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Genus OCEANITES. 



Procellaria apud Wilson, Am. Orn. vii. p. 90 (1813). 

 Thalassidroma apud Bonaparte, Comp. List, p. 64 (1838). 

 Oceanites, Keyserling & Blasius, Wirbelth. Eur. p. 238 (1840). 



The species belonging to this genus inhabit the Palsearctic, Ethiopian, Oriental, Australian, 

 Nearctic, and Neotropical Regions, only one species being found in the Western Palaearctic 

 Region. 



In habits they do not differ much, if at all, from the species belonging to the genus 

 Procellaria ; and like them they breed amongst stone heaps on islands close to the sea, depositing 

 a single white egg. 



Oceanites oceanicus, the type of the genus, has the bill as in Procellaria ; the wings long and 

 pointed, the first quill shorter than the third, the second longest ; tail moderately long, slightly 

 forked ; legs very long and slender, the tarsus whole ; hind toe wanting, anterior toes long and 

 slender, interdigital membranes emarginate ; claws flat, nearly straight, with the point rounded. 



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