204 
“ It is a large and powerful bird, the male being scarcely a third less in size than the I), exulans ; 
is rapid and vigorous on the wung, and takes immense sweeps over the surface of the ocean. It will 
be interesting to learn the extent of the range of this species. A head in the possession of Sir 
William Jardine was said to have been procured at the Cape of Good Hope, but I believe this was 
by no means certain. When fully adult the sexes differ but little in colour ; the female may, how- 
ever, at all times be distinguished by her diminutive size, and the young by the bill being clouded 
with dark grey. Besides being larger than the three succeeding species (namely, D. culminata, 
I), chlororhyncha, and D. melanoplirys, to which and the present the generic appellation of Thalassarche 
has been given), the beautiful grey on the sides of the mandibles and the yellow mark at the base of 
the lower mandible will at all times distinguish this bird from the other members of the genus. The 
stomachs of those I obtained in Becherche Bay contained blubber, the remains of large fish, barnacles, 
and other crustaceans.” 
Prof. Hutton added this bird to the New-Zealand avifauna on the authority of a specimen 
captured at Blueskin Bay, in Otago; and in 1877 I exhibited and described* an adult female taken 
on the beach near the Wellington Pilot Station and brought to me alive. The fishermen by whom 
it was caught informed me that it had apparently been shot at sea and allowed to float ashore, the 
right wing being completely disabled, but that they had nevertheless considerable trouble in over- 
taking it before it reached the water ■!■. 
In lat. 55° S., long. 135° W,, in fine but intensely cold weather, a pair came up to us and followed 
our steamer for two or three hours. They fly in company with B. exulans and appear to associate 
freely enough with the smaller Petrels, but they did not once approach very near to the ship. Their 
flight is graceful and in wide circles, the outstretched wings appearing narrower and straighter than 
in the other species of Albatros, there being scarcely any perceptible curve. 
A shrewd collector, who appeared to know the bird well, assured me that he found it breeding 
on the Snares, the nest being placed on a high platform of rock and the birds being quite unapproach- 
able, rising on the slightest alarm and circling high in the air till all danger was past, in which respect 
their habits differ entirely from those of the Wandering Albatros, which will often allow itself to be 
captured on the nest. 
This species may be readily distinguished from all the other members of the group, notwith- 
standing the similarity of colour, by the basal black band on the bill and the peculiar fleshy membranes 
which fringe the base of the lower mandible and extend down the cheeks, in the form of a narrow 
rib, the use or purpose of which in the natural economy of the bird it is impossible to imagine. 
This feature was entirely new to me ; but I find that it exists in another species also, for Capt. Car- 
michael, writing of D. chlororhyncha, says : — “ A curious circumstance, with regard to this bird, is 
that when irritated the feather’s of its cheeks are separated, so as to display a beautiful stripe of 
naked orange skin running from the corners of the mouth towards the back of the head.” 
The only thing analogous to it among the other Biomedece is the fleshy rib which extends from the 
angles of the mouth backward in B.fidiginosa. 
I am indebted to Mr. L. WTlson, of the Marine Department, for two specimens of the egg of this 
species, which were collected by him on one of the islands lying off the east coast during one of his 
official trips in the steamboat ‘ Stella.’ They are broadly elliptical in form (presenting, indeed, a 
perfect ellipse) ; one is appreciably larger than the other, and they are yellowish white, with a finely 
granulate surface, but somewhat soiled by contact with the bird’s feet. The larger one measures 
4 inches in length by 2’6 in breadth ; the other 3’7 inches by 2’5. 
* Trans. jS'.-Z. Inst. vol. x. p. 217. 
t Hr. Cheeseman lias since recorded a male specimen, presented to the Auckland Museum by Mr. Bate of Parnell. 
