DIOMEDEA EXULANS. 



D. e-xulans, it remains to be discovered whether there is not a further stage, 

 when the zigzag bars entirely disappear and the back and mantle are pure white, like 

 the head. If this were the case, the adults of D. regia and D. chionoptera would 

 be indistinguishable from those of D. exulans, as they were considered to be until 

 recent times. 



Adult male. White above, with no vermiculations on the crown, which has 

 however, a sooty-brown patch, more or less broken up ; the hinder-neck 

 obscurely, but the rest of the upper-surface plainly vermiculated with ashy or 

 brown zigzag bars, the bases of the feathers being white ; scapulars white, with 

 rather coarser transverse wavy lines, the longer ones white, broadly black at the 

 ends and on the outer web, the inner webs dotted with dusky brown spots ; wing- 

 coverts almost entirely slaty-black, mottled with white along the edge of the wing, 

 the inner coverts black with white bases, somewhat mottled with brown spots, many 

 of the inner greater coverts slaty-black on the outer, white on the inner webs, 

 several of the median and greater coverts either margined or tipped with white ; 

 quills black, the primaries with yellow shafts, the inner webs of the secondaries for the 

 most part white ; the inner greater and median coverts white, forming with the 

 adjacent inner secondaries a large olecranal* patch of white ; tail-feathers for the 

 most part white with scarcely any zigzag bars, and the greater part of the outer web 

 black ; sides of face and entire under-surface of body pure white, with zigzag bars 

 on the sides of the breast ; " bill whitish with a faint pink blush, the tip of both 

 upper and lower mandibles being yellowish ; legs, toes and webs greyish white, when 

 viewed by transmitted light, fleshy pink, claws whitish ; iris dark brown ; both 

 upper and lower eyelids bright scarlet " (E. A. Wilson). Total length, about 4 feet ; 

 culmen, 6.75 ; wing, 26.0 ; tail, 8.0 ; tarsus, 5.0 ; middle toe and claw, 7.3. 



The colour of the eyelid, as recorded by different observers, varies considerably. 

 A pair of birds obtained by Nikolai Hanson in the Cape Seas had the eye-lid bluish- 

 grey, whereas, as will be noticed above, Dr. E. A. Wilson gives it as bright scarlet 

 (Nat. Antarctic Exped., II., Aves, p. 108). The three birds here mentioned have 

 been examined by me, and they are undoubtedly D. exulans, and quite adult. The 

 eyelid is described by Gould as " bare, fleshy and of a pale green colour." 



The bird described is fully adult, while another specimen, not quite so old, has 

 a dark brown patch on the crown, as in the younger individuals. The second 

 specimen, also from Nikolai Hanson's Collection, has a distinct brown patch on the 

 head ; the tail is black, as also the wing, the white olecranal patch not being present. 



Several naturalists have commented on the presence of a reddish tinge on the 

 sides of the neck in the adult Albatros. Buller (Birds New Zeal., 2nd ed., II., p. 192) 



* I have adopted the term suggested by Mr. Pycraft. It is intended to indicate the large oval 

 patch of white which occurs in the region of the elbow- joint in Albatroses. This patch is formed by the 

 white bases of the innermost secondaries, and the coverts overlapping this region. 



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