PROCELLARIID.E — THE PETRELS — PUFFINUS. 389 



They did not fly round much, but remained quiet on the surface of the water. Dr. 

 Bryant did not see one of them on the banks ; and his observations were in conflict 

 with those of Audubon, as he never saw them dive, or apparently catch any fish, 

 though they were often m company with Boobies and different species of Terns, all of 

 which were actively employed in fishing. Between Andros and the Bank he saw 

 on the 26th of April a large flock of this species covering the surface of the water, or 

 hovering over it, for an extent of a square mile. Their number must have been enor- 

 mous. In the stomachs of all those he examined — nine in number — he found a 

 mass largely composed of the scales of small fish and the mandibles of squids and 

 cuttle-fish. 



Four eggs of this species (Smithsonian Institution, No. 1714), obtained by Dr. 

 Bryant, are of a clear chalky-white color, exactly oval in shape, and have the follow- 

 ing measurements : 2.10 by 1.45 inches ; 2.05 by 1.40 ; 2.00 by 1.40 ; 2.00 by 1.40. 



Puffinus gavia. 



THE BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATER 



Proccllaria gavia, Forst. Descr. Anim. 1S44, 143. — Hutton, Ibis, 1872, 84. 

 JEs&relata gavia, Gigl. & Salvad. Ibis, 1869, 66. 

 Cookilaria gavia, GRAY, Hand!. III. 1S71, 107. 



Puffinus gavia, Finsch, J. f. O. 1872, 256. — BlDGW. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 713. 

 Puffimis opislhomelas, Coues, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sci. Pliilail. April, 1864, 139 (Cape St. Lucas); Key, 

 1872, 331 ; Check List, 1873, no. 601 ; ed. 2, 1882, no. 836. 



Hab Coast of Lower California (Cape St. Lucas), and across the Pacific to New Zealand. 



Sp. Char. Adult: Above, uniform fuliginous-dusky, the feathers without distinct lighter 

 terminal margins ; lower parts, including entire under surface of the wings, white, the sides of the 

 neck and suborbital region faintly and indistinctly undulated with dusky grayish ; crissum and 



ft$ 



posterior portion of the flanks grayish fuliginous. Bill brownish (much like the color of the back), 

 the unguis and lower edge of both mandibles paler ; iris dark brown ; legs and feet pale colored in 

 the dried skin, the outer side of the tarsus and outer toe dusky. 



Total length, 12.25 to 15.00 inches; extent, about 26.00 to 32.00 ; wing, 9.00 ; culmen, 1.30- 

 1.40 ; depth of bill through base, .35 ; tarsus, 1.75 ; middle toe, 1.70-1.75 1 



1 Captain F. W. Hutton (in the " Ibis," January, 1872, p. 84), gives the average measurements of New 

 Zealand specimens as follows : — 



" Expanse, 26 ; length, 12J to 13J ; bill along culmen, 1£, to gap, 2 ; tail, 3.5 to 2.75." 



