BIRDS OF THE OPEN SEA 2] 
waters off the coast of Southern and Lower California. 
Here flocks of several thousand birds may be frequently 
seen hovering over the vast schools of herring that for 
some reason come near the shore. Mr. Anthony men- 
tions one flock that numbered at least fifty thousand. 
The presence or absence of the Shearwater near shore 
is governed by the abundance or scarcity of fish; during 
late July, August, and September the maximum is 
reached. 
The Black-vented Shearwater is supposed to breed 
during the winter months, south of the equator, and the 
summer flocks usually contain numbers of young birds. 
95. DARK-BODIED SHEARWATER — Puffinus griseus. 
Famity: The Fulmars and Shearwaters. 
Adults: Plumage uniform sooty gray; lighter, sometimes whitish, on 
chin and throat; under wing-coverts white, transversely mottled 
with gray at tips ; bill blackish. 
Geographical Distribution: South Pacific, north on the American coast, 
to Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia. 
Breeding Range: Islands of the South Pacific. 
Nest: A rude structure of twigs, dead leaves, and peat at the end of a 
burrow three or four feet long, in side of a bank, 
Eggs: 1; chalky white. Size 2.25 x 1.45. 
Tus Shearwater occurs in great numbers at Monterey 
and Santa Cruz, California. I have seen a black cloud 
fully a mile long composed of thousands of dark-bodied 
Shearwaters, a few brandt cormorants, and many gulls 
hovering over the sardines in the Bay of Monterey in 
June. So numerous were they that the surface of the 
water was black with them in continual motion as they 
