432 PUTFIlSriD^. 



0. homochroa, Coues, which may also occur within our limits, is a small Petrel and 

 is more sooty and less chocolate-brown underneath than the foregoing species, and it 

 has a decided ashy shade on the head and fore part of the body, and the upper tail- 

 coverts have a cinereous tinge. The lower under wing-coverts are also not so white. 

 Long, tota circa 6-8, alae 5-65, caudae 3-2, culm. 0-6, tarsi 0-85. (Descr. feminae adultae 

 ex Farallon Is. Mus. Eothschild.) 



Pam. PTJPFINIDJl, 



For this family Salvin enumerates the characters 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, viride at the 

 base and divergent ; first primary the longest, or not shorter than the second." 



The Puffinidse, which are entirely oceanic in their distribution, are divided into two 

 subfamilies, the Shearwaters (Puffininae) and the Fulmars (Fulmarinae). None of the 

 latter have, as yet, been found in Central America, 



Subfam. PUFFININJE. 



The members of this subfamily are distinguished by the absence of lamellae on the 

 sides of the palate, whereas all the Fulmarinae have more or less well-developed lamellae. 

 Eight genera of PuffininEe are recognized by Salvin in the ' Catalogue of Birds.' 



PUFFINUS. 

 Puffinus, Brisson, Orn. vi. p. 131 (1760) ; Salvin, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxv. p. 368 (1896). 



The true Shearwaters of the genus Puffinus have the tarsus distinctly compressed, 

 with the anterior edge sharp. The nasal tube is low, both nostrils being visible from 

 above, directed forwards and slightly upwards. The tail-feathers are twelve in number. 



The distribution of the genus is world-wide, and about twenty species are recognized. 



In addition to the three here enumerated, two others, P. opisthomelas and 

 P. creatopus, may visit the islands off the Mexican or Central- American coast, but there 

 is no direct evidence of either of them having been seen within these limits. 



1. Puffinus cuneatus. 



Puffinus cuneatus, Salv. Ibis, 1888, p. 353 ' ; Cat. Birds Brit. Mus, xxv. p. 371 ' ; Seebolini, Ibis 

 1891, p. 191 ' ; Anthony, Auk, xv. pp. 39 ', 316 ' ; xvii. pp. 247-252, t. 8 ' ; Nelson, N. Amer. 

 Fauna, no. 14, p. 27 ' ; Gates, Cat. Eggs Brit. Mus. i. p. 152 ' 



Puffinus knudseni, Stejneger, Pr. U. S. Nat, Mus. xi, p. 93 '. 



Brunneus, alis caudaque nigricantibus, hac longa cuneata; pileo vix saturatiore brunneo, loris et facie lateral! 

 paullo cinerascentioribus ; genis albis cinereo marmoratis ; corpore toto subtus albo, coUi lateribus 

 brunneis dorso concoloribus, corporis lateribus et axiUaribus cinerascenti-brunneis ; subcaudalibus 



