GULF OF MEXICO 



523 



The only modern record in tlie Gulf seems to be 

 that of a dead bird picked up on Brazos Island, 

 Texas, on January 28, 1947 (Davis 1951, p. 333). 



Greater Shearwater Puffinut^ (jraris. 



One record for the Gulf proper: a specimen 

 found on Dog Island, near St. Marks, Florida, 

 January 29, 1950, and preserved in the Flori<la 

 State Museum (Stevenson, 1950b, p. 71). This 

 shearwater has also once been noted in the Straits 

 of Florida between Key West and Havana (Bond 

 1950, p. 2). 



Leach Petrel Oceanodroma leucorhoa. 



Rarely identified in the Gulf. The only rec- 

 ords are those of Danforth (1935, p. 74), on a 

 voyage from Puerto Rico to Galveston, Te.xas, 

 in 1932. He identified a petrel of this species in 

 Cuban waters south of the Dry Tortugas on June 1 

 and saw several others in the Gulf on the follow- 

 ing 2 days. At a point 200 mUes from Galveston, 

 observations of the Leach petrel abruptly ceased 

 and gave way to those of the Wilson petrel. No 

 specimens were secured, but 2 years later, also in 

 June, Danforth shot a Leach petrel half a mile oiT 

 Cayo Frances, Cuba, the nearest point to the Gulf 

 where the species has been taken. 



Wilson Petrel Oceanites oceanicus. 



The commonest of the Procellariformes in the 

 Gulf, where it appears widel}' during its nonbreed- 

 ing season (records between Key West and 

 Havana, off Dry Tortugas, off Pensacola, off 

 Alabama, off southeastern Louisiana, off Texas, 

 and off the coast of Veracruz). The known 

 seasonal limits are April to the first week of 

 September. 



Black-bellied vStorm Petrel Fregetta tropica. 



An accidental straggler from the South Atlantic 

 and Indian Oceans, only once recorded in North 

 America, in 1851, when seven specimens were cap- 

 tured with a hook and line from a vessel at an- 

 chor in the harbor at St. Marks, Florida. The 

 whereabouts of these specimens is not known. 



Yellow-billed Tropic Bird Phaethon lepturus. 



A casual visitant from the Antilles, where it 

 breeds. The seven definite reports in the last 130 

 years are scattered around the Gulf: three records 

 in the Dry Tortugas (including Mason and Long- 

 street, 1936, pp. 19, 42); one at St. Marks, 



Florida; two at Rockport, Texas, and vicinity; 

 and one on the open sea, 109 miles north of 

 Progreso, Yucatan (Bullis, in litt.). Dates in- 

 clude January, May, June, and August. The 

 alleged "almost common" occurrence of this 

 species in Louisiana in midsummer has not been 

 supported by further evidence. There are no 

 Gulf specimens extant. 



Blue-faced Booby Sula dactylatra. 



Breeds 60 miles north of Yucatan, on Pajaros 

 and Chica Islands in the Alacran Reef, where some 

 50 pairs had eggs and downy young on May 20, 

 1912 (Kennedy 1917, pp. 42-43). The species 

 occurs regularly, but in sparing numbers (maxi- 

 mum number seen in recent years, nine), on the 

 Dry Tortugas, and has been recorded also from 

 the coasts of northwest Florida, Louisiana, Texas, 

 and Tamaulipas. The dates range from March 22 

 to September 9. 



White-bellied Booby Sula leucogaster. 



Formerly bred abundantly on the Dry Tortugas, 

 where eggs and young were observed by Audubon 

 on May 14, 1832; not now known to breed closer 

 to the Gulf than Piedras Island on the Caribbean 

 side of Cuba, but still a regular visitor to the 

 Tortugas in somewhat larger numbers than the 

 blue-faced booby. The numerous Gulf records, 

 which also include observations or specimens 

 from the Florida Peninsula, the northern Gulf 

 coast, the central Texas coast, northeastern 

 Tamaulipas, the Bay of Campeche, and the waters 

 off northern Yucatan, involve every month in the 

 year except November. 



Red-footed Booby Sula sula. 



Found breeding extensively in the Caribbean 

 area, but only twice definitely recorded from the 

 Gulf or its immediate environs. A specimen was 

 taken near Rockport, Texas, sometime prior to 

 1910, and another was secured near the mouth 

 of the Mississippi River, 7 miles below Buras, 

 Louisiana, on November 1, 1940 (Lowery, 1947, 

 p. 180). 



Gannet Morus bassanus 



Seemingly a rather common winter visitant to 

 the Gulf; extreme dates November 22 (Pensacola) 

 to July 27 (12 miles northwest of Key West). At 

 Pensacola, where the species can frequently be 

 observed from the beach, F. M. Weston has noted 



