rROCELLARIID.E — THE PETRELS — RUFFINUS. 



389 



They did not fly round much, but remained quiet on the surface of the water. Dr. 

 Bryant did not see one of them on the banks ; and his observations Avere in conflict 

 with those of Audubon, as he never saw them dive, or apparently catch any fish, 

 though they were often in company with Boobies and different species of Terns, all of 

 wlii(di were actively employed in fishing. Between Andros and the Bank he saw 

 on the 2Gth of April a large flock of this species covering the surface of the water, or 

 hovering over it, for an extent of a square mile. Their number must have been enor- 

 mous. In the stomachs of all those he examined — nine in number — he found a 

 mass largely composed of the scales of small fish and the mandibles of squids and 

 cuttle-fish. 



Four eggs of this species (Smithsonian Institution, No. 1714), obtained by Dr. 

 Bryant, are of a clear chalky-white color, exactly oval in shape, and have the follow- 

 ing measurements : 2.10 by 1.45 inches ; 2.05 by 1.40 ; 2.00 by 1.40 ; 2.00 by 1.40. 



Puffinus gavia. 



THE BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATER. 



Procdlaria gavia, Forst. Descr. Anini. 1S44, 148. — Hutton, Ibis, 1872, 84. 

 ^drclata gavia, Gigl. & Salvad. Ibis, 1869, 66. 

 Cookilaria gavia. Gray, Handl. III. 1871, 107. 



Puffinus gavia, Fixscir, J. f. 0. 1872, 256. — Ridgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 713. 

 Puffinus opisthomelas, Coues, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sei. Pliilad. April, 1864, 139 (Cape St. Lucas); Key, 

 1872, 331 ; Check List, 1873, no. 601 ; ed. 2, 1882, no. 836. 



Ha3 Coast of Lower California (Cape St. Lucas), and across the Pacific to New Zealand. 



Sp. Char. Adult: Above, uniforni fuliginous-dusky, the feathers without distinct lighter 

 terminal margins ; lower parts, including entire under surface of the wings, white, the sides of the 

 neck and suborbital region faintly and indistinctly undulated with dusky grayish ; crissum and 







v^«|§f;VV,- 



posterior portion of the flanks grayish fuliginous. Bill brownish (much like the color of the hack), 

 the unguis and lower edge of both mandibles paler ; iris dark brown ; legs and feet pale colored in 

 the dried skin, the outer side of the tarsus and outer toe dusky. 



Total length, 12.25 to 15.00 inches; extent, about 26.00 to 32.00 ; wing, 9.00 ; culraen, 1.30- 

 1.40 ; depth of bill through base, .35 ; tarsus, 1.75 ; middle toe, 1.70-1.75.1 



1 Captain F. W. Hiitton (in the " Ibis," January, 1872, p. 84), gives the average measurements of New 

 Zealand specimens as follows : — 



" Expanse, 26 ; length, 12| to 13^ ; bill along culmen, IJ, to gap, 2 ; tail, 3.5 to 2.75." 



