BEEWSTER : BIRDS OF THE CAPE REGION, LOWER CALIFORNIA. 27 



probably belonged to this species, "but they were so shy and restless that no 

 specimens could be obtained. Dr. Coues, in connection with his original de- 

 scription of P. opistfiomelas, states that " two tine examples are contained in the 

 Smithsonian Museum, both collected by Mr. John Xantus at Cape St. Lucas, 

 Lower California (Smiths. Catalogue, Xos. lfi,990, 16,991), •' but Mr. Ridg- 

 wav writes me that the only specimens now in the National collection from 

 Lower California are "as follows : No. 16,990, 9 atl., Cape St. Lucas, ' 1859- 

 '61 ' (no further data); type. — No. 31,964, Sau Nicolas ; J. G. Cooper, no 

 date." 



Until recently the Black-vented Shearwater has been considered a very 

 rare liird, and almost nothing has been definitely known about its habits 

 or distribution, but during the past decade Mr. Loomis ^ has found a Puffinus 

 which he refers to opisthomelas (although " all the specimens obtained differ 

 considerably from the tj-pe ") off the coast of California, near Monterey, where 

 he has noted its appearance sparingly in August, alnmdantly in September, by 

 " thousands '' in December and early January. As most of the birds seen in 

 December and January were flying southward, Mr. Loomis inferred very natur- 

 ally that they were " migrating to a breeding habitat further south," and that 

 " while their destination may have been north of the equator, it seems highly 

 probable that they did not stop short of the Southern Hemisphere." Mr. 

 Anthony, however, has since reported * that in May, 1892, he fonnd Pnjfiniis 

 oplMhomelafi in large numbers, and evidently breeding, on Guadaloupe Island, 

 only '• about 220 miles south of San Diego, and about 6.3 miles from the near- 

 est mainland, Punta Baja, on the Peninsula" of Lower California. The nests, 

 being placed either under hitge blocks of lava, or in rocky crevices, often in the 

 vertical walls of high cliffs fronting the water, were all inaccessible, but several 

 of the birds were caught in steel traps placed at the entrances to their holes 

 and dissection of these and other specimens convinced Mr. Anthony that they 

 " had at that time well grown young." In the interesting article from which 

 the above quotations are taken, Mr. Anthony says that " Major Chas. E. Ben- 

 dire writes me that there are four eggs of this species in the National Museum 

 collection, collected in 1873 on Santa Barbara Island by Capt. C. M. Scammon." 

 He also states that he has found Puffinus opisthomelas " not uncommon on sev- 

 eral occasions off the Columbia River during the summer months and in Novem- 

 ber and January," and that " on one occasion I met with a flock on the coast 

 of Lower California that I estimated contained not less than 50,000 " birds. 

 Still more recently Mr. Anthony has published^ the following additional and 

 highly interesting facts relating to the breeding distribution and habits of the 

 Black-vented Shearwater : — 



1 Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 2d ser., V. 1895, 216 ; VI. 1896, 2, 27 ; 3d eer., II. 

 1900, 320. 



2 Auk, XIII. 1896, 22.3-228. 



3 Auk, XVII. 1900, 248, 249. 



