28 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP 



quiring considerations being hardly more than those relating to the varieties 

 or supposed species which have been separated from it. 



I have before me a rather small and weak-billed specimenfrom Greenland, 

 which appears to be an example of what was called P. minor by Kjserb, or P. 

 glacialis var. viinor by Bonaparte. It has no claim that I can discover to be 

 considered as even a variety ; as the difference in size from the ordinary 

 standard is by no means uusual. In the var. Audubonii of Bonaparte based 

 upon the bird used for the figures in Audubon's works there is exhibited a by 

 no means unusual variation in size, or in strength of bill. 



While I would thus consider the Atlantic Fulmars as representing but a 

 single species, nothing that I have found in an extensive series tends to invali- 

 date the claims of F. pacijicus to specific distinction. 



Fdlmakus pacificus (Aud.) Lawr. 



Procellaria glaciulis, Pallas, Zoog. Rosso-As. ii., 1811, p 312.. Sed non Linn. 



nee auct. 

 Procellaria pacijica, Audubon, Orn. Biog. v. p. 331. Id Bds. N. Amer. vii. 



1844, p. 208. 

 Procellaria (Fuhnarus) pacifica, Lawrence in Baird s B. N. A. 1858, p. 826. 

 Fidmarus glacialis var. pacijicus, Bonaparte, Consp. Av. ii. 1856, p. 187. 

 ? Procellaria glacialis (juniores), Kuhl, Beit. Zool., 1823, p. 141. 



This species, though very closely allied to glacialis, and requiring a rather 

 careful comparison to distinguish it, yet appears to differ by constant char- 

 acters. It is nearly or quite as large as that species ; but the feet are, per- 

 haps, a little shorter and weaker. There seems to be a constant difference in 

 the shape of the bill ; which, though not much shorter, is considerably 

 weaker, more compressed, and more attenuated and decurved at the tip. The 

 inferior mandibular rami divaricate at a more acute angle. But I have not 

 been able, in examining quite a large series, among which is one of Audu- 

 bon's types, to find any distinctive characters in the nasal tubes ; the dorsal 

 outline of which does not appear to be straighter than that of the Atlantic 

 bird. In fact, one example of pacificus has a more concave tube than one of 

 glacialis, now before me ; nor can I discover that the carination of the tubes 

 is more marked in one species than in the other. One example of pacificus 

 shows no trace of any carination. 



Some features of coloration are, perhaps, most distinctive of this species. 

 The upper parts are much darker in pacificus than in glacialis ; inclining to a 

 bluish cinereous rather than a pearly blue. The rump and upper tail 

 coverts, in lieu of being nearly pure white, are concolor with the middle of 

 the back, or even darker than it. The bend of the wing, and the secondaries 

 and tertials are somewhat deeper-colored than those of glacialis. The bill is 

 bright yellow, lightest on the unguis ; the root of which latter is bluish 

 horn-colored. The feet are bright yellow, only slightly obscured on the 

 outer aspect of the tarsus, and on the outer toe. The anteocular spot is 

 smaller and more indistinctly marked than in glacialis. 



Young birds have the yellow of the bill obscured by brownish or greenish, 

 the unguis especially being quite dark, as are also the feet and toes. The 

 entire plumage is fuliginous grayish brown ; deepest on the side of the head ; 

 lighter on the under parts of the body, where there is considerable of a smoky 

 cinereous tint. Most of the feathers of the upper parts have cinereous or 

 pearly tips. Some of the tertials are more or less distinctly tipped with 

 grayish white. The remiges and rectrices are brownish black ; the former 

 lightest, inclining towards their tips to grayish. The primary shafts are 

 light brown, deepening in color at their apices. The under surfaces of the 

 primaries are cinereous gray. 



I thus detail the differences I have been able to find between the two sup- 

 posed species, considering them as sufficient to establish a species ; though 



[March, 



