NATATORES. 



397 



" An bid male, of a beautiful rose tint, suffered himself to be taken, 

 by hand, off an egg. Many others were taken in the same manner, 

 but they were generally females. This was at Honden Island, on the 

 21st of August, at which time, we found freshly-laid eggs and young 

 birds just ready to fly, showing that the seasons of incubation of this 

 species are not regular. 



" Both this and the preceding species (P. cBtliereus), take their food, 

 which is generally living fishes, by diving after them, from the wing, 

 in the same manner as the Terns." 



Mr. Peale's observations in reference to the color of the tail in the 

 young of this bird is of much importance, and will account for the 

 confusion that exists in ornithological works in relation to this and 

 the preceding species. The two are, however, quite distinct, so much 

 so in fact, that they have been assigned to separate genera by the 

 Prince Bonaparte, in his Monograph of this group, in Conspectus 

 Avium, II, p. 183. The preceding species, he regards as the type of 

 the genus Phaeton, Linnaeus, and the latter as that of his new genus, 

 PhoenicuTus. 



Specimens, in excellent preservation and in various stages of plu- 

 mage, are in the collection of the Expedition. 



7. Genus DIOMEDEA, Lmnams, Sjst. Nat. I, p. 214 (1766). 



1. DiOMEDEA EXULANS, Linn. — The Wandering Albatross. 



Diomedea exulans, LiNN. Syst. Nat. I, p. 214 (1766). 

 Diomedea spadicea, Gm. Syst. Nat. I, p. 568 (1788). 



Buff. PI. Enl. 237 ; Gould, B. of Aust. VII, Plate XXXVIII ; 

 Vieill. Gal. II, Plate CCXCV. 



Of this well-known species, the largest of the sea-birds, we find 

 numerous specimens in the collection of the Expedition, from both 

 the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Its occurrence we find quite fre- 

 quently recorded, with great care, by Dr. Pickering, and it is evidently 

 one of the most abundant and widely diffused species of its family. 



We introduce, from the Journal of Dr. Pickering, the following 

 notices of this remarkable species : 



100 



