BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. 109 



on the eastern side ; accidental in Greenland, and rare or casual off the North American 

 coast (?)." 1 Included by Putnam, 2 in 1856, from a skull in the Essex Institute collection 

 taken from a bird said to have been killed in Salem Harbor, August 13th, 1S55. "As Prof. 

 Putnam cannot at this time remember anything in regard to the record, and as the skull is not 

 to be found, the species is not here enumerated." 3 



33 [94] Puffinus fuliginosus Strick. 

 Sooty Shearwater; "Black Hag" or " Hagdon." 



Not uncommon summer visitor ; March to October. 



There is a specimen in the collection of the Boston Society of Natural 

 History, labeled Egg Rock, off Nahant, March, 1879. 



The Sooty is much less abundant than the Greater Shearwater. The 

 habits and methods of flying appear to be the same in these two Shearwaters. 

 A specimen I shot off Rockport, in August, contained in its stomach the beaks 

 of several squids. 



The dark color at once distinguishes the Sooty Shearwater. It appears 

 almost as black as a Crow as it scales along with its narrow, pointed wings and 

 its short, rounded tail. 



[97] Priofinus cinereus (Gmel.). Black-tailed Shearwater. Recorded by Putnam 4 

 as "Winter. Common." The bird is a Pacific Coast species and is not known to occur here. 



34 [106] Oceanodroma leucorhoa (Vieill.). 

 Leach's Petrel. 



Uncommon transient visitor; June 21 ; October 12 to November. 



Although Leach's Petrels breed in large numbers along the coast of Maine 

 as far south as No-Man's-Land in Penobscot Bay, 1 1 1 miles northeast of 

 Ipswich Light, they very rarely stray during the breeding season to the Essex 

 County coast, and are only occasionally seen during the migrations. Yet it is 

 evident that many thousands must pass our shores. The birds that are seen 



1 Amer. Ornith. Union Check-List, p. 32, 1895. 



* F. W. Putnam : Proc. Essex Inst., vol. 1, p. 225, 1856. 



3 R. H. Howe, Jr., and G. M. Allen : The Birds of Massachusetts, p. 22, 1901. 



4 F. W. Putnam : Proc. Essex Inst., vol. 1, p. 222, 1856. 



