PUFFINUS CHLORORHYNCHUS. 



(THE GREEN-BILLED SHEARWATER.) 



Puffinus chlororhynchus, Lesson, Traite d'Orn. p. 613 (1831); Newton, Ibis, 1861, p. 181, 



et 1867, p. 359. 

 Puffinus, sp. 1, Legge, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 374 ; Hume, ibid. 1879, p. 115 (List B. of Ind.). 



Adult male (Ceylon). Length, from skin, 15-5 inches; wing 10-6 ; tail 5-2; tarsus 1-8; middle toe 2-0; outer 

 toe 2-0 ; bill to gape (straight) 2-0 ; length of nostril-tube 0-3. 



Iris dusky ; bill dusky greenish ; legs and feet fleshy white. 



Above glossy smoke-brown ; the wing-coverts and terrials slightly darker than the back-, the latter with a greyish tinge 

 or bloom (similar to the appearance of a Tern's wing) on the centre of the feathers : primaries and tail brownish 

 black ; beneath uniform pale brown ; the chin and gorge pervaded with ashy grey ; under tail-coverts dark brown, 

 the tips slightly paler than the rest of the feathers ; under wing uniform grey-brown. 



Obs. An example of this Petrel in the British Museum from Bourbon is a facsimile of the specimen here described ; 

 the only difference perceptible is the slightly less grey tint of the under surface. It measures : — Wing 10-s inches ; 

 tail 5-0 ; tarsus 1*8 ; middle toe and claw 2-25 ; bill to gape (straight) 2-0, length of nostril-tube 0-35. 



This species is very close to P. fuliginosus, which is larger, has a longer bill and white under wing-coverts : wing 11-5 

 to 11 -7 inches, tarsus 2*1, bill to gape 2-2. 



A species of this group inhabiting the Persian Gulf, and larger than the Dusky Shearwater, P. obscurus, Gin., has been 

 described by Mr. Hume as P. persicus (Str. Feath. 1873, p. 5). It measures — length 13-0 inches, wing about 

 8*0, bill at front 1-2. " Bill pale lavender, dusky at the tip ; iris dark brown ; legs white, with an opalescent 

 gloss ; lower part of tarsus blackish " (Butler). Upper plumage blackish brown, paler on the head ; the underparts 

 white, with the flanks, axillaries, and a portion of the under wing-coverts and the longer under tail-coverts deep 

 brown ; the white of the face encircles the eye, extending backwards from the posterior angle as a narrow streak 

 for 0-4 inch (Hume). 



Distribution. — This species, which is one of the most interesting of late additions to the avifauna of Ceylon, 

 occurred for the first time on the west coast in May 1875. During the height of the S.W. monsoon two indi- 

 viduals were met with on the Bolgodde Lake not far from Panedura. They were on the water near the mouth of 

 the lake, and one was shot, the other escaping. The specimen procured was sent to Mr. Mac Vicar, who gave it 

 to me. In January 1875 I saw two Petrels, evidently of the same species, swimming in the sea near the fort of 

 Triucornalie • and recently Mr. MacVicar writes tome that the Colombo Museum has acquired a specimen 

 shot last year on the west coast. The Green-billed Petrel would therefore appear to be a not unfrequent 

 straggler as far north as Ceylon. It is an inhabitant of the southern part of the Indian Ocean, and is not at 

 all uncommon at the Mauritius, Bourbon, Rodriguez, and other islands. Mr. Edward Newton met with it at 

 Rodriguez in October ; and the Shearwater of the Seychelles, which he met with between the islands of Praslin 

 and Malie, is identified by him doubtfully as this species. Specimens were evidently not procured, and 

 hence the doubtful identification ; but it is probable, I think, that the birds seen were Green-billed Shear- 

 waters. I have seen dark Petrels near the Cocos Islands, and thence southwards to the vicinity of the west 

 coast of Australia, which I conclude belonged to the present species. 



Habits. — Like other members of its family, this Petrel is purely a denizen of the ocean, dwelling on the 

 wide waste of waters hundreds, nay thousands, of miles from land, which it rarely approaches, except for the 

 purpose of rearing its young. All Petrels appear to be perfectly at home in all weathers on the vast ocean 

 expanse ; and the present species forms no exception to this rule. Solitary individuals are frequently seen 

 flying across the track of vessels passing through the trade-winds • they come in sight, perhaps, away on the 

 weather-beam, shearing over the billows, one wing up and then down, with great speed ; in a few minutes they 



