27. PUFFINUS CUNEATUS, Salvin. 



(SALVIN'S SHEARWATER.) 

 (Plate 22.) 



Puffinus cuneatus, Salvin, Ibis, 1888, p. 353 (July) ; Rothsch., Avif. Laysan, Part I., 

 p. 47 (1893), II., p. 287 (1900) ; Salvin, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XXV., p. 371 

 (1896) ; Godman, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Aves, III., p. 432 (1904). 



Puffinus knudseni, Stejneger, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus., XI., p. 93 (1888, November). 



Priofinus cuneatus, Bryan, Key Birds Hawaiian Group, p. 12 (1901). 



Cauda longa, cuneata : notaeo fere concolori, fuliginoso-brunneo : tectricibus alarum 

 dorso concoloribus : gastrseo albo, interdum grisescente. 



This species was described by Salvin in July, 1888, from two specimens obtained by 

 Mr. H. J. Snow in Krusenstern Island, one of a small cluster so named by Kotzebue, 

 belonging to the Marshall Islands, in the Pacific Ocean, about Lat. 10° 17' N., Long. 

 170° E. (cf. Salvin, I.e.). 



It was afterwards found breeding on Sulphur Island, one of the Volcano Group, 

 by Hoist, in June, 1890 (Seebohm, Ibis, 1891, p. 191), and the Hon. Walter Rothschild 

 received specimens from San Dionisio (Lat. 24° N, Long. 141° E.), another island 

 of the same group. He has likewise in his collection two examples from the Bonin 

 Islands, collected by Mr. Alan Owston. 



In the Hawaiian Islands P. cuneatus was met with by Mr. Knudsen, after whom 

 it was named by Dr. Stejneger in November, 1888, a few months after Salvin had 

 described the Krusenstern specimens. As far as I am aware, this bird has only 

 been procured on the island of Kauai, but it doubtless occurs elsewhere in the Hawaiian 

 Archipelago. It was observed by Palmer on all the islands of the Laysan group, with 

 the exception of Midway Island, but in no great numbers, and was breeding in May 

 and June. Mr. Walter Fisher says that it is abundant in Laysan, though not so 

 common as CEstrelata hypoleuca (Auk, 1903, p. 386). It encircled the central lagoon 

 of the island, in a ring inside the enormous colony of the CEstrelata. 



The Rothschild Museum contains a specimen procured by Mr. Beck in Lat. 11° N., 



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