleri. 



A specimen in Mr. Jennings' collection, shot off the Otago Heads, has the hook of the 

 upper mandible and the terminal shield of the lower very rich yellow. There is a narrow line 

 at the base of the bill, which appears to have been originally pinky. This bare membrane is 

 far less conspicuous, however, in this species than in Diomedea salvini. 



In Diomedea chlororhyncha the head and neck are perfectly white, there being no grey in 

 the plumage of these parts ; the superciliary streak and patch in front of the eyes are greyish 

 black. 



