32 BULLETIN: MUSEUM OF COMPAEATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



have found them nesting on the small rocky San Benito Island, fifty miles off the 

 coast ot the peninsula. So far I have never found the Least Petrel nesting in bur- 

 rows. They have always been taken from the crevices in rocky ledges or among 

 the loose stones. The pearly white egg is laid ou the bare rock. Usually several 

 are found within a few feet if desirable crevices are numerous. Young were taken 

 as late as September 7 or 8 that were but a few days old. They were like the 

 young of the three species of Oceanodroma I have mentioned, except for size. All 

 are covered with sooty or slaty black down, through which the feathers appear 

 when the bird is nearly or quite fully grown." 



The passage just quoted contains practically all that is known at present 

 respecting the breeding habits, as well as the general distribution, of the Least 

 Petrel. An egg in my collection, taken by Mr. Anthony at San Benito Island, 

 Lower California, July 26, 1896, is dead white without gloss or obvious mark- 

 ings. It is ovate in shape, and measures 1.03 X .74. 



Oceanodroma melania (Bonap.). 

 Black Petrel. 



Thalassidroma melania Baied, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1869, 301, 306 (Cape St. 



Lucas). 

 Cymochorea melania CouES ex Bonap., Ibid., 1864, 76, 77 (descr. Cape St. Lucas 



specimen; crit.). Elliot, lUustr. New and Unfig. N. Amer. Birds, II. 1869, 



pi. 61 (descr. and figures specimen from Cape St. Lucas). 

 Cymochorea melaena Ridgway, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., V. 1883, 534, footnote (Cape 



St. Lucas). 

 Oceanodroma melania Bryant, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 2d ser., II. 1889,253 (Cape 



Region). 

 Oceanodroma townsendi Ridgway, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XVI. 1893, 687, 688 (orig. 



descr. ; type from Cape St. Lucas). 



"Without doubt the Black Petrel, also, is a regular visitor to the waters im- 

 mediately about Cape St. Lucas, although the specimen obtained there by Mr. 

 Xantus over forty years ago is, I believe, the only one known to have been 

 taken in that immediate neighborhood. lu 1889, however, additional exam- 

 ples were collected near Guaymas by Mr. Townsend, and during the past 

 fifteen years Mr. Anthony has apparently met with many others at various 

 points to the northward of the Cape along both coasts of the Peninsula as well 

 as, on one occasion, only about forty miles to the westward of San Diego, Cali- 

 fornia.^ From what the observer last-named has put on record it may be 

 inferred that the bird is of regular and by no means uncommon occurrence, 

 especially ofif the Pacific coast of Lower California. According to Professor 

 Baird a specimen was obtained near San Francisco by Mr. Gruber at some 

 time previous to 1859, and Dr. Cooper includes the species in a list of birds 



1 Auk, XI. 1894, 321, 322. 



