158 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP 



body is sooty black throughout, being without the white on the mentum ; the 

 tips of the mandibles are inclined to black. " This description does not show 

 well whether the bird is a Blajaqueus or a Pterodroma ; the comparison with 

 fqitinoctialis would seem to indicate the former ; while the citation of Banks' 

 Drawings No. 19 (by Kuhl placed under his 1'. fuliginosa — which is the Plero- 

 drnma atlantica,) would make it a component of the latter group. The habitat 

 of the supposed species is New Zealand. 



yEsTRELATA ATERBiMA (Verreaux) Coues. 



Procellaria aterrima, Verreaux. Schlegel, Mon. Proc. Mus. Pays-Bas, 1863, p. 9. 



Pterodroma aterrima, Bonap. C. A. 1855, ii. p. 191. 



'■• Bulweria aterrima, Aliq." 



'^ ? Proc. carbonaria, Solander " fide Bp. 



Habitat. — West coast of Africa. Bourbon Island. 



A very distinct species, distinguished among its congeners by its size, and 

 the color of the feet. The plumage as in the others of the group is uniform 

 blackish fuliginous ; the feet are yellowish, or light colored, passing into black 

 upon the terminal moiety of the toes and the included portions of their mem- 

 branes. Dr. Schlegel gives the following measurements of a typical example 

 in the Leyden Museum, from Bourbon Island, received from Mr. Verreaux : 

 '• Wing 8 7-12 inches; point of the wing 3 5-12 ; middle tail feathers 3 7-12 ; 

 external 2 8-12; length of bill 12^ lines; height Ah lines; width 6 lines; tar- 

 sus IGi lines ; middle toe 17} lines." 



J5sTRELATA BuLWERi (Jard. et Selb.) Coues. 



Procellaria .Sm^w«/?, Jardine and Selby, 111. Orn. Vol. ii. tab. 05. (No date 

 given on title page and pages not numbered.) Schlegel, Mon. Proc. Mus. 

 Fay-6as, 1863, p. 9, and of many authors. 

 Thalassidroma Butweri, Gray, Gen. Birds, 1849, iii. 

 Procellaria avjinho, Heineken, Birds Mad. in Brewst. Journ. Oct. 1829, p. 231. 



(First designation ?) 

 Puffinus columbinus, Webb and Berthelot, Hist. Nat. Canar. ii. part ii. 1836 — 44, 



page 44, pi. 4, fig. 2. (Name Proc. columhina on plate.) 

 Bulweria columbina, Bonaparte, C. A. 1855, ii. p. 194. 



Habitat. — Atlantic Ocean. Coast of Africa and Europe. Dr. Schlegel has a 

 specimen from Greenland. Very possibly to be included in the Fauna of North 

 Ameiica. 



This interesting species is the smallest of the genus, and quite distinct from 

 its congeners not only in size but in some of its proportions. It has compara- 

 tively a longer tail than most species of the genus ; bearing a proportion to the 

 wing from the carpal joint of Ah to about 8, or more than half. The tail is 

 very cuneate, the difference between the median and outer feathers amounting 

 to 1-75 inches; and the central pair themselves are considerably longer than 

 the next. The under tail coverts, — at least in the specimen before me, — fall 

 nearly two inches short of the end of the longest feathers, being in fact no 

 longer than the upper ones. The folded wings hardly reach to the end of the 

 tail. The bill is about as long as the tarsus, or the middle toe without its 

 claw: of the ordinary yEstrelatean typ6j ; quite stoat at the base, compressed 

 throughout ; tbe unguis large and rising almost immediately from the nostrils, 

 and exceedingly convex ; the sulcus on the lower mandible is deep and well 

 marked; the outline of the rami is nearly straight, the gonys very concave; 

 and there is considerable of an eminentia symphysis. The first primary is 

 hardly if at all longer than the second. The feet present no special peculiari- 

 ties in relative size or proportions ; the inner toe is perhaps slightly shorter 

 than ordinary. 



The fuliginous color is deepest, being almost black, on the wings and tail ; 



[May, 



