370 Syno})sis of the Birds 



by a narrow membrane ; webs full, entire ; hind toe merely 

 a sharp nail: nails long, compressed, curved, acute. Wings 

 long, slender, rather acute ; first primary longest. Tail 

 moderate, rounded, of twelve feathers. 



Female similar to the male. Young but little different 

 from the adult. Moult twice a year without changing their 

 colors. Colors more or less grayish. Species of middling 

 size. 



Chiefly nocturnal : chasing at twilight, or in stormy days, 

 and hiding from the sun in clefts of rocks, or in the bur- 

 rows of small quadrupeds, which they dislodge. Much 

 more aquatic than any bird of their family ; combine the 

 powers of flying and diving. Keep on the wing for several 

 days, and dive even for their food, escaping from danger by 

 either means. Constantly at sea, residing among breakers, 

 hardly ever seen on shore. Feed almost exclusively on fishes. 

 Breed socially : dig with their sharp nails deep holes in the 

 ground, where they lay but one egg. Young born with long 

 down. Furnish the wretched inhabitants of the Frozen 

 Zone with food and clothing. 



Spread all over the world. A natural genus, eminently 

 distinguished by its power of diving, much less allied than it 

 appears to Procellaria. Forms the link between the Longi- 

 pennes, and the diving web-footed birds. 



sn. Puffinus cinereus, Cuv. Bill more than two inches 

 long, depressed at base, compressed where the point swells ; 

 tail cuneiform ; tarsus two inches long. 



Adult light cinereous, wings and tail blackish-ash ; be- 

 neath white ; bill and feet yellowish. 



Young slate-color, beneath varied with cinereous ; bill 

 blackish. 



Cinereous Petrel, Lath. Le Puffin, Buff. pi. enl. 962. young. 

 Shear-water Petrel oj Wilson's list ? Procellaria puffinus and 

 cinerea, L. 



