113. DIOMEDEA PLATEI, Beichenow. 



(PLATE'S ALBATROS.) 

 (Plate 98a.) 



Diomedea platei, Reichenow, Orn. M.B., VL, p. 190 (1898) ; Schalow, Zool. Jahrb., 

 SuppL, IV., 1898, p. 749 ; Reichenow, J. f. O., 1899, p. 119, 1900, pp. 244, 

 245, cum fig. ; id., Orn. M.B., XIV., p. 51 (1906). 



Diomedea cauta, imm., Ogilvie-Grant, Ibis, 1905, p. 559. 



D. bulleri similis, pileo minime pulchre cinereo, sed dorso concolori, fumoso-griseo : 

 rostro nigricante nee grisescenti-corneo, culmine pallidiore, corneo haud flavo 

 distinguenda. 



This apparently distinct species was described by Professor Reichenow from a 

 specimen procured by Dr. Plate at Cavancha, Chile, and is at present represented 

 by the unique example in the Berlin Museum. 



Professor Reichenow, in his diagnosis, points out the difference between his new 

 species and Diomedea bulleri, the type of which was lent to him for comparison by the 

 Hon. Walter Rothschild. In 1905, Mr. Ogilvie-Grant, writing on the birds of New 

 Zealand and the adjacent islands, expressed his opinion that D. platei was an 

 immature bird of Thalassogeron cautus, but to this Professor Reichenow demurred. 

 To his kindness and that of Professor Brauer, the Director of Berlin Museum, I am 

 indebted for the opportunity of examining and figuring the type of D. platei in the 

 present work. When I first saw the specimen in the Berlin Museum I was much 

 impressed with its distinct appearance, and now having made a closer examination, 

 I agree with Professor Reichenow that it has nothing in common with T. cautus, 

 and that it is a true Diomedea, allied to D. bulleri, of which it may possibly be 

 the young. I am, however, unable to determine this point, because neither the 

 Rothschild Collection nor the British Museum contains any specimen in the least 

 resembling it. 



Above smoky-grey ; scapulars darker ; lower back slaty-grey ; rump and 

 upper tail-coverts pure white ; wings slightly darker than the back, with smoky-grey 

 margins to the coverts and the secondaries ; quills blackish, greyer on the inner web ; 



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