AUSTRALIAN WANDERING ALBATROS. 
1866, p. 177) included it in the synonymy of D. hmchyura Temm., and wrote : 
“ A specimen before me, unquestionably hrachyura, is in precisely the state of 
plumage described under the name epomophora by Lesson.” 
This was decidedly a pure mistake, as D. hrachyura never has “ la queue, 
d’un blanc de neige.” 
More recently Salvin and Godman have placed this name in the synonymy 
of D. exulans, being apparently prejudiced by the fact that Lesson noted that 
Quoy wrote that this was the young of that species. The first line, “ Taille 
moindre que celle du precedent {D. exulansY^ has also contributed to the non- 
recognition of Lesson’s species. If the original specimen were a young bird 
of course this would be correct, as there can be no doubt that Lesson’s name 
must be used for the bird recently known as D. regia BuUer. 
The white tail is distinctive of that species alone, as D. chionoptera does 
not attain a pure white tail until it has its “ snow-white ” wings, whereas 
“ D. regia ” has the tail pure white from its first plumage. 
The confusion surrounding D. exulans, “D. regia,""' and D. diionoptera 
has not been all dissipated by the treatment in the Monograph ; there we read, 
“ the true D. exulans, frequenting the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans 
... the only authentic nesting-places of this species, are Antipodes Island and 
other islands of the New Zealand area ; D. regia, of the New Zealand area ; 
and D. chionoptera, inhabiting the Cape seas and the South Indian Ocean.” 
D. exulans exulans must be restricted to the South Atlantic bird, which 
apparently breeds on Inaccessible Island, Tristan d’Acunha group, and Gough 
Island. 
D. exulans chionoptera should be used for the bird breeding on Kerguelen 
Island, as the characters of the bill of this bird agree with that of D. exulans, 
and it is also said that the young passes through the same plumage-changes 
as that bird. 
The New Zealand breeding bird which I have called D. exulans rothschildi 
is the one we know most about, yet little is known about the plumage-changes 
as regards age. That the dark-plumaged bird (D. spadicea Gmehn) breeds is 
well known, as Buller wrote {Trans. New Zeal. Inst. 1891, Vol. XXIV., p. 68, 
1892) : “ On Antipodes Island the breeding birds are for the most part in the 
dark grey plumage with the white face and throat. One of the officers of the 
Hinemoa told me that he turned many of these dark-coloured birds bfi; the 
nest, and always found an egg”; and {id., ib., Vol. XXV., p. 77), “All the 
Albatroses on Antipodes Island are dark birds.” These observations seem 
confirmed by the photographs given by Waite in the Subant. I si. New Zeal., 
where a “bird on the nest,” “bird walking,” and “birds mating” are all more 
or less dark. 
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