MONOGRAPH OF THE PETRELS. 



the British Museum, was obtained by Captain Ayscough of H.M.S. " Ringdove," 

 October 20th, 1899. Adult and young specimens were also presented to the Museum 

 by Sir George Newnes from the " Southern Cross " Expedition, and were obtained 

 by Captain Jensen when visiting the above islands. 



During the voyage of the " Erebus " and " Terror," Dr. McCormick procured 

 some specimens in 1840 on Enderby Island in the Auckland group, but the late 

 Captain Hutton states (Ibis, 1905, p. 557) that the species is no longer to be found 

 there, but breeds now at the east end of Adam Island, one of the same group. 

 Buller, in the " Supplement " to his " Birds of New Zealand " (I., p. 140), mentions 

 that Captain Fairchild had found both D. regia and D. exulans breeding on the 

 Auckland Islands, but occupying quite separate localities. The season of incubation 

 is different, D. regia hatching out its young when D. exulans is only commencing 

 to lay its eggs. On the Auckland Islands Captain Bollons states that D. regia 

 breeds in the middle of November, and eggs in an advanced state of incubation 

 were obtained by the Earl of Ranfurly on the 18th of January, 1901. 



How far the range of this Albatros extends to the eastward or westward of 

 New Zealand yet remains to be proved by future investigators. A specimen from the 

 neighbourhood of Mar del Plata, in the Province of Buenos Ayres, has been recorded 

 by Dr. C. Berg (I.e.). Here it might have been expected that the Atlantic species, 

 D. chionoptera, would have been found ; the bird is said, however, to be 

 D. regia. 



Many travellers, without obtaining examples whereby they might have verified 

 the species, have recorded white Albatroses at sea, both in the Atlantic and Pacific 

 Oceans. Dr. Wilson, during the voyage of the " Discovery," saw what he believed 

 to be D. regia on March 11th, 1904, in Lat. 56° S., Long. 164° E. He states that 

 between New Zealand and Cape Horn neither D. exulans nor D. regia was observed, 

 but in the South Atlantic one of the two was seen quite close to the Falkland 

 Islands, and another large and remarkably white Albatros was observed a little 

 further north (Nat. Antarct. Exped., II., pp. 110, 111). Sir Walter Buller records the 

 appearance of a large white Albatros during four successive days while crossing the 

 Pacific ; he believed it to be D. regia and estimated the distance traversed by the 

 bird at 970 miles, if measured in a straight line. 



The habits of this species are similar to those of D. exulans, which have been 

 already described. The nest is a mere collection of loose material placed in any 

 convenient depression on the ground. Four eggs from the Auckland Islands, now 

 in the British Museum, are of a yellowish white, only one has any rufous marking 

 at the larger end. They measure : axis, 4.8-5.65 inches ; diameter, 3.1-3.2. 



Nestling. Covered with pure white down, of a very dense character. Sir 

 Walter Buller states that the downy plumes are sometimes six inches in length. 

 As mentioned above, this downy stage is retained for a long time, and when the bird 



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