130 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



ated ; feet rather weak ami slender, uioderately compressed ; tarsus sliorter 

 than tbe middle toe without the claw ; outer toe and claw longer than the 

 middle with ltd claw, tip of inner claw about reaching base of middle one : 

 claws obtuse, little arched, more or less dilated on their inner edge. 



Colore. Tlie upper parts are of a light smoky gray, or very light brownish 

 ash color, this color uniform on the crown and nape, interrupted on the back 

 by the pure or grayish white margins of all the feathers, which margins are 

 broadest on the scapulars, deepening on the wing coverts and tertials into deep 

 grayish brown, and also losing the white margins. The rump is concolor 

 with the rest of the back, bat the upper tail coverts have suscessively more 

 and more white until the longest and most posterior ones are almost wholly of 

 this color, with only some central touches of grayish l)rown. The primaries 

 are deep grayish or brownish black, with, h'lwever, large white spaces which 

 occupy the basal half or two-thirds of tlieir inner webs. The outer webs, and 

 apices of the secondaries are deep grayish plumbeous ; the greater part of 

 their inner webs white. The entire parts of the bird, from the chin to the 

 extreme tips of the under tail coverts are pure white, except some slight 

 soupcons of grayish on the Hanks. The under surfaces of the wings, except 

 just along the edges, and the axillary fathers are pure white. Tlie connec- 

 tion of the color of the upper parts with the white of the under, on the sides of 

 the head and neck, is peculiar ; there is no line of demarcation whatever, but 

 as the color of the upper parts bt^comes lighter in tint, so it becomes gradually 

 more and more nebulated and undulated with white, the admixture of the 

 two having a marked and beautiful effect. The under eyelid is wiioUy white, 

 the upper less completely so. The bill is yellowish, darker along the culmen, 

 the unj^^uis light horn color. Tlie legs and feet are yellowish, the webs still 

 clearer yellow ; the claws flesh colored. 



Dimtnsions. — Length of bill along culmen 1"90, along gape 2(iO, from feath- 

 ers on side of lower mandible to its apex 1'75 ; height at base '70 ; width -60 ; 

 tarsus 1 90 ; middle toe and claw 2-f:0, outer do. 2-55, inner do. 2-50; wing 

 from the carpus 12*75 ; central rectrices 5-50, exterior do 4-75. 



The variations in size to which this species is subject, are entirely parallel 

 with those of P major, detailed further on. The color of adult birds does 

 not vary much, and that chiefly in the slightly different degree of clearness 

 or obscurity of the upper parts. Younger birds, however, have the bill 

 rather dusky than yellowish, and somewhat of a greenish or bluish tinge in 

 the color of the feet. The uppf-r parts are considerably darker than those of 

 ;the adults, being rather more of a brownish plumbeous thaa of an ashy gray- 

 dsh tint. 



PoFPiNirs LEfooMELAs Bp. ex Temm. 



Procellaria Ifucomewi, Temmiuck, Planches coloroes, No. 587. — Temm. et 



Schlegel, Fauna .Japon. p, 131, fig. 85. Schlegel, Mon. Proc. Mus. 



Pays-Bas, 1863, p. 24. ThieUas sive Nectris leucomelas, Auct. aliq. 



Puffiiiu.i leuconielas, Bonap., Gonsp. A v. ii. 1856, p. 203. 



With this species I am autoptically unacquainted, and therefore compile 



the following brief account from Dr. Schlegel's excellent Monograph, above 



•quoted. 



It is in general similar to P- Kuhlii, which it appears to replace in the 

 Pacific Ocean. It is smaller, however, than that species, slenderer in 

 general prorortions, and with a v/eaker hill. In color it is principally distin- 

 guished by havnig the featlnTS of the upper parts generally, and of the sides 

 of the head and neck white, each with a brown longitudinal shaft line. 



lien-th of wing from the carpus from llj to 12 inches. Middle tail feath- 

 ers 4^ to 4^ inches, external 3^ to 3]. Bill 22 to 23 lines ; height at base 5 

 to 6 lines; width about the same. Nasal tubes 3i lines. Tarsus 21 lines ; 

 middle toe 23 to 25 lines. 

 Habitat, — Pacific ocean, particularly in vicinity of Japan. 



[April, 



