84 BULLETIN 121, TJKITED STATES NATIONAL. MUSEUM. 



Range. — ^Abundant off the California coast except during the 

 breeding season. Ranging northward more rarely to Washington 

 and British Columbia (off Albert Head, October 24, 1891). 



Migrations. — The main flight northward occurs in August and 

 September and the return flight in February, March and April. 



Egg dates. — Natividad Island: Twenty recor(fs, April 10. 



PUFFINUS AUKICULARIS C. H. Townsend. 



TOWNSEXD SHEARWATEB. 



HABITS. 



This small shearwater, which resembles the black-vented shear- 

 water in general appearance, wa^ discovered and described by Mr. 

 Charles H. Townsend (1890), who found it to be "a common spe- 

 cies about the islands of the EeviUagigedo group," during the visit 

 of the United States Bureau of Fisheries' steamer Albatross to that 

 remote region in 1888 and 1889. These islands lie way off in the 

 Pacific Ocean, several hundred miles southwest of Cape San Lucas. 

 To Mr. A. W. Anthony (1898) belongs the honor of having added 

 this species to the North American list, as he found it " fairly com- 

 mon April 23, and again in early June" about Cape San Lucas, 

 which brings it within the limits of our check list. 



We are also indebted to Mr. Anthony (1898a) for practically 

 all we know about the life history of this obscure species. He found 

 it breeding abundantly on San Benedicte Island (also spelled Bene- 

 dicto or Benedictu), in the EeviUagigedo group. He says of this 

 island : 



The islands are all volcanic in origin and, in general, extremely rough and 

 broken. On San Benedicte is found a heavy growth of coarse grass, wherever 

 there is sulBcient soil. But little other vegetation is found on the island. Th!s 

 grass, growing to the height of a man's head, made travel extremely disagree- 

 able, as the barbed seeds penetrated our clothing by thousands and caused us 

 much more trouble than the cactus thickets which we encountered on Clarion 

 later. San Benedicte is a small island about three miles in length with an 

 average width of half a mile. 



Nesting. — Of the breeding habits of the Townsend shearwater, Mr. 

 Anthony (1900) writes: 



On San Benedicto Island I found a few nesting the last week in May. At 

 this date most of the young were but a few days old, covered with sooty down 

 above, and paler-grayish below. With the smaller young I often found one of 

 the parents, but they were as frequently alone. The burrows were all con- 

 fined to the higher parts of the island about 500 feet above the sea, where they 

 were dug among the bunches of thick, tangled grass, and were well scattered, 

 a dozen or so being a large colony. The burrows were not so deep or long 

 as were those of P. opisthomelas of Natividad, averaging about 5 feet in length. 

 On Clarion Island this species was again found in a similar location, all of the 

 burrows being confined to a thick growth of grass, on the high parts of the 

 island. 



