Birds of Celebes: Puffiaidae. 9|| 



FAMILY PUFFINIDAE. 



The Shearwaters and Fulmar Petrels are distinguished by Salvin from the 

 other members of the Tuhinares as follows: "Nostrils united externally, or 

 nearly so, above the culmen; margin of the sternum uneven; distinct pterygoid 

 processes; manubrium of furcula very short; coracoids short, wide at the base 

 and divergent; l^' primary the longest, or not shorter than the second". The 

 Fulmars are further marked off as a subfamily by their having the sides of the 

 palate furnished with lamellae. 



GENUS PUFFINUS Briss. 



Bill much like that of a Frigate-bird (Fregata) — nearly straight with a 

 terminal hook, but differing of course by the tubular nostrils on the dorsal sur- 

 face of the maxilla; tarsvis laterally compressed, reticulated, shorter than middle 

 toe and claw; the outer toe about equal to the middle one; tail rounded or 

 cuneate; wings moderate. Cosmopolitan. 



^389. PUFFINUS OUNEATUS Salv. 

 Snow's Wedge-tailed Shearwater. 



Puffinus cuneatus (1) Salvin, Ibis 1888, 353; (2) Stejn., Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1889, Xn, 

 377; (3) Seeb., Ibis 1891, 191; (4) Wiglesw., Av. Polyn. 1892, 80; (^Fj Wilson, 

 Av. Hawaii, pt. IV pi. (1893); (6) Salvin, Cat. B. 1896, XXV, 371. 



a. Puffinus knudseni (1) Stejn., Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1888, XI, 93. 



h. Puffinus chlororhynchus (nee Less.); (1) M. & Wg., J. f. O. 1894, 1 16; (2) iid., Abb. Mus. 

 Dresd. 1895, Nr. 8, p. 20. 



Figure and descriptions. S. B. Wilson F; Salvin 1, 6; Stejneger a 1. 



Immature. Above sepia-brown, darkest on lower back and lesser wing-coverts, greyer on 

 bind neck, darker and duller brown on head above; mantle, scapulars, and greater 

 wing-coverts with paler edgings; wings and tail blackisb brown; submalar region, 

 chin and under parts white with a shade of pearl-grey in it, sides of neck greyer; 

 under tail-coverts sepia-brown; under wing-coverts white, varied with gi'ey- 

 brown; "iris dark brown; bill steel-blue, tip darker; feet and legs pale flesh -red"; 

 wing 291 mm; tail 136, lateral rectrices 90; tarsus 48; middle toe with claw 56, 

 outer toe about 2 mm shorter; exposed culmen (straight) 38 ($, Kema, N. Celebes, 

 15. Sept. 1893: P. & F. Sarasin). 



Adult. The adult answers well to the above description, but as the specimen described is 

 manifestly changing to a greyer brown plumage (as shown by the presence of new 

 and of more abraded feathers); the bird is evidently more smoky and less sepia-tinted 

 when adult. 



Nest and eggs. Mr. S. B. Wilson (Vj draws attention to Dr. Finsch's observations on the 

 breeding of a Shearwater, which seems to have been this species, in the Sandwich 

 Islands, but the bird was only seen, and broken fragments only of its eggs obtained. 

 Seebohm (3) records it as breeding abundantly on Sulphiu- Island, Bonin Group; 

 an egg from there measured 63.5 X 42 mm. 



