PUFFINUS LEUCOMELAS. 



all the feathers being centred with black, producing a spotted appearance ; lores and 

 sides of face, as well as the base of the forehead, white, with narrow streaks of black in 

 front of the eye, a little more distinct on the cheeks and ear-coverts ; the hind-neck 

 blackish, with a little white on the edges of the feathers ; sides of neck dark brown, 

 mottled with white edgings and bars on the plumage ; entire under-surface of body 

 pure white, with some brown feathers on the sides of the chest ; under tail-coverts 

 pure white, with white shafts ; axillaries and under wing-coverts pure white, with 

 dark brown lanceolate centres to the marginal coverts ; lower primary-coverts brown 

 in the centre, with more or less white on either web, and white towards the base ; quills 

 dark brown below, ashy along the inner webs; "bill dark horn-colour; feet flesh 

 colour, the outer toe a little darker " (Salvin). Total length about 19 inches ; culmen, 

 2.1 ; wing, 12.7 ; tail, 5.5 ; tarsus, 2.1 ; middle toe and claw, 2.7. 



I have had great difficulty in finding any record of the exact colours of the bill 

 and feet of this species in life. Those quoted from Salvin appear to me to have been 

 taken from the dried skin. Descriptions of the soft parts of this Shearwater do not 

 seem to have been published, if we except the notes given by Temminck. If taken 

 from Burger's MSS. these details seem doubtfully correct, being as follows : — " Bill, clear 

 bluish ; feet, yellowish-grey ; iris, grey." 



The present species varies considerably in plumage, and these differences are difficult 

 to account for. Some birds are of nearly uniform colour above, with pale brown edges 

 to the feathers. The upper tail-coverts occasionally have white fringes, but show none 

 of the white mottling noticed in the specimen described above. The head is occasionally 

 almost uniformly brown, with a little white mottling on the forehead. In a few specimens 

 the crown is blackish-brown, mottled with white feathers, some of which have black 

 tips ; in these darker specimens the black streaks on the side of the face, and on 

 the marginal wing-coverts, are much broader and more pronounced, while there is a 

 great deal of black on the coverts round the bend of the wing. 



Whether these darker birds are young individuals, or very old ones, I have had 

 no means of determining. 



The specimen figured in the Plate is that mentioned above as having been 

 obtained by Mr. Cockerell in the seas of north-east Australia ; the description has 

 been taken from a Japanese bird in the Seebohm Collection. 



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