THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Albatros. As he also carefully indicated his knowledge of the confusion in 
the Linnean-genus Diomedm and restricted it to the long-winged Albatroses^ 
his accuracy in the study of ornithology is very noticeable. 
The description given by Temminck {Plan. Col. d’Ois.^ 77 livr., pi. 456^ 
1828) is as follows : — 
Diomedea melanophris. 
L’espece figuree pi. 456 differt de celui pi. 468 (D. chlororynchos) par les caracteres 
marquans que nous signalons ici -1° Par la taille toujours d’un tiers plus forte ; 2° Par la 
grandeur, la force et la couleur du bee ; 3° Par la forme que presente la base nue du bee 
vers la partie frontale ou les plumes commeneent ; dans le melanophris, la partie nue se 
dessine en demi-cercle et en plaque relevee qui s’avance entre les plumes : chez le chlor- 
orhynchos la base frontale est coupee transversalement en ligne droite ; 4° Par la couleur de 
Firis des yeux, Jaune dans la premiere espece, et brune, dans tons les ages, chez la seconde ; 
5° la premiere, a toutes les epoques de la mue, porte une bande sourcilliere ou xm trait 
noir ou noiratre au-dessus et vers les bords de Forbite des yeux ; cette bandemanque a 
Fautre espece, dont le bee, dans Fadulte comme chez le jeune, est en grande partie noir. 
On le trouve assez communement dans la bale du cap de Bonne-Esperance. 
The plumage-changes which this species undergoes are not yet well known 
and Hutton’s account {Ihis, 1865, p. 283) seems to have been accepted, though 
careful reading shows that it cannot be trusted, as Hutton may have confused 
other Mollymawks with it. He wrote : “ According to my observations, the 
head in the young is grey, which, as the bird grows older, becomes white 
— first on the cheeks, and 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. The beak remains dark blue for some time after the 
plumage has assumed the colours of the adult. The feet and legs of the young 
bird are light blue” — but discounted these descriptions as being peculiarly 
referable to D. melanophris by continuing, “ D. chlororhynchus Lath, differs 
from D. melanophrys only in the rather lighter tint of the mark over the eye 
and in the colour of the beak ; in size and habits it is precisely similar ; and 
as the beak of D. culminata Gould is just intermediate in colour between the 
two, I am of opinion that all three form one species,” and adding, “ No one 
acquainted with these birds can read Latham’s description of D. chlororhynchus 
without at once seeing that he is describing an immature bird.” 
My interpretation of the plumages of D. chlororhynchos points to the 
exactly opposite conclusion, viz. that Latham’s specimen of that species was 
a fully adult one. 
Wilson {National Antarct. Exp., Aves, pp. III-II2, 1907) also writes 
about the plumages of D. melanophris, but as his notes refer to sea-flying birds 
and include specimens in every longitude, confusing races, they do not help 
much. For instance, after writing — “ Some were pale grey all over the head and 
neck ; others had merely a broad or narrow collar of grey, incomplete below ; 
the size also varied considerably, but aU had the bill of D. melanophrys,. 
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