FULAIARS, SHEARWATERS, AND PETRELS 



83 



SOOTY SHEARWATER 



Puffinus griseus Hiiiicliii) 



Other Names.— Ulack Hag; Black Ilasdon; Dark- 

 bodied Shearwater. 



General Description. — Leiigtli. 10 tu 18 inches: 

 spread of wings. 40 inches. Phimagc, dark sooty-brown 

 above and below. 



Color. — I'nijiiym dark sooty-brown, blackening an 

 zcings and tail; more sooty-gray below with paler 

 throat; bill, dusky-bluish horn, the tube, ridge, and bill 

 blackish: inside of leg and upper side of feet, flesh 



\linihcr 95 



color; outside of outer toe and under side of feet, 

 blackish. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Probably a burrow in the 

 ground on sea islands of the South Atlantic, a single 

 white egg being deposited at the end of the burrow. 



Distribution. — Oceans of southern hemisphere; 

 occurs in summer on the Pacific coast from southern 

 Alaska to Lower California, and on the Atlantic coast 

 from Gulf of St. Lawrence to South Carolina. 



Photograph by H 



.'iL'day. Page & Co. 



SOOTY SHEARWATER 1 foreground 1 AND GREATER SHEARWATER 



CORY'S SHEARWATER 



Puffinus borealis C orv 



A. (I r .\iimljer 88 



-Length, 20 inches: spread of 

 Color above, brownish-ash; 



General Description.- 

 wings, 40 to 45 inches, 

 below, white. 



Color. — Upper parts, brownish-ash; feathers of back, 

 with pale tips ; those on nape and sides of neck nar- 

 rowly tipped with white; the ash on sides of head and 

 neck and white of under parts gradually mingle: iif's 

 of upper tail-coverts, zi'liite : under eyelid, white in 

 contrast with ashy-gray of head ; wings and tail, brown- 



ish-gray ; sides and flanks, tinged with ash ; under tail- 

 coverts, white, the longest tinged near ends with ash 

 which extends nearly to tips of the longest tail-feathers ; 

 bill, greenish-black, yellow at base and on tip ; feet, 

 greenish-black; iris, brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Laiknown but prol)ably similar to 

 others of the genus. 



Distribution. — Coasts of Massachusetts. Rhode 

 Island, and Long Island (August to November). 



Somewhat smaller than the Cjreater Shear- 

 water, the Sooty Shearwater very closely resem- 

 bles it in habits and flight, but differs from it 

 markedly in plumage, which at a distance looks 

 as black as that of a Crow. It would seem 

 decidedly strange that this bird escaped entirely 

 the notice of W'ilson, Nuttall, and Audubon, but 



for the fact that even now its nesting habits are 

 unknown, nor have its nest and eggs been dis- 

 covered. 



Cory's Shearwater is even more a stranger ; 

 it has been seen only ofT the Atlantic coast be- 

 tween Massachusetts and Long Island, from 

 Atigust to November. 



