870 'niF. SLENDER-BILLED SIIEARW ATKR. 



No. 352. 



SLENDER-BILLED SHEARWATER. 



A. ( ). V. \<i. u'l. Puftinus teniiirostris I'JViiini.). 



Description. — .Idiilt (Dark phase:'): C.ciieral plumage sixity hlacic. lighten- 

 ing, sooty gi'ay. below; chin whitish and a little white touch on lower eyelid; 

 bill slender and weak. | IJelieved also to have a light phase.] Length about 14.00 

 (355.6); wing 10.00 (254); tail 3.50 ( S8.(j I ; hill 1.20 (30.3), depth at base .30 

 (7.6 1 ; tarsus i.qo ( 4S.3 ). 



Recognition Marks. — Little 1 lawk size; to appearance a --niall Cull; generic 

 marks as in preceding, smaller; weak bill. 



Nesting;. — Xcst and E(/gs unknown, — doubtless much as in other species. 



General Range. — The Pacific Ocean, chiefly coastwise, north in summer to 

 Kotzebue Jsound ; breeds in scnithern hemisphere and aKo very possibly on the 

 •Aleutians. 



Range in Washington. — Summer and earl}- fall visitor — sometimes abund- 

 ant oft' West Coast — also of jirobable occurrence on the Straits. 



Authorities. — Bowles and Dawson, .\uk, \Ail. XX\'. Oct. 1908, p. 485. 

 Specimens. — I'rov. li. 



SOAIK lime in Alay, and again during the fall migrations, there appears 

 off the W'ashinglon Coast a rather small black Jslicarwater, easily dis- 

 tingiiislied frcjiii its larger and somewhat less sooty relatix'e, the Dark-bodied 

 Shearwater. This species, the Slender-billed Shearwater, presents a subject 

 of more ihan ])assing interest to the student of pelagic ornithologv. Its range 

 extends from north of Jiering Strait to the waters of New Zealand. It is 

 found along the .\leiuian Islands in flocks niuiibering thotisands, during the 

 s]iring and stunmer months, and along down the coast of North .\inerica. at 

 least as far as Me.xico, as late as December. LJ]) to this time no nesting 

 colonies Iia\e been discovered, e.xcept in the New Zealand waters; and some 

 writers, reasoning upon this basis, ha\e claimed that this s])ecies, as well as 

 others of the genus Piiffiinis. retires to the Siaithern IIemis])here to nest, — a 

 somewhat unsafe assertion in \iew of the hundreds of islands in the Aleutian 

 chain \-el imperfectly or not at all explored, any one of which might easily 

 afford nesting grounds for tlie entire northern contingent. 



I liaxe seen this species in No\ember and Decemljer in the Straits of 

 luan de b'uca in flocks of thousands; but their occtirrence so t;ir inshore is 

 uncertain, being dependent to a great extent iqxm the jiresence of the herring 

 on which it feeds extensively. The fish are captured by di\ing, and the bird 

 in ])ursnil literally flies tinder water with half extended wings. vSo gorged do 

 the Slie;irwaters become, when a large run of herring is found, that they can 



s 



