120. THALASSOGERON CARTERI, Rothschild. 



(CARTER'S ALBATROS.) 

 (Plate 102 A.) 



Thalassogeron carteri, Rothschild, Bull. B. 0. C, XIV., p. 6 (1903) ; Hall, Key Birds 

 Austr., p. 114 (1901); Carter, Emu, III., p. 208 (1904); Mathews, Handl. 

 Birds Austral., p. 19 (1908). 



Diomedea carteri, Rothschild, Bull. B. O. C, XV., p. 44 (1905). 



Thalassogeron, sp. inc., Eagle Clarke, Ibis, 1905, p. 265. 



T. chlororhyncho similis, sed rostro toto nigro : facie laterali et pilei lateribus, 

 collo et interscapulio pure albis, minime cinereo lavatis, pedibusque flavicanti-albis 

 distinguenda. 



The type of T. carteri was procured off the North- West of Australia, near Point 

 Cloates, on May 12th, 1900, and for the loan of which I am indebted to the Hon. 

 Walter Rothschild ; it appears to be in fully adult plumage, but as the entire bill is 

 black it may be found that the bird is not really adult, as the black bill is usually 

 a sign of immaturity. 



I have compared the type with the series of Albatroses both in the British 

 and Tring Museums, but I can find no species with which to identify T. carteri. It is 

 possible that like some of the true Albatroses, the members of the genus Thalassogeron 

 do not assume their fully adult plumage for two or three years, and that the bill 

 remains black for some time before it becomes parti-coloured. 



The Hon. Walter Rothschild and Dr. Hartert, in their original description, 

 point out that T. carteri belongs to the section of Thalassogeron chlororhynchus, from 

 which, however, it differs in having the bill, including the culmen, black, the face 

 and sides of the head white, without the grey tinge exhibited by T. chlororhynchus ; 

 the feet are yellowish in life and without any blackish colour on the digits and 

 tarsi (Rothschild, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, XV., p. 44). 



Mr. Eagle Clarke in his paper on the " Birds of Gough Island," procured by the 

 Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, mentions (Ibis, 1905, p. 265) a bird which he 

 was unable to identify with any known species. It was captured on the island by 



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