Okdek TUBINABES.] 
[Fam. PEOCELLAKIID^. 
DIOMEDEA MELANOPHEYS. 
(BLACK -EYEBEO WED ALBATROS.) 
Biometlea melanophrys, Boie, in Temm. PL Col. v. pi. 456 (1828). 
Native name. — Toroa. 
Ad. albus : interscapulio et scapularibus cum ala tota schistaceo-nigris : dorso postico^ uropygio et supraeaudalibus 
albis : caudtl sclustaceo-nigiA, scapis albidis : regione oculari delicate ciuerea^ supril oculum saturatiore, 
supercilium formante : rostro sordide flavo : pedibus flavicanti-albisj cyanescente yix lavatis, plaiitis etiam 
cyanesccnte tinctis : iride pallide brunnea. 
Adult. General plumage pure white j middle portion of back and upper surface of wings slaty black ; in front 
of the eyes a broad patch of bluish grey, which passes into a darker streak over and behind them ; tail dark 
ash-g]'ey, the shafts of the feathers white. Iridos light brown ; bill dull yellow ; legs and toes yellowish 
white, the interdigital webs and the joints washed more or less with pale blue. Total length 34 inches j 
wing, from flexure, 20' 3 ; tail 8; bill, along the curvature 5'25, from gape to extremity of lower mandible 
4‘75 ; tarsus 3; middle toe and claw 4*75. 
05s. Individuals vary in size, and in one of my specimens the bill measures along the culmen 6 inehes, and from 
gape to tip, in a direct line, 4-75. 
Young. Differs from the adult in having the head and neck ash-grey, and the upper surface of wings and inter- 
scapular region brownish black, the smaller wing-coverts with paler margins, the bill blue-black, and the 
legs and feet bluish grey. 
Prog"ess toivards maturity. The grey gradually changes to white ; according to Prof. Hutton’s observations 
“ first on the cheeks, then spreading to the top of the head, leaves a collar round the neck, which breaks first 
in front, and gradually spreads upwards until the whole is white.” He adds that ” the bill remains dark 
blue for some time after the plumage has assumed the colours of the adult.” Although mainly correct this 
does not exactly accord with my own observations. I have a specimen in which the old eolour presents 
only an irregular wash of ash-grey on the crown and sides of the head, whilst the dark bill is undergoing a 
rapid change, the culmen, bilge of hook, and outer edge of lower mandible being dull yellow. 
Another in my collection has the bill blackish brown, changing to dull yellow on the ridge and again 
on the hook, also, less distinctly, along the edge of the lower mandible. The crown is white j occiput and 
hind neck pale slaty grey, forming a sort of half-eollar around the neck. 
A third specimen has a yellow bill ; the vertex is still clouded with grey, forming a sort of nuchal cap j 
there is the usual dark streak tlnough the eyes, and the hind neck is entirely white. Bill measures 4 
inches] following curvature 4’75. (Sex ? .) 
In a fourth, which has fully assumed the adult plumage, the bill is yellowish grey, lighter on the hook, 
but with a dark band around the base and another extending to the nostrils. 
Nestling. Covered with long, thick woolly down, of a pale grey colour ; bill brownish black with yellowish horn- 
coloured tip ; legs and feet yellowish white. In form plump, and having a comfortable aldermanic appear- 
ance. 
Tins species of Albatros is far more common in our seas than Biomedea exulans, and habitually 
