Order PR0CELLABIIF0BME8. Family DIOMEDEIDM 
No. 421. 
DIOMEDEA CHIONOPTERA. 
SNOWY ALBATEOSS. 
(Plate 369.) 
Diomedea CHIONOPTERA Salviii, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXV., p. 443 (pref. Dec. 16, 
1895)-1896 : Kerguelen Island. 
Diomedea exulans rohui Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. II., No. 7, p. 125, Jan. 28, 1915 : 
Sydney, New South Wales. 
Cf. Mathews, Birds of Australia, Vol. II., p. 257, 1912. 
Adult female. Entire head and neck aU round, hack, rump, and upper tail-coverts, breast, 
sides of body, abdomen, under taU-coverts, axillaries and under wing-coverts 
pure white ; scapulars white mottled with greyish-brown subterminaUy, chiefly 
on the outer webs ; upper wing-coverts also white mottled and externally marked 
with greyish-brown ; bastard-wing dark brown, the inner webs for the most part 
white ; primary-coverts and primary-quills white at the base, dark brown on the 
terminal half, the white encroaching farthest towards the tips on the inner webs, 
shafts of outer primary-quills straw-colour and much flattened ; secondaiy-quiUs 
similar, but the dark pattern a lm ost restricted to the outer webs, the white 
reaching to the tips on the inner webs and sometimes encroaching along the 
margins of the outer webs ; under-surface of quills similar to that of above but 
many of the secondaries pure white ; tail white both above and below with 
the outer feathers on each side marked and mottled with greyish-brown. BiU 
pinkish-cream ; eyes black, feet cream. Total length 1,050 mm. ; cuhnen 165, 
wing, 600 tail 195, tarsus 123. Eigured. Collected at Broken Bay, near Sydney, 
New South Wales. This is the type of D. e. rohui Mathews. 
It seems just to reproduce Loomis’ treatment of these birds in fuU. 
“ Diomedea exulans Linnaeus 
“ Synonyms : Diomedea regia and D, chionoptera. 
“ Mr. Salvin has interpreted an extreme white phase, long attributed 
to Diomedea exulans, to be an undescribed species, christening it 
Diomedea chionoptera. An Albatross (No. 11342) in the Academy’s 
collection, obtained from a French sailor on the bark Ouerveur, and said 
by him to have been captured during January, 1908, in latitude 48° S. 
longitude 50° W. agrees with Mr. Salvin’s description of D. chionoptera, 
save in the coloration of the back, which is not free from faint vermi- 
culations. This specimen also has irregular traces of grey on the tail. 
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