MONOGRAPH OF THE PETRELS. 



are now in the British Museum ; they are dull white, and marked on the larger 

 end with a profusion of red spots and blotches, many of which are confluent and 

 form a distinct cap. Isolated spots and markings of various sizes are scattered 

 over the shell. Length, 2.75 inches ; breadth, 2.05. 



Young (Type of D. derogata). Dark chocolate-brown above, the feathers with 

 obscure blackish margins on the mantle and scapulars, as well as the lower back, 

 rump and under tail-coverts ; the longer scapulars blackish towards the ends ; quills 

 blackish, the secondaries browner on the inner webs, the outer primaries with white 

 shafts; tail blackish; the head and sides of face blacker than the back, with concealed 

 whitish bases to the feathers ; chin slightly tinged with slaty-grey, which disappears on 

 the throat, which with the rest of the under surface is chocolate-brown, a little 

 paler than the back and more ashy-grey ; wing-coverts blackish-brown below, the 

 greater series greyer ; axillaries light ashy-brown, whitish towards the base ; quills 

 blackish below, white at the extreme base, and ashy towards the ends ; " bill dull 

 pink blotched with dusky colour at the base and dark pink towards the culmen ; 

 tip of upper mandible greenish-grey, lower one bluish-grey " (C. B. Rickett). Total 

 length, 31.0 inches ; culmen, 5.0 ; wing, 19.5 ; tail, 4.7 ; tarsus, 3.5 ; middle toe 

 and claw, 5.0. 



Dr. Stejneger says that a young bird from Copper Island had the " iris dark- 

 brown ; bill violet flesh-colour, the more bluish- white ; feet violet flesh-colour, 

 only somewhat tinged with brownish-grey." Mr. Nelson observed a young Albatros 

 of this species in dark plumage at Cape Romanzov, Alaska, just south of Bering Strait. 

 It had a bright yellow bill, with a conspicuous ring round the base, evidently produced 

 by the white feathers surrounding the base of the beak. It will be noticed from 

 the observations of the American naturalists that the colour of the bill in the 

 young varies considerably, doubtless with age, and that the yellow bill of the adult 

 is assumed by the young before its brown plumage is cast. 



Most of the specimens in the British Museum are dark brown in colour, with 

 black head and wings. None of these show any direct change from the brown 

 into the white form, but one example from Iturup is much greyer beneath with 

 white bases to the feathers, these apparently replacing the brown plumage of the 

 quite young bird. On the back the young feathers are light-brown, with broad 

 whitish edges, while the new plumage, which is replacing it, is uniform dark 

 brown without pale margins. Another specimen, also from Iturup, is brown above, 

 with an admixture of light edged feathers, as in the preceding specimen, but 

 with the olecranal white patch of the adult indicated on the inner secondaries 

 by broad whitish edgings to the feathers. The under-surface of the body is much 

 paler grey than in the young birds, and the fore-neck and breast are much variegated 

 with yellowish-white margins to the feathers ; the sides of the body, flanks, lower 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts being darker and of a more ashy-brown. The head 



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