110 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BERMUDAS. 



the extremity, and tipped with black ; surface of the upper 

 mandible, and a narrow line on each side of the lower, also 

 black ; nostrils, tubular ; irides, dull white ; plumage of the 

 upper part, blackish brown ; the greater secondary wing 

 coverts being slightly tipped or margined with white ; 

 eyelids, cheeks, sides of the neck, and lower parts pure 

 white ; no dusky patch on the sides of the breast ; under 

 tail coverts, dusky brown, ending in the dark colour of the 

 upper plumage ; tail of twelve feathers ; outer margin of 

 the tarsus and outside toe, black ; tarsi much compressed ; 

 hind nail very small, and inserted considerably above the 

 lower end of the tarsus ; inner side of tarsus, webs, and 

 inner toes, pale flesh colour ; under coverts of the wing, 

 white ; inner margin of the wing, from the shoulder to the 

 carpal joint, mottled with brown and white. 



The foregoing was rather the larger specimen of the 

 two. The lesser one measured thirteen and three-fourths 

 inches in length, twenty-six in breadth, and had a longer 

 bill. It had also a dusky patch on each side of the breast. 

 In all other respects it was like the former. 



The egg, which was taken under the first of these speci- 

 mens, was of a pure white, nearly as large as a common 

 fowl's, but finer and more polished on the surface. 



I think there can be no doubt that this is the Puffinus 

 obscurus, or Dusky Shearwater, of Audubon, although the 

 length of the bird given by him is stated to be eleven 

 inches only. In the " New York Fauna " these dimensions 

 are set down at from ten to eleven inches. These must be 

 errors, arising probably (as in the case of the Phalarope), 

 from consulting the set-up specimens of some cabinet or 

 museum. This is the first time I have met with this bird 

 in Bermuda, and I look upon its discovery as highly inter- 

 esting. Whether the larger species, the Puffinus cinereus, 

 also breeds in the same locality or not, further investigation 



