310 The Egg of Thalassidroma Leachit, etc. 
rounded and of equal size at either end. The Bulwer’s is 
frequently quite pointed at one end, and in all the specimens 
obtained one extremity was perceptibly sharper than the 
other; not to the same extent, however, as in the eggs of 
most birds, but much more so than in others of this family. 
Duskv Perret (Procellaria obscura, of Gmelin and Tem- 
minck, &c. Puffinus obscurus, of Vieillot, Audubon, Bona- 
parte, &c.) 
With regard to the geographical distribution, habits, and 
manner of breeding of this bird, nothing is known with cer- 
tainty. It is not recognized by Yarrell as a bird of the Bri- 
tish islands, and Temminck only claims it as an European 
species, on the strength of two specimens, one obtained on - 
the coast of Bretagne, the other on that of Picardy, in France. 
Its claim to be ranked as an American species, if we care- 
fully rely upon our authorities, is, apparently, less doubtful. 
The Prince of Musignano, in his geographical and compara- 
tive List of the Birds of Europe and North America, speaks 
of it as accidental on our central coast. Mr. Audubon, how- 
ever, speaks of having found it quite common in June off the 
western shores of Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico, and after- 
wards of having seen it off Sandy Hook. De Kay includes 
it among the birds of New York, and speaks of its having 
been obtained on the coast of Long Island. 
The egg, which I received from a reliable source, and 
which I believe to have been entirely unknown to naturalists 
before the last summer, measures exactly 2 inches in length 
by 1j of an inch in breadth. It is of a uniform dark cream- 
color, oval in shape, and very nearly of the same size at either 
end ; not pointed, and more oblong than spherical in shape. 
Its place and mode of breeding Iam not for the present at 
liberty to give, for reasons explained below. 
The Greater Sucarwarer (Pufinus major, of Faber, 
Yarrell, and Temminck. Puffinus cinereus, of Gould, Audu- 
bon, Bonaparte, &c.) dert 
