105. DIOMEDEA REGIA, Butter. 



(ROYAL ALBATROS.) 

 (Plate 90.) 



Diomedea exulans, pt. (nee Linn.), Buller, Birds New Zeal., 2nd Ed., II., p. 189 

 (1888) ; Filhol, Mem. Acad. France, Miss, de l'Be Campbell, III., pt. 2, p. 44 

 (1885). 



Diomedea exulans (nee Linn.), Reischek, Tr. N. Zeal. Inst., XXL, p. 126 (1889) ; 

 Buller, op. cit., XXIL, p. 340 (1890). 



Diomedea regia, Buller, Tr. N. Zeal. Inst., XXIIL, p. 234 (1891), XXIV., p. 68 

 (1892), XXV., p. 76 (1893), XXVIL, p. 120 (1895); Salvin, Cat. Birds 

 Brit. Mus., XXV, p. 443 (1896) ; Berg, Comun. Mus. Nac. Buenos Ayres, 

 I., No. 8, p. 283 (1901) ; Ogilvie-Grant, Ibis, 1905, p. 557 ; Buller, Suppl. 

 Birds New Zeal., I., p. 138 (1905). 



Ad. D. exulanti similis, sed notseo pure albo, minime fusco-brunneo transfasciato ; 

 scapularibus tantum griseo transfasciatis ; gastrseo quo que pure albo, minime fusco 

 transfasciato distinguenda : cauda pure alba. 

 Pull, duvedine pure alba, minime grisea indutus. 



Diomedea regia was until recently considered by ornithologists to be a form of 

 D. exulans in very old plumage, for in the fully adult stage the two species closely 

 resemble each other ; recent observations have, however, led to their separation on the 

 following grounds : — The nestling of D. regia is clothed in pure white down, which 

 persists until the young bird is nearly of the same size as the parent, and the first 

 plumage after the down is shed can scarcely be distinguished from that of the adult 

 bird. D. exulans, on the other hand, has the nestling clothed in grey down, and the 

 first full plumage of the young bird is brown, and it takes several years before it 

 attains an almost pure white livery, during which time cross-bars are never entirely 

 absent on the mantle and back, whereas in D. regia, if the cross-bars are present at all, 

 they are almost obsolete. 



The Royal Albatros frequents the seas and coasts of New Zealand, and breeds on 

 the Auckland and Campbell Islands : from the latter an immature specimen, now in 



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