PROCELLARIIDJE — PROCELLARIIN^ : SHEAR WA TERS. 783 



nearly half as long again as middle toe. Toes short, with small narrow webs ; claws Hat, 

 broad, rounded. Colors blackish and white. Several species of Southern Seas, one straggling 

 to our country. 



829. F. gralia'ria. (Lat. gralla;, stilts.) Lawrence's Stilt Petrel. White-belliei> 

 Petrel. Blackish-gray of variable intensity, blackening on the quills and tail, the whole 

 under parts from the breast, the upper tail-coverts, most of the under wing-coverts, and bases 

 of all the tail-feathers, except the middle pair, white ; bill and feet black. Length about 

 8.00; wing 6.00-6.50; tail 3.00, about even, with very broad, square-tipped feathers; bill 

 0.50; tarsifs 1.33; longest toe (outer) and claw 1.00 or less; tibiae bare 1.00 or more. 

 Florida, accidental, one instance (Lawr. Ann. Lye Nat. Hist. N. Y., v, 117)- 



331. PRIO'FINUS. (Prion + Puffinus.) Fulmar Shearwaters. Of large size and robust 

 form. Bill a little shorter than head, about f as long as tarsus, broad and stout at base, nar- 

 rowing regularly to the strong, much compressed and hooked tip ; under mandible hooked to 

 correspond with the upper, with concave gouys (as in Puffinus). Nasal tubes long, very 

 broad, depressed (as in Puffinus), but vertically truncate and with thin partition (as in Ful- 

 marus). Wings rather short, the primaries broad and stiff, 2d as hmg as 1st. Tail rather short, 

 of 12 feathers, the central projecting and a Uttle acuminate, lateral more rounded, and rapidly 

 graduated. Feet large and stout, as in Puffinus ; tarsus shorter than middle toe and claw ; 

 outer toe longer than middle ; tip of outer claw about reaching base of middle. A genus re- 

 markably connecting the fulmars with the shearwaters ; nearest the latter. A few species, if 

 more than one, chieHy of Southern Seas. 



830. p. melanu'rus. (Gr. /xe'Xay, melas, black ; ovpd, oura, tail.) Smutty-nosed Shearwater. 

 Black-tailed Shearwater. Upper parts cinereous, nearly uniform, but some of the feathers 

 with paler edges ; under parts white, without line of demarcation from the color of the upper 

 parts ; tail, aissum, and vent blackish ; lining of wings, axillars, and some feathers on the 

 sides of the body, brownish-cinereous ; quills blackish-cinereous on outer webs and tips, paler 

 internally and basally, with brown shafts. Bill yellow, the nasal case, culmen as far as the hook, 

 cutting edge and groove of lower mandible, black, these varied colors very conspicuous in life ; 

 feet (dried) dingy greenish with yellow webs. Large : 19.00 ; wing 13.00 ; tail 5.00-5.75, 

 wedge-shaped, 12-feathered, the outer feathers an inch or more shorter than the middle ; bill 

 1.80, 0.67 high and 0.60 wide at base, the nasal tubes nearly 0.50 ; tarsus 2.40 ; middle toe and 

 claw 2.88. Accidental off the coast of California. A peculiar species, very different from any of 

 the following, approaching the fulmars. Proc. melanura Bonn. Proc. htesitata Forst., 

 Descr. Anim., 1814, p. 20S ; Gould, B. Aust., pi. 67. Puffinus hcesitatus Lawr., Ann. Lye. 

 Nat. Hist. N. Y., vi, p. 5. Proc. adamastor Schlegel. Adamastor typus Bonap. Puffinus 

 cinereus Lawr. in Bd., B. N. A., 1858, p. 835. Adamastor cinereus Coues, Proc. Phila. Acad., 

 1864, p. 119; Priofinus cinereus Coues, Proc. Essex Inst., v, 1868, p. 303. Priofinus mela- 

 nurus, Coues, 2d ed. Check List, 1882, p. 127. Puffinus kuhlii Cass., Proc. Phila. Acad., 

 1862, p. 327 (err.) 



332. PUF'FINUS. (Latinized from Eng. puffin.) Shearwaters. Bill nearly or about as long 

 as head, f-f as long as tarsus, varying in slenderness, a little higher than broad at base, 

 compressed for the rest of its extent ; the end much hooked, tips of both mandibles decurved, 

 making the gonys concave. Nasal tubes short, only about i the length f)f culmen, broad and 

 depressed, obliquely truncate at end, the partition thick, the nostrils oval. Wings long, thin, 

 and pointed, folding beyond the tail; 1st primary longest. Tail more or less lengthened, 

 rounded or rather wedge-shaped, of 12 feathers. Feet very large and stout; tarsus compressed, 

 equal to middle toe with or without claw ; outer toe about as long as middle, but its claw 

 much smaller ; tip of inner claw scarcely or not reaching base of middle ; hind toe a mere 

 knob. Embracing numerous species, of moderate and small size ; a portion of them bicolor, 

 dark above and white below, the others uniformly sooty. 



