BIRDS OF THE OPEN SEA 21 



waters off the coast of Southern and Lower California. 

 Here flocks of several thousand birds may be frequently 

 seen hovering over the vast schools of herring that for 

 some reason come near the shore. Mr. Anthony men- 

 tions one flock that numbered at least fifty thousand. 

 The presence or absence of the Shearwater near shore 

 is governed by the abundance or scarcity of fish ; during 

 late July, August, and September the maximum is 

 reached. 



The Black-vented Shearwater is supposed to breed 

 during the winter months, south of the equator, and the 

 summer flocks usually contain numbers of young birds. 



95. DARK-BODIED SHEARWATER — Puffinus gnseus. 

 Family : The Fulmars and Shearwaters. 



Adults : Plumage uniform sooty gray ; lighter, sometimes whitish, on 



chin and throat ; under wing-coverts white, transversely mottled 



with gray at tips ; bill hlackish. 

 Geographical Distribution: South Pacific, north on the American coast, 



to Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columhia. 

 Breeding Range : Islands of the South Pacific. 

 Nest : A rude structure of twigs, dead leaves, and peat at the end of a 



burrow three or four feet long, in side of a bank. 

 JEggs: 1 ; chalky white. Size 2.25 X 1.45. 



This Shearwater occurs in great numbers at Monterey 

 and Santa Cruz, California. I have seen a black cloud 

 fully a mile long composed of thousands of dark-bodied 

 Shearwaters, a few brandt cormorants, and many gulls 

 hovering over the sardines in the Bay of Monterey in 

 June. So numerous were they that the surface of the 

 water was black with them in continual motion as they 



