North Atlantic
Voyage from Liverpool to Boston. Gulf Stream waters.
1911.
Aug 7
(No 2)
[August 7, 1911]

Oceanites oceanica.
Procellaria pelagica.

I had no hesitation in referring three of those birds which looked
fairly large, had comparatively long wings, and flew like swallows,
to Oceanites oceanica. All but one of the others were, I think,
Procellaria pelagica.* Allen remained for a time, as he was yesterday,
skeptical as to these being two kinds but at length when a
pair of the lesser ones came circling low over the water within
a few yards of the bows and directly beneath us he gave in and
admitted frankly that they were certainly much smaller than some
of the others with shorter, broader wings and appreciably different
flight which we both thought was, at this time, very bat-like.
Other similarly small birds flying further off moved precisely
like those seen yesterday dashing about with exceeding swiftness
and swinging up & down like Manx Shearwaters.

Pelagodroma marina (?)

  A single bird (the exception above referred to) seen half a mile away
& but imperfectly seemed to have white on the underparts & to be
slightly larger than a Leach's Petrel, but the white may have been confined
to the rump as Dr. Allen thought although I felt nearly sure that some
of it was on the throat and breast as well as

*On examining a specimen of P. pelagica [Procellaria pelagica] in Mus. Comp. Zool. [Museum of Comparative Zoology] on Aug. 12 [August 12] I fully
convinced myself that this was the species seen by me on Aug. 6 7 & 8