DIOMEDEA NIGRIPES. 



1896, its most northerly point being about four hundred miles from that port. He 

 believed that it occurs but rarely in Kamtschatkan waters, and it was not seen by 

 Dr. Stejneger in the Commander Islands. D. nigripes has been observed along the 

 western coast of North America as far south as California, and was obtained on the 

 island of Guadalupe in June, by Messrs. Brown and Marsden (Thayer and Bangs, 

 Condor, X., p. 103, 1908). Major Barrett-Hamilton found it in great numbers between 

 San Francisco and Honolulu, and it is also recorded from the seas of the Hawaiian 

 Islands and Laysan, where Mr. Walter K. Fisher (Auk, XXI., p. 9, 1904) found 

 large numbers, breeding chiefly on the sea beaches. D. nigripes formerly frequented 

 Marcus Island, but Mr. Alanson Bryan informs us that it has now been extermi- 

 nated by the Japanese traders, who have destroyed their colonies and those of 

 D. immutabilis, and, after boiling down the bodies, packed them off to Japan for 

 manure. D. nigripes has not actually been found on the Galapagos Islands, although 

 it was observed by the Webster-Harris Expedition to the northward of this group, 

 and especially in Lat. 32° 35' N., Long. 119° W., and again in Lat. 32° 35' N., 

 Long. 137° W. 



A specimen in the British Museum, said to be from Hakodate in Japan, is 

 probably that recorded by Seebohm (Ibis, 1884, p. 176) as shot on May 17th in 

 the Strait of Sungaru, separating Yezo from the main island of Japan. Seebohm also 

 records another male specimen from the Sagami Province near Yokohama (Ibis, 1885, 

 p. 363) obtained on the 27th February, and Hoist found great numbers breeding on 

 the Volcano Islands in June (Seebohm, Ibis, 1891, p. 191). Major Barrett-Hamilton, 

 who noticed this Albatros off Staten Island, one of the Kuriles, Lat. 45° 29' N., 

 Long. 156° 16' E., says that D. nigripes was constantly seen on the voyage from San 

 Francisco to Yokohama in June, 1896, excepting in latitudes south of 23° 29' N., where 

 it was very scarce. When passing north from Hong Kong through the China Seas 

 in May, 1897, he saw the first " Gooney " near the Heachu Islands, and others were 

 observed in Lat. 28° 41' N., Long. 122° 11' E., while a white-rumped specimen was 

 seen on the same day about 4^ hours from Wohsung, and another on the 23rd, as the 

 Japanese coast was approached (Ibis, 1903, p. 320). 



Swinhoe found D. nigripes abundant in the Formosa Channel at all seasons, and 

 there can be no doubt that it occurs throughout Chinese waters. He endeavoured to 

 keep four of this species and two D. albatrus alive in his house at Amoy, but they 

 would not feed, and gradually grew weaker till they died. One of the birds 

 lived for twenty-nine days, and, as it had previously been a week in confinement, 

 Swinhoe estimated that the poor bird survived for thirty-five days at least without 

 food. 



These Albatroses sit high on the water, and, unless gorged with food, rise 

 without difficulty, but when preparing to fly, they walk on the water for a short 

 distance, with their wings extended, using their great webbed feet to assist them. 



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