130 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP 



ated ; feet rather weak and slender, moderately compressed ; tarsus shorter 

 than the middle toe without the claw ; outer toe and claw longer than the 

 middle with its claw, tip of inner claw about reaching base of middle one ; 

 claws obtuse, little arched, more or less dilated on their inner edge. 



Colors. The upper parts are of a light smoky gray, or very light brownish 

 ash color, this color uniform ou the crown and nape, interrupted on the back 

 by the pare or grayish white margins of all the feathers, which margins are 

 broadest on the scapulars, deepening on the wing coverts and tertials into deep 

 grayish brown, and also losing the white margins. The rump is concolor 

 with the rest of the back, but the upper tail coverts have successively more 

 and more white until the longest and most posterior ones are almost wholly of 

 this color, with only some central touches of grayish brown. The primaries 

 are deep grayish or brownish black, with, however, large white spaces which, 

 occupy the basal half or two-thirds of their inner webs. The outer webs, and 

 apices of the secondaries are deep grayish plumbeous ; the greater part of 

 their inner webs white. The entire parts of the bird, from the chin to the 

 extreme tips of the under tail coverts are pure white, except some slight 

 soupgons of grayish on the flanks. The under surfaces of the wings, except 

 just along the edges, and the axillary feathers are pure white. The connec- 

 tion of the color of the upper parts with the white of the under, on the sides of 

 the head and neck, is peculiar ; there is no line of demarcation whatever, but 

 as the color of the upper parts becomes lighter in tint, so it becomes gradually 

 more and more nebulated and undulated with white, the admixture of the 

 two having a marked and beautiful effect. The under eyelid is wholly white, 

 the upper less completely so. The bill is yellowish, darker along the culmen, 

 the unguis light horn color. The legs and feet are yellowish, the webs still 

 clearer yellow ; the claws flesh colored. 



Dimensions. Length of bill along culmen 1*90, along gape 2-60, from feath- 

 ers on side of lower mandible to its apex 1*75 ; height at base "70 ; width -60 ; 

 tarsus 1 90 ; middle toe and claw 2-50, outer do. 2-55, inner do. 2-50 ; wing 

 from the carpus 12-75 ; central rectrices 5-50, exterior do 4-75. 



The variations in size to which this species is subject, are entirely parallel 

 with those of P major, detailed further on. The color of adult birds does 

 not vary much, and that chiefly in the slightly different degree of clearness 

 or obscurity of the upper parts. Younger birds, however, have the bill 

 rather dusky than yellowish, and somewhat of a greenish or bluish tinge in 

 the color of the feet. The upper parts are considerably darker than those of 

 the adults, being rather more of a brownish plumbeous than of an ashy gray- 

 ish tint. 



Puffinus leucomelas Bp. ex Temm. 



Procellaria leucomelas, Temminck, Planches colorees, No. 587. Temm. et 



Sohlegel, Fauna Japon. p, 131, fig. 85. Schlegel, Mon. Proc. Mus. 



Pays-Bas, 1863, p. 24. Thiellus sive Nectris leucomelas, Auct. aliq. 



Puffinus leucomelas, Bonap., Consp. Av. ii. 1856, p. 203. 



With this species I am autoptically unacquainted, and therefore compile 



the following brief account from Dr. Schlegel's excellent Monograph, above 



quoted. 



It is in general similar to P. Kuhlii^ which it appears to replace in the 

 Pacific Ocean. It is smaller, however, than that species, slenderer in 

 general prorortions, and with a weaker bill. In color it is principally distin- 

 guished by having the feathers of the upper parts generally, and of the sides 

 of the head and neck white, each with a brown longitudinal shaft line. 



Length of wing from the carpus from 11| to 12 inches. Middle tail feath- 

 ers 4^ to 4i| inches, external 3 to 3.}. Bill 22 to 23 Hues ; height at base 5 

 to 6 fines ; width about the same. Nasal tubes 3} lines. Tarsus 21 lines ; 

 .middle toe 23 to 25 lines. 



Habitat. Pacific ocean, particularly in vicinity of Japan. 



[April, 



