36 AUDUBON'S SHEARWATER. 



Color. Ailult. Above, sooty brown, lightest anteriorly; there is no abrupt line of demarcation, but 

 the dark above failes into the white of tiie lower surface on a line with the eye and encroaches on it in a 

 latch just below the bend of the wing, and slightly on the under wing coverts. Lower surface, w hite, ex- 

 cepting terminal portion of upjier tail coverts which are sooty brown. Iris, Ijruwn. Bill, very dark brown. 

 I'cet, brown externally, orange internally. 



Downy young. Above, light reddish brown, becoming paler below, with a patch of white beneath that 

 is wide uii the throat, narrows on the breast, then widens and divides into two branches on the abdomen, 

 feet, nearly wholly orange, being only slightly dusky externally, and the bill is urange at the base. Sexes, 

 similar in all stages. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



In something over one hundred specimens examined by me I find but little variation, and that mainly 

 consists in the greater or less amount of sooty brown on the under tail coverts, and the dusky occasional- 

 ly extends below the eye, thus the lower eyelid is not always white. This is the smallest of our Shearwa- 

 ters, and may thus readily be distinguished from them all, excepting the ilanx, P. puffinus, but even this 

 is larger, the wing being some two inches longer, and the color above is decidedly blackish, not brownish as 

 in the present species. Occurs in spring and summer on the Bahamas and southward, through the islands 

 of the Caribbean Sea, breeding throughout this region, in suitable locations; wandering in autumn over a 

 more widely spread section of ocean, then occasionally reaching our coast, casually as far north as New Jer- 

 sey. In winter disappearing from Bahaman w aters. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Lengtn, .1 00 to 12-00; stretch, 2(rO() to 27-00; wing, 7-rjO to S-(l(_^; tail, o-aO to 3-75; bill, 1-2.5 to 1-35; 

 tarsus, 1-35 to 1-50. 



DESCRIBTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



Nests, placed beneath rocks, composed of bits of sticks, shells, and debris, collected in the vicinity, but 

 in no great quantity, and sometimes the egg is deposited on the naked soil or rock. 



Eggs, one in number, elliptical in form, pale salmon in color when fresh, fading to white when inculia- 

 ted, or some time after being blown. Dimensions, from l-2()x 1-.S5 to 1-25 x 2-00. 



HABITS. 



Some five or six miles northeast of New Providence, Baliamas, one of a group of 

 small islets, lies Green Key. It is about a half a mile long by some quarter of a, mile 

 in width, and is crescent shaped, thus forming a small harbor, the shores of which are low 

 and bordered l)y a sandy beach. The outer curve of the crescent, to tlie westward and 

 northward, which overlooks the open waters of the channel, are elevated. In fact, in 

 ma,ny places, especially toward the .'Southern extremity, there are clifls, thirty or forty 

 feet high, that rise abruptly fr(jui the sea, forming a wall, against which the waves beat 

 continuously and impetuously. All along the broken places in the clifls, wlicre the land 

 slopes more gradually to the water, are scattered pieces of coral rock of varying form and 

 size, from fragments of a few pounds to huge masses tliat would outweigh tons. These 

 lie heaped together in along row just ;i,s they were left by the waves in some long past 

 period Ijefore the land was elevated as nnieh as it is at present. 



In company with Mrs Maynard, I landed on (his island on the morning of April m\, 

 1884, having come from Nassau in a little craft that found a, safe anchorage in tiie small 

 harbcn- Avhicli lay within the horns oi' the crescent. Leaving our man to put our things 

 ashore we passed around the northern end of the key, and had not gone far when we 

 came suddenly upon the entrance of a cave. The opening av.-is in theVolid ^\ all of a low 

 cliff that rose abuprtly from the sea, and was aljout six feet wide l-y four oi- live high. 



