120 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



Puffinus Kuhlii, Cassin, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philada., June, 1862, p. 



(Specimena ipsa a me visa.) Sed non Boie, nee auct. 

 TProcellaria melanura, Bonn, Encyc. Method. 



Description.* Form typically that of the genus, which see, supra. 

 Color. The nasal tubes, and culmen as far as the unguis, are black ; the 

 unguis is pale yellowish. The sides of the upper mandible, as far as the 

 sulcus which separates them from the culmen, yellow, as are the sides of 

 the lower mandible and its unguis ; the sulcus of the lower mandible and its 

 commissural edge being bluish black. [Compare Fok*t. Deser., p. 208.] 

 Feet in the dried specimen dingy bluish or yellowish green, dusky exteriorly 

 and posteriorly, the webs yellow, the claws light brown, with black tips. 

 Above a uniform cinereous, of much the same shade over the whole upper 

 parts ; some of the feathers, especially the scapulars and tertials, with just 

 appreciably lighter tips ; the crown of the head and the circumocular region 

 a little deeper cinereous than elsewhere. The wing coverts of the specimen in 

 question are interspersed with feathers of a dull brownish rather than cine- 

 reous hue. These are evidently old worn ones, and doubtless indicate that 

 in this species, as in others, the newer aud fresher the feathers the clearer 

 and more decided is the cinereous hue. The color of the upper parts has no 

 line of demarcation with the white of the lower on the sides of tha head and 

 neck. Insensibly fading away, it extends quite around on the chin and 

 throat, but is more restricted on the sides of the neck. The primaries are 

 blackish cinereous on their outer webs and at their tips ; light greyish cine- 

 reous internally and basally ; their shafts are light brown. The inferior sur- 

 faces of the wings, together with the axillary feathers and some feathers on 

 the sides of the body under the wings, are dull brownish cinereous. The 

 tail feathers and the entire under tail coverts, from the anus backwards, are 

 deep blackish or sooty cinereous, the rectrices the darkest. The rest of the 

 under parts are white. 



Dimensions. Length about 19 inches. Bill along culmen 1-80; from. fea- 

 thers on side of lower mandible to its apex 1*50 ; height of bill at base (55 ; 

 width of bill at base '60. Wing from the carpus 1300 ; tail 5*75 ; exterior 

 rectrices 1-25 shorter. Tarsus 2-40 ; middle toe and claw 2-90; outer do. 

 3'00 ; inner do. 2-50. Length of nasal tubes -45, inches and hundredths. 



Bibliography. As I have endeavored to prove, in my discussion of the 

 synonyms of P. Kuhlii (which see), the Proc. cinerea, Ghnelin, is really the 

 present species, and not the common Atlantic bird to which the name cine- 

 reus has been generally applied by European authors. Bonaparte, indeed, 

 was completely convinced of this ; and it is the more singular that he does 

 not adopt Grtnelin's name, but prefers to confer a new specific designation. 

 viz. : typus, in direct violation of one of the most firmly established law- oi 

 nomenclature. To Mr. Gr. N. Lawrence is due the credit of restoring Grine- 

 lin's name to the species to which it rightfully belongs. 



The Proc. hcesitata of Forster is most undoubtedly, I think, the present 

 species. His description is pertinent in every respect ; and his remarks con- 

 cerning the form and color of the bill will apply to no other species. The 

 hcesitata of Gould's Birds of Australia, and of Lawrence, (Ann. New York 

 Lye. Nat. Hist.,) is the same bird. The hcesita'a of Kuhl's Monograph and 

 of TemmiiK k's Blanches Colorees is apparently, however, not this species, 

 but the Astrelata diabolica, Bp. ex L'Herm. 



I quote "P. melanura, Bonn.' 1 on authority of Bonaparte, not having an 

 opportunity of verifying the reference. 



* The accompanying description wa< taken trim a fully mature specimen from the coast of 

 California, off Monterey, kindly furnished for examination by M r. Lawrence. It is the example 

 from which Mr. Lawrence's description of P. hsesitata, in the Annals of the -,- York Lyceum, 

 and of /'.'>,,, reus, in tin' Birds of North America, was taken; i-< nil incompatible in any feature 

 with 1'. cinereus, Gm., Lath.. Vieill.; agrees entirely with Forstar'a /. A > with Bonaparte's 

 Adamastor typus and Schlegel's Proc. adamastor, 



[April, 



