The Slender-billed Shearwater 



ish tips of feathers, lightening (sooty gray) below; chin lighter to whitish, and a touch 

 of white on lower eyelid; lining of wing, restrictedly, whitish to white. Bill slender, 

 weak, black ; feet and legs light gray and dusky. Length (av. of 6 Monterey specimens) : 

 393 (15.47); wing 273 (10.75); bill 32 (1.26); depth at base 10.4 (.41); tarsus 49.5 (1.95)- 



Recognition Marks. — Teal size, but appearing larger; uniform sooty coloration; 

 roughly, a smaller edition of the dark-bodied Shearwater — bill much smaller and white 

 lining of wing more restricted. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in California. Single white egg deposited in burrow 

 or (in crowded colonies) upon surface of the ground. Size variable but average about 

 71. 1 x 47 (2.80 x 1.85). Season: c. Nov. 25; one brood. 



General Range. — Breeds in southern seas; migrates along both coasts of 

 North Pacific as far as Kotzebue Sound, Alaska. 



Occurrence in California. — Fairly common migrant and forager on the open 

 ocean, from San Diego north at least to Monterey. All records appear to come within 

 the seven "winter" months, October-April. 



Authorities. — Loomis (Puffinus tenuirostris), Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 2, 

 vol. vi.. 1896, p. 28 (Monterey); ibid., ser. 4, vol. ii., pt. 2, no. 12, 1918, p. 138 (syst. ; 

 Calif, occurrences, etc.); Anthony, Auk, vol. xiii., 1896, p. 171 (near San Diego). 



IF A SHEARWATER'S memory was retentive, it could doubtless 

 take first prize in a geographical quiz upon the Pacific Ocean. Experienced 

 the race unquestionably is, and none more so than tenuirostris, he of the 

 slender beak, -who ranges through all the intricacies of North Pacific 

 coastal waters clear up to Kotzebue Sound. As nearly as we can deter- 

 mine, the spring journey northward is accomplished along the Asiatic 

 borders of the ocean. The returning hosts of fall sweep down our Ameri- 

 can coasts, but usually take their departure for the trans-Pacific flight 

 from some point farther north than California. Now and again, however, 

 the southward movement persists along our shores. Mr. Joseph Mailliard 

 encountered the species in considerable numbers at Monterey on the 17th, 

 18th, and 19th of December, 1895, and was the first to report them as 

 Californian birds. Their occurrence at that season was further remarkable 

 because December is the height of their breeding season in Australian 

 waters. Mr. Beck records a notable flight on December 2nd, 1907, on 

 Monterey Bay, where he also took specimens from October 14th to Janu- 

 ary 30th, the last-mentioned being undoubtedly a non-breeding straggler. 

 i\nthony took specimens off San Diego on January 9th, 1896, evidently 

 stragglers from the unusual movement which Mailliard had witnessed 

 at Monterey some twenty days previous. 



The early accounts of the nesting of these "Mutton-birds," on 

 certain islands off the coast of Tasmania, border upon the marvelous. 

 Davies, writing in the "Tasmanian Journal," says: 1 "It is not in my 

 power to describe the scene which presents itself at Green Island on the 

 night of the 24th of November. A few minutes before sunset flocks are 



'Quoted by Salvin and Godman in Monograph of the Tubinares, Pt. II., p. 151. 



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