PUFFINUS OBSCUKUS. 



(DUSKY SHEARWATER.) 



Dusky Petrel, Lath. Gen. Syn. iii. pt. 2, p. 416 (1785). 



Procellaria obscura, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 559 (1788, ex Lath.). 



Puffinus obscurus (Gmel.), Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii. part 1, p. 230 (1825). 



Nectris obscura (Gmel.), Keyserl. & Bias. Wirbelth. Eur. pp. xciv, 239 (1840). 



Cymotomus obscurus (Gmel.), Macgillivr. Man. Brit. Orn. ii. p. 13 (1842). 



Puffinus dichrous, Finsch & Hartl. Faun. Centralpol. p. 244 (1867). 



Puffinus opisthomelas, var. minor, Hartl. P. Z. S. 1867, p. 832. 



Puffinus opisthomelas, Finsch & Hartl. P. Z. S. 1868, pp. 9, 118. 



Puffinus auduboni, Finsch, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 111. 



'■'■Puffinus tenebrosus, Natt.," Pelzeln, Ibis, 1873, p. 47. 



Figurce notabiles. 



Werner, Atlas, Palmiped. ; Audubon, B. of N. Am. pi. ccxcix. ; id. 8vo ed. vii. pi. cccclviii. ; 

 Gould, B. of Eur. pi. ccccxliv. ; Fritsch, Vog. Eur. pi. lxi. fig. 1. 



Ad. supra nigro-schistaceus, subtus albus : capitis lateribus nigro-plumbeo et albo variegatis : subalaribus et 

 axillaribus albis, his versus apicem nigro-schistaceo notatis : subcaudalibus nigro-fuscis albo terminatis, 

 remigibus et rectricibus nigris : rostro nigro-plumbeo, mandibula pallidiore : tarso et digito externis 

 nigricanti-plumbeis : pedibus in parte reliqua, carneo-flavis : iride fusca. 



Adult (Bermudas). Upper parts slaty black; underparts white, extending to the eye; feathers on the sides 

 of the head and neck mottled ; under wing-coverts white ; axillaries white, slightly marked with slaty 

 black at the tip; margin of the wing dusky; under tail-coverts blackish brown, tipped with white; 

 quills and tail black : bill blackish plumbeous, paler on the lower mandible; outside of tarsus and the 

 outer toe blackish plumbeous, the rest fleshy yellow; iris blackish brown. Total length about 

 1] inches, culmen l - 45, wing 7 - 0, tail 3 2, tarsus 1*5. 



The present species inhabits the tropical and subtropical seas of the whole world, occurring in 

 the Atlantic on the eastern coasts of the United States from New Jersey to Florida, and also on 

 the coasts of the West-India Islands, and breeds in the Bermudas and Bahamas. It has also 

 occurred as a straggler in Great Britain. 



A specimen was sent to Yarrell by Mr. B. Blackburn, who informed him that it flew on 

 board a small sloop in the vicinity of Valentia Harbour, in Co. Kerry, Ireland, late in the evening 

 of the 11th May, 1853 ; a second specimen was, according to the late Mr. H. Stevenson, found 

 dead on the Earsham Estate, near Bungay, in Suffolk, about the 10th April, 1858 ; and there is 

 a specimen in the British Museum which is stated to have been shot in Devonshire. It has been 

 erroneously stated to occur on the Canaries and Madeira, but recent research has proved that 



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