PUFFINUS PERSICUS. 



was " dark above and light below, and of the size of a Turtle-dove " (Ibis, 1859, 

 p. 349). 



Colonel Butler says that it is common all along the Mekran coast, but is of a shy 

 nature, and consequently difficult to procure. He never saw the species on the wing 

 within shot of the boat, but occasionally, when resting on the water, the birds allowed 

 the steamer to approach within range, and it was in this way that he shot the only 

 specimen secured. Morning and evening they might be seen, always far out at sea, 

 sailing along close to the water, skimming often over the waves with wings extended 

 and motionless, and then continuing their wandering course for some distance with rapid 

 strokes. They have a peculiar Plover-like habit, when flying, of turning from side to 

 side, looking dark one second, and fight the next, as they show their white breast and 

 dark back alternately (Stray Feathers, V., p. 292). 



Adult female (Type of species). General colour above sooty-black, including the 

 wing-coverts, with indications of brown margins to the feathers ; quills and tail black ; 

 head slightly browner than the back (worn plumage), including the upper lores and 

 ear-coverts, the fine of demarcation between the black upper-surface and the white 

 under-surface rather sharply defined, with very little black mottling on the 

 sides of the fore-neck ; space between the gape and the eye white ; upper 

 and lower eyelids white ; cheeks and entire under-surface of body pure white, 

 including the central under tail-coverts ; the longer central coverts and all the 

 lateral ones sooty-black, with narrow white tips to the feathers ; under wing- 

 coverts white, thickly mottled with sooty-brown, especially round the edge of the 

 wing ; axillaries sooty-brown, with a small white tip, the lower ones white, mottled 

 with brown ; quills dusky brown below, ashy on the inner webs, and having a little 

 white on the extreme base of the primaries ; " bill dusky-brown, bluish at base, and 

 on the basal three-fourths of the lower mandible ; legs and feet white, tinged with pink 

 and lavender, with the claws, margin of the web, exterior of feet and outer toe, and part 

 of ridge of middle toe, black " (A. O. Hume). Total length 12.5 inches ; culmen, 1.3 ; 

 wing, 7.3 ; tail, 2.9 ; tarsus, 1.5 ; middle toe and claw, 1.7. 



Colonel Butler states that his specimen, procured on the Mekran coast, had the 

 bill and legs coloured as follows :— " Bill pale lavender, dusky at tip and on the upper 

 mandible ; legs white, with an opalescent gloss ; the lower part of the tarsus and outer 

 toe blackish ; outer side of middle toe and under side of all the toes dusky-black ; iris 

 dark brown." 



A bird procured by Lieutenant Barnes off the Aden coast had the " bill 

 plumbeous black ; legs and toes pearly or opalescent white ; claws and webs between 

 the toes black." 



The specimen described and figured is the typical example in the Hume 

 Collection. 



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