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DIOMEDEA CHLOEORHYNCHOS (Latham). 



YELLOW-BILLED ALBATRUS. Genus: Diomedea. 



THIS species is frequently seen in the company of the preceding one, which, in its flight, habits, etc., 

 it resembles ; and like the Black-eyebrowed Albatros, the species is well-known and displays no 

 timidity in approaching very close to ships, and is often called the Yellow-nosed Albatros. 



The plumage of this species seems to vary according either to their habitat or age. In the 

 icy regions of the Antarctic Seas they have been observed with the whole head, neck, and underparts 

 a spotless white ; while in more temperate latitudes the same parts have a greyish tinge. 



Like the Wandering Albatros, they rarely fly more than five or six feet above the surface 

 of the water, except when compelled to a greater altitude by inclement weather, always descending 

 close to the water when it moderates, and sweeping in graceful undulations just over the ocean swell, 

 seeking with keen eye any refuse that may be floating in the wake of the ship. 



The breeding places are those inhospitable islands within the Antarctic Circle, and here, during 

 the process of incubation, the bird may be approached on the nest, and without offering the slightest 

 resistance, can be pulled off, only to again waddle back with the utmost gravity to its post. The nest 

 is usually ten or twelve inches high, of a cylindrical form with a small ditch around the base ; one 

 egg only is deposited, very white and large and peculiar in shape, being long in proportion and equally 

 thick at both ends. Sometimes, when the area of the breeding ground is too limited for the great 

 numbers of birds that flock thereto, many of them will be satisfied with an adjacent dry spot, and 

 despising the labour of erecting a nest, merely make a slight concavity in the soil to prevent the egg 

 from rolling, and there deposit it. 



Like the other Albatroses, this bird nourishes its young 1 by disgorging: the contents of the 

 stomach ; doubtless this is from the fact that as the bulk of the food is the decaying blubber of dead 

 whales, seals, &c, such soft and oily substances could not be carried in the bill to any distance. 



It was observed by Captain Carinichael that this bird, when irritated, would separate the feathers 

 of the cheek and display a beautiful stripe of naked orange skin, running from the corners of the mouth 

 toward the back of the head. 



Head, neck, all the under surface, rump and under surfaces of the wing, white ; before, above, 

 and behind the eye, a faint grey line ; back, wings, and tail, brownish-black ; culmen, from the base 

 to the point, a bright orange-yellow ; remainder of the bill, black ; feet, white, with a faint bluish tinge. 



Length, 3G inches ; breadth from wing to wing, 84 inches ; bill, 4 inches. 



Habitats : The whole of the Southern Ocean, without the Tropics, is familiar to this bird, 

 although it does not confine its peregrinations to the colder latitudes alone, being met with in all 

 the intermediate seas between the Cape of Good Hope and Tasmania, and from thence to the coast 

 of South America. 



