46 NESTS AND EGGS OP 



France, where it nests in cavities under rocks, laying upon the ground. 

 The eggs are described as pure white, sometimes tinted with gray, 

 measuring 3.36x1.62. The principal food of this bird is fish, mol- 

 lusks and crustaceans, which it collects from the surface of the water. 



92. Puffinus auduboni FINCH. [7 12 -] 



Audubon's Shearwater. 



Hab. Atlantic Ocean, from New Jersey southward. 



Audubon's Dusky Shearwater is found on the Atlantic coast of 

 the United States from New Jersey to Florida. It wanders to the 

 coast of Africa, where it is said to breed on the islands lying on the 

 west coast. It breeds in the Bermudas and the Bahamas, and nests 

 especially in abundance on most of the uninhabited Keys of the latter 

 group ; here they breed in March, depositing the single white egg in 

 holes in the rocks. A nest is made consisting of a few dry twigs. 

 Both sexes incubate and when caught on the nest the birds do not offer 

 any resistance. The egg of this species is of a clear chalky white 

 color, oval in shape and measures from 1.90 to 2.32 long by 1.30 to 



1.45 broad. 



93. Puffinus gavia (FORST.) [713.] 



Black-vented Shear-orator. 



Hab. Pacific Ocean, chiefly southward. 



This species is supposed to occur along the whole Pacific coast as 

 far north at least as Oregan. Little seems to be known regarding its 

 general habits ; the eggs are said to resemble those of other members 

 of this family. 



94. Puffinus Strickland! RIDGW. [714.] 



Sooty Shear-water. 



Hab. North Atlantic, on the American coast south to the Carolinas. 



Here is a Petrel that escaped the observations of the earlier orni- 

 thologists, Wilson, Nuttall, and Audubon. Recent explorers, however, 

 have discovered that it is a common bird off our Atlantic coast, and 

 that far north it breeds in immense colonies on the islands of the sea. 

 It burrows in the ground to the extent of several feet and deposits a 

 single white egg. The average size of the egg is 2.58 x 1.78. 



95. Puffinus griseus (GMEL.) [715.] 



Dark-bodied Shearwater. 



Hab. South Pacific, north to Lower California. 



The Dark-bodied Shearwater is known to breed on Cornwallis and 

 Chatham Islands, east of New Zealand, in the South Pacific Ocean, 

 and also on other islands lying farther south. 



The bird burrows in the peaty ground a horizontal hole three or 

 four feet deep and turning slightly to the right or left. At the end of 

 this burrow a rude nest is formed of twigs and dry leaves, where one 



