398 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



" Diomedea exulans was first seen in the Atlantic, on the 22d day of 

 January, 1839, in latitude 40° S., on the passage from Rio de Janeiro 

 to the Rio Negro, and occasionally afterwards to Cape Horn, and as 

 far south as the cruise extended. A smaller species of Albatross had 

 previously been seen frequently. 



" This bird seemed much more common in the Pacific, especially 

 on the passage to Callao ; and, on the 4th of April, in about latitude 

 42° south, in thick drizzling weather, numbers were taken with hooks 

 and lines. Similar instances were spoken of by persons on board as 

 having occurred in their experience, and our being on whaling-ground 

 was the attributed cause of the abundance of this species." 



Under date of 1st of April, 1839, Dr. Pickering mentions : 



" A female specimen of the large Albatross, shot to-day, measured 

 nine feet seven inches in extent of wings, and weighed eighteen 

 pounds. Tongue short and fleshy, with lacinice pointed backwards ; 

 stomach membranous only." On the 4th of April, he says : " Alba- 

 trosses numerous, and several taken, the largest of which measured 

 ten feet in extent of wings. All of them appeared to be entirely 

 unable to walk or even to stand on the deck of the vessel. On difier- 

 ent specimens were two species of Pediculus, one of which was large 

 and very curious, having the fore feet very short ; length seven-twen- 

 tieths of an inch. On one specimen were numerous specimens of the 

 young of Anatlfa, apparently just having attached themselves as the 

 bird had been captured." 



Though admitted by Mr. Nuttall as a species of North America 

 (Manual of the Ornithology of the U. S. and Canada, II, p. 340), no 

 instance of this gigantic bird having been observed on the coast of the 

 United States has ever come to our notice. It is possible, however, that 

 it may yet be detected on the shores of California. 



2. Diomedea brachtura, Tcmminck. — The Short-tailed Albatross. 



Diomedea brachyura, Temm. PI. Col. V, p. (liv. 75, about 1828). 

 Diomedea nigripes, AuD. Orn. Biog. V, p. 327 (1839). 



Temm. PI. Col. V, Plate DLIV ; Temm. & Schleg. Faun. Japon. 

 Plate LXXXVII ; Cassin, Birds of California and Texas, Plate 

 XXXV, L ; Gould, Birds of Aust. VII, Plate XXXIX. 



