The Black-tailed Shearwater 



General Range. — Southern seas, north to Monterey. Breeding haunts un- 

 known. 



Occurrence in California. — Rare, but apparently of fairly regular occurrence 

 as migrant and forager off the coast of Monterey. All records fall within the autumn 

 months. 



Authorities. — Loomis, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 3, Zool., ii., 1900, p. 319 

 (Monterey); ibid., ser. 4, vol. ii., pt. 2, no. 12, 1918, p. 146 (syst.; Calif, occurrences, 

 etc.). 



ALTHOUGH Shearwaters range over the entire ocean, their favorite 

 beats lie along the offshore banks, where herring, squids, and surface 

 crustaceans abound. They usually move close to the water with a stiff 

 double or treble flap and sail, a motion which is admirably suited to the 

 sinuosities of the sea; and while one may think them a little awkward 

 and slow-gaited, it is astonishing how quickly they pass from sight. It 

 takes a nice eye and a practiced judgment to pick out the occasional 

 rarity from among the thronging thousands of Shearwaters which annu- 

 ally sweep down, or up, our coasts. Sometimes discrimination is impos- 

 sible; and we owe our first knowledge of some species either to accident or 

 shrewd "suspicion." Mr. L. M. Loomis had the (deserved) good fortune 

 of establishing the first record of P. bulleri for the Northern Hemisphere — 

 a female taken on Monterey Bay, November 6th, 1896. Mr. Beck has 

 taken numbers of specimens since in the same historic locality; and its 

 occurrence might be described, therefore, as expectable. 



Added zest is given to this search for strange visitors when we 

 realize that more specimens of this bird have been taken at Monterey 

 than in all other places together, including the type locality, New Zealand. 

 This trim little Shearwater probably breeds somewhere in the Southern 

 Hemisphere, but its nesting haunts are unknown. 



No. 411 



Black-tailed Shearwater 



A. O. U. No. 97. Priofinus cinereus (Gmelin). 



Description. — Adult: "Upper surface cinereous, rather darker than the crown, 

 wings, tail and rump; the feathers of the back with dark shafts, under surface white; 

 the sides of the head and neck pale grey, blending into the white of the under plumage 

 and the darker grey of the upper; a few feathers on the flanks and the under tail- 

 coverts grey; under wing-coverts and quills grey; bill yellow, the nares and culmen 

 black; tarsi and toes fleshy brown, the outer toe darker. Total length about 19 inches 

 [mm 482.6], wing 13 [mm 330.2]; tail, central rectrices 4.4 [mm 1 1 1.76], lateral rectrices 

 3.5 [mm 88.9]; bill 2.4 [mm 61], tarsus 2.3 [mm 58.4], middle toe and outer toes 2.75 

 [mm 63.5], inner toe 2.35 [mm 59.7]" (Salvin). 



2009 



