Oeder TUBINAEES.] 
[Fam. PEOCELLAEIIDiE. 
PUFFINUS TENUIEOSTEIS. 
(BONAPARTFS SHEARWATER.) 
Frocellaria tenuirostris, Temm. PI. Col. vol. v. livr. 99 (1836). 
Priofinus hrevicaudus, Bonap. C. R. xlii. p. 769 (1856). 
Nectris hrevicaudus, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. ii. p. 201 (1857). 
Nectris hrevicauda. Cones, Proc. Phil. Acad. 1864, p. 127. 
Puffinus hrevicaudatus, Hutton, Cat. Birds New Zeal. p. 45 (1871). 
Puffinus hrevicaudus^, Buller, Birds of New Zealand, 1st ed. p. 315 (1873). 
Native names. — Titi, Hakoakoa, and Hakuakua. 
Ad. omnino fuliginosus, corpore superiore brunnesente lavato : rostro nigricanti-brunneo, mandibuli pallidiore : 
pedibus vinascenti-cinereis : iride nigra. 
Adult male. Entire plumage sooty or blackish grey, the upper surface strongly tinged with brown. Irides 
black ; bill blackish brown, the under mandible paler ; legs and feet vinous-grey j the webs yellowish flesh- 
colour, blackish brown towards the edges. Total length 15 inches ; wing, from flexure, 10' 75 j tail 3' 75 ; bill, 
along the ridge 1'5, from gape to extremity of lower mandible 1’8 ; tarsus 1'75 j middle toe and claw 2'25. 
Female. Diff'ers from the male only in having the plumage more suffused with pale brown, the feathers of the 
breast, sides, and underparts generally having brownish margins. 
Young. Has the blackish grey of the upper sides of the faee and sides of the neck fading gradually into the 
white of the underparts ; the bill also is darker, being of a uniform brownish black, very slightly paler 
along the under edge of the lower mandible. 
Younger state. A fledgling in Mr. Drew’s collection, which was picked up on the Wanganui sea-beach, has the 
plumage as in the adult, except that the throat and fore neck are ash-grey, the down of that colour giving 
place, however, to white feathers, whieh are at present very minute. On the lower cheek the down has 
almost disappeared. 
Obs. A specimen picked up by myself on the ocean-beach near Otaki gave the following measurements : — 
Total length 14 inches ; extent of wings 26-5. This was in the early part of Eehruary, and the bird was in 
adult plumage, but too far gone to admit of my preserving it. 
This species of Petrel is very abundant on our coasts, and retires inland, sometimes to a distance of 
fifty miles, to breed. It nests in underground burrows, forming often large colonies, and resorting to 
the same breeding-place year after year. There is said to be an extensive nesting-ground of this kind 
in the Kaimanawa ranges in the Taupo-Patea country. At certain seasons the natives collect large 
numbers of these birds and preserve them in calabashes, potted in their own fat, either for future use 
or as gifts to neighbouring tribes. 
* Dr. Einsch was the first to identify our bird with Puffinus tenuirostris ; and Mr. Salvin says of it : “ It seems well esta- 
blished that P. hrevicaudus of the Australian and Rew-Zealand seas does not differ from P. tenuirostris of Japan. The latter name 
has priority.” 
