VOL. XI, PP. 69-70 APRIL 21, 1897 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



A SPECIES OF SHEARWATER (PUFFINUS ASSIMILIS 

 GOULD), NEW TO THE NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



BY JONATHAN D WIGHT, JR., M. D. 



A specimen of a strange Shearwater was sent to me some 

 time ago by Mr. R. J. Boutilier from Sable Island, Nova Scotia, 

 where it struck the west end light-house on September 1, 1896. 

 It was submitted to Mr. Robert Ridgway, Dr. J. A. Allen, and 

 Mr. William Brewster for examination, all of whom, in the ab 

 sence of any material for comparison, naturally hesitated to 

 express positive opinions as to its identity. There can be little 

 doubt, however, that it is referable to the Allied Shearwater 

 (Paffinus assimilis*), a species described by Gould,* from New 

 South Wales, Australia, and found by later observers at several 

 other points in the South Pacific Ocean. There are no speci 

 mens apparently in North American museums. It appears to 

 be the smallest of the Shearwaters, in spite of certain discrepan 

 cies in the measurements of several writers. The dimensions as 

 given originally by Gould differ considerably from those recently 

 published by Salvin,f and those of my bird come nearly midway 

 between the two, except that the bill of my bird is shorter than 

 the bills described. Gould's statement that 21 inches is the 

 length of bill is surely a misprint. In color my specimen corre 

 sponds exactly with the descriptions of P. assimilis, especially the 

 upper parts " slaty-black rather bluer than P. obscurus" which 

 species, besides being larger, differs in having dusky under tail 



*Proc. Zool. Soc., 1837, p. 156. 



fCat. Birds, British Mus., vol. XXV, 1896, p. 384. 



15 BIOL. Soc. WASH., VOL. XI, 1897 (69) 



