158 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



body is sooty black throughout, being without the white on the mentum ; the 

 tips of the mandibles are inclined to black." This description does not show 

 well whether the bird is a Majaqueus or a P terodroma ; the comparison with 

 sequinoctialis would seem to indicate the former; while the citation of Banks' 

 Drawings No. 19 (by Kuhl placed under his P. fuliginosa which is the Ptero- 

 droma atlantica,) would make it a component of the latter group. The habitat 

 of the supposed species is New Zealand. 



JSstrelata aterrima (Verreaux) Coues. 



Procellaria aterrima, Verreaux. Schlegel, Mon. Proc. Mus. Pays-Bas, 18G3, p. 9. 



Pterodroma aterrima, Bonap. C. A. 1855, ii. p. 191. 



Bulweria aterrima, Aliq." 



" ? Proc. carbonaria, Solander " fide Bp. 



Habitat. West coast of Africa. Bourbon Island. 



A very distinct species, distinguished among its congeners by its size, and 

 the color of the feet. The plumage as in the otbers of the group is uniform 

 blackish fuliginous ; the feet are yellowish, or light colored, passing into black 

 upon the terminal moiety of the toes and the included portions of their mem- 

 branes. Dr. Schlegel gives the following measurements of a typical example 

 in the Leyden Museum, from Bourbon Island, received from Mr. Verreaux : 

 " Wing 8 7-12 inches ; point of the wing 3 5-12 ; middle tail feathers 3 7-12 ; 

 external 2 8-12; length of bill \1\ lines; height A\ lines; width 6 lines; tar- 

 sus 1(>2 lines ; middle toe 17.1 lines." 



^Estrelata Bulweri (Jard. et Selb.) Coues. 



Procellaria Bulweri, Jardine and Selby, 111. Orn. Vol. ii. tab. 65. (No date 



given on title page and pages not numbered.) Schlegel, Mon. Proc. Mus. 



Pay-Bas, 1863, p. 9, and of many authors. 

 Thalassidroma Bulweri, Gray, Gen. Birds, 1849, iii. 

 Procellaria anjinho, Heineken, Birds Mad. in Brewst. Journ. Oct. 1829, p. 231. 



(First designation ?) 

 PujjUnus Columbians, Webb and Berthelot, Hist. Nat. Canar. ii. part ii. 1836 44, 



page 44, pi. 4, fig. 2. (Name Proc. columbina on plate.) 

 Bulweria columbina, Bonaparte, C. A. 1855, ii. p. 194. 



Habitat. Atlantic Ocean. Coast of Africa and Europe. Dr. Schlegel has a 

 specimen from Greenland. Very possibly to be included in the Fauna of North 

 America. 



This interesting species is the smallest of the genus, and quite distinct from 

 its congeners not only in size but in some of its proportions. It has compara- 

 tively a longer tail than most species of the genus ; bearing a proportion to the 

 wing from the carpal joint of 4 to about 8, or more than half. The tail is 

 very cuneate, the difference between the median and outer feathers amounting 

 to 1-75 inches; and the central pair themselves are considerably longer than 

 the next. The under tail coverts, at least in the specimen before me, fall 

 nearly two inches short of the end of the longest feathers, being in fact no 

 longer than the upper ones. The folded wings hardly reach to the end of the 

 tail. The bill is about as long as the tarsus, or the middle toe without its 

 claw: of the ordinary J^strelatean type ; quite stout at the base, compressed 

 throughout ; tbe unguis large and rising almost immediately from the nostrils, 

 and exceedingly convex ; the sulcus on the lower mandible is deep and well 

 marked; the outline of the rami is nearly straight, the gonys very concave ; 

 and there is considerable of an emiuentta symphysis. The first primary is 

 hardly if at all longer than the second. The feet present no special peculiari- 

 ties in relative size or proportions; the inner toe is perhaps slightly shorter 

 than ordinary. 



The fuliginous color is deepest, being almost black, on the wings and tail ; 



[May, 



