360 



THE tuuf:-nosed swimmers — tubixares. 



1 1 



Had. Oceans of the soutliern hemisphere, iiorthenstwuiil to the coast of Oregon. (Audubon.) 

 Sp. Chah. Adult {I) : Neck, hack, and entire lower parts pale smoky at<h, lightest on the neck 

 and anterior portion of the liack, where the tips of the feathers are nearly white ; pileiiin clouded 

 with |Nde yellowish asii and dusky ; sides of the head, including lores, orbital and niular regions, 

 chin, and throat, deep fuliginous, darkest around the eyes, where nearly black. Eyelids whitish. 

 Wings and tail dark slaty fuliginous, the slmtts of the primaries and rectrices yellowish, except 

 terminally ; sc^puhtrs and rump intermediate in color between the wings and back. Rill black, 

 except the sulci, which are light colored ; legs and feet pale reddish. Young: Entire head deep 

 fuliginous, fading gradually into the uniform smoky gray of the lower surface of the Ixnly, the luick, 

 rump, and upper tail-covertH ; scapulars sooty gray, considerably darker than the back ; wings and 

 tail sooty slate, the inner lesser coverts faintly tipped with dull ferruginous, the shafts of the pri- 

 maries and rectrices yellowish white. Eyelids conspicuously white, except anteriorly. Bill ami 

 feet coloi-ed as in the adult. 



Wing. 2t».(H)-2l..')() inches; tail, l(».r)()-13.00, the lateral feathers 3.(K>-5..')0 shorter; culmon, 

 4.(K>-4.25 ; depth of bill at base, 1.4(t-1.5.'j ; tarsus, 3.25 ; middle toe, 4.(H»-4..'i(). 



Tills species was iutroihu'ed into the North American fauna by Au(lul)on, who 

 figured and described it as D./iisca — supposing it to Ik; a new siK'cies — from an indi- 

 vidual procured by Dr. Townscnd near the mouth of the Columbia Kiver. It is a bird 

 of the Pacific Ocean, a great wanderer, more connnon in the South than in the Xortli 

 l*acifi(! Kegions, and with very doubtful claims to be regarded as even a visitor of tlie 

 Nortli American coast at any point. 



Mr. H. Swinhoe speaks of it as being abundant at all seasons in the Formosan 

 Channel. lie kept several birds of this species, as well Jis of J). aUmtrus, alive for 

 several days in his veranda at Amoy; but he could not induce any of them to 

 feed. For a few days they walked alwut in a clumsy manner, but soon became too 

 weak. He kept one alive, in order to ascertain how long it was iMjssible for this bird 

 to exist without food. It had been kept a week or more when he n>ceived it, and it 

 remained alive twenty-Jiine days after that ; so that it must luive lived in all at least. 

 five weeks without swaUowing anything. 



It was also fouiul about Amoy, China, when! it was caugiit, in company with l>. 

 (i//i<ifriis, by the fishermen, and brought into the market for sale — the flesh, all 

 niusk-ilavored as it is, Ix'ing devourtul by the omnivorous Chiiuimen. There it goes 

 by the name of A-fniirdu-t/onij, or Hooby of Hainan. 



Mr. Layard met with it in the Antaristic! Ocean, in lat. 41° H. It was in com|iiiny 

 with OnHit'i'mja f/'iijant<'ii. The same genth'inan, in the ''Ibis" (1807), descrilM's an 

 egg that had been (d)tained by C'aptain iVrmson in the Crozette Islands. It measured 

 4.'J0 inches by 2.(>(>, and resembled generally the egg of 1). exulaim — iK'ing chalky 

 white, coarse to the touch, and of a scpiarely truncated form. It was also minutely 

 pitted with reddish dots in an indistiiu't band at the obtuse end. This species is 

 called the "lUuo Itird " by the sealers, who readily distinguish it from the e(|ually 

 sooty Giant Petrel by its white eyelids and the white mark along the bill. Tin' 

 fenude lays but a single egg, which is said to Imj very good eating. 



Captain V. \\ King writes ("Zoologist," XXXIV. 128) that he met with birds 

 f»f this species in the greatest abundance near the Islaml of St. Paid. Wherever om' 

 si)ecies of J)lomedea abounded, the others were f<mnd to \w less common; and fnmi 

 this he inferred that the three spttcies, D. spadlrt'n, I), rh/otyir/iiiiir/iim, and I'. fuHiji- 

 iiosd, breed in different haunts. 



This species is given by .Mr. O. R. (Sray as oju* of the birds found on the coast ol 

 New Zealand. 



Captain Hutton ("Ibis," ISCfi) states, on the authority of Mr. Richard Harris. 

 R. N., that this sjHM-ies breeds in thi! iiuuiceiisibh; cliffs of the Princ«) Edwanl Islands 



