PROCELLAEIID.E — THE PETRELS - CYMOCHOUEA. 



411 



)ossible 

 L's were 

 md the 

 fact, no 



\s lower 

 and the 

 ivface of 

 liurrows 

 ■ral after 

 uf thirty 

 ;tly back 

 teriuiniis 

 uice. Ill 

 In every 

 I nude was 

 le egg the 

 the uiide. 

 :ime, I am 

 ions being 

 3 resendAe 

 birds utter 



id the only 

 t'ith (lousid- 

 dish-yellow 

 leveral days 

 to lioth the 

 pains. A 



specimens, 



trunk, and 



ml on \)eing 



dy with the 

 the ground, 

 pears to run 

 j very gvail- 

 it of several 

 during tlie 

 1 directions, 

 arf of 1)"<'1^ 

 ird, and all 

 suggestive ot 



ler wings m-r 

 •r than a bird 



slightly more 

 ate. Around 



the larger cinmmference is a faint ring, almost always apparent, of fine reddish 

 dottings. These eggs are quite fragile and delicate, and measure from 1.25 to 1.40 

 inches in length, and from .[)2 to .95 of an inch in tlieir greatest breadth. The egg 

 of this species is an almost exact nuuiature of that of Diomcdea cxulans. 



Cjrmochorea melania. 



THE BLACK FETBEL. 



PrnccUnria melanin, Bonap. Compt. Roiul. XXVUI. 1854, 602. 



TiMhissidroma melania, HoxAP. t'onsp. II. 1850, lOfi. 



Cymoclwna melania, CouKs, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1864, 76 ; Ki;y, 1872, 329 ; Check List, 1873, 



no. 589. 

 Cymochorca mclwna, Ridgw. Norn. N. Am. U. 1881, no. 724. — CouEs, 2d Chock List, 1882, 



no. 824. 



IIab. South Pacific Ocean, including the coast of Lower California. 



Sp. Char. Adult: Fidiginoiis-dusky, li^^hter and browner beneath ; middle and greater wing- 

 coverts and outer webs of tertials light grayish brown ; reniiges, larger scapulars, and tail, blackish 

 dusky ; upper tuil-coverts fuliginous, like the back. Bill, legs, and feet, entirely black. 



Length, about T.nO inches ; wing, 6.80 ; tail, 3.90, depth of its fork, 1.20 ; culmen, .60 ; tarsus. 

 1.20; middle toe, 1.00. 



I can find no account of the general habits of this species, nor any indication of 

 the art'a of its distribution or resort. It is said to be a visitor of the coasts of Cali- 

 fernia, Oregon, and Washington Territory ; but so far as can be ascertained, there is 

 IK) positive evidence of the capture of a single specimen in that region ; certainly not 

 since 1.S54. Prince Bonaparte, in his Notes (m the Birds collected by M. A. Delattse 

 in his Voyage between Nicaragua and California, and in which he first describes this 

 bird as a new species, assumes, apparently without any evidence, that it belongs to 

 tlu> Californian faiuia, and expresses some surprise that it should have escaped ])re- 

 vious exjtlorers on that coast. That it should not since have been met with is a strong 

 indication that it does not belong to our fauna. 



Cymochorea homochroa. 



THE ASHY FETBEL. 



Ciimnrhoirn hnmochron, Corr.s, Pr. ,\c. Xnt. Sci. Pliilad. March, 1864, 77 (Famllonc Islands, const 

 of California) ; Key, 1872, 329 ; Chock List, 1873, no. 590, cd. 2, li.'82, no. 825. — RinciW. 

 Norn. N. Am. R. 1881, no. 725. 



Thahimdmna melania. Lawk, in Raird's I!. N. Am. 1858, 830 (not of Honap. 1857). — Raiiu), 

 Cat. N. Am. B. 1869, no. 643. 



