THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Regarding D. e. chionoptera this would not appear to be the case, as 
although Hall {Ihis^ 1900, p. 12) concludes that this bird has similar plumage- 
changes to D, e. exulans, he does not record any other but white-plumaged 
birds as breeding ; while Moseley {Notes hy a Naturalist, second ed., p. 149, 
1892) recorded of the Marion Island birds : — 
“ The female albatross is sprinkled with grey on the back, and is thus darker 
than the male, which is of a splendid snow-white with the least possible grey 
speckling, and was now seen in his full glory and best breeding plumage ; the 
tails and the wings of both birds are dark.” 
Here it would seem that the dark-plumaged birds do not breed. 
The observations made at sea by most observers, do not help at all towards 
solving such problems, and most recent naturalists who have had the oppor- 
tunity, have made few notes regarding the plumages of breeding birds through 
the false impression that such were valueless. At the present time the numerous 
observations made at sea are practically valueless on account of the lack of 
land-breeding notes. 
Wilson {National Antarct. Exp,, Aves, p. 108, 1907) records that an adult 
male procured in 35° 10' S. lat. and 13° 40' W. long., had the “ Eyelids, both 
upper and lower, bright scarlet.” Nikolai Hanson wrote that Cape birds had 
the “ Eyelid bluish-grey,” but this is a peculiar lapse on Hanson’s part, as 
is noted in many of his specimens of Petrels in the British Museum, where 
“ blue-grey ” is written concerning soft parts which obviously have never had 
that coloration, and this seems to be another case. 
There appears to be many races of D. exulans, but lack of series prevents 
the discrimination of such. 
I have concluded that E. e. exulans must be used for the South Atlantic 
breeding bird, and as it is known to breed on Tristan d’Acunha, I would select 
that island as the type-locality of Linne’s D. exulans. I have noted that Comer 
remarks that the Gough Island breeding birds were smaller than the Kerguelen 
Island ones, and that the South Georgian form also seemed to differ. Another 
noteworthy point is that made by Moseley when he stated that the tails of the 
Marion Island birds were dark, though otherwise the birds were very white. 
Gould suggested, “ That it also breeds on the Mewstone, Eddystone, and the 
adjacent rocks to the southward of Van Diemens’ Land, I have but little doubt, 
as some of the finest adult specimens I procured, were shot within a few miles 
of those barren and inaccessible rocks.” 
Campbell,’^ commenting on Gould’s conjecture, wrote : “ The lighthouse- 
keeper on Maatsuyker Island informed me that the precipitous cliffs of Mew- 
stone Island, which is six miles off, are covered in summer with white objects, 
* Nests and Eggs Austr. Birds, p. 903, 1901. 
252 
