Order PROCELL A RIIFORMES. 
Family PROCELLARIIDM. 
No. 73. 
PUFFINUS LHERMINIERI. 
(GXJN AX.) 
BROWN-BACKED LITTLE SHEARWATER. 
(Plate 55.) 
Ppfflxus [sic] LHKRMINIEKI Lesson, Rev. Zool., Vol. II., p. 102, 1839, for April. Ad ripas 
Antillarum=iW est Indies. 
Puffinus Iherminieri Iherminieri Mathews, Birds Austr., Vol. II., pt. i., p. 69, May 30th, 1912; 
Murphy, Amer. Mus. Novit., No. 276, p. 6, Sept. 8th, 1927. 
Distribution. Barbados, Guadeloupe, St. Thomas, Florida, the Bahamas and Bermuda. 
Puffinus Iherminieri nugax Mathews, Birds Austr., Vol. II., pt. i., p. 72, May 30th, 1912. Not 
Puffinn-s nugax Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Av., Vol. II., p. 205, Oct. 1st, 1857, ex Solander 
MS. ; Murphy, Amer. Mus. Novit., No. 276, p. 12, Sept. 8th, 1927 ; Murphy, ib., No. 322, 
p. 4, July 14th, 1928. 
Puffinus Iherminieri gunax Mathews, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, Vol. L., p. 55, March 5th, 1930: 
Melapav Island, New Hebrides. 
Distribution. New Caledonia, New Hebrides, New Zealand, Queensland (Australia). 
Adult male. Similar to the adult female. 
Adult female. General colour above dark sooty-black, including the head, back, wings and tail, 
the feathers having dusky bases ; entire under-surface white, including the under wing- 
coverts and the shorter under tail-coverts, the longer ones brownish-black tipped with 
white ; axillaries white ; the feathers running round the bend of the wing, inside, brown 
tipped with white ; under-aspect of wing-feathers pearl-grey tow r ards the base ; feathers 
in front of the eye like the head ; those below' the eye white, with brown centres and tips 
giving a mottled appearance ; lov r er eyelid white ; a noticeable small patch of feathers 
behind and below the ear browTi with white thread-like tips ; the feathers on the side of 
the breast browm with a white fringe which gets wider on the lower feathers ; wing-coverts 
sooty-black, the upper ones with a brown edge. Eyes brown, bill black, bluish on the 
mandible and at the base of the culminicorn ; feet and legs flesh-colour, the outer toe 
and the inner side of the tarsus black. Total length 297 ram. : culmen 28, wing 207 
tail 78, tarsus 43. Figured. Collected 30 miles east of Melapav (Meralav or Star Peak) 
Island ; Banks Group, Nev r Hebrides, on the 28th of January, 1927. 
(?) Immature have the secondary coverts tipped with white, those of the greater series broadly, 
forming a distinct bar.” (Murphy.) 
Nest. An enlargement at the end of a small tunnel, placed either on the flat ground or on slopes. 
They nest in colonies and the nesting-sites are riddled with their holes. 
Eggs. Clutch one ; pure white, surface smooth, but not shiny. 48 to 51 mm. by 35-37. Indis- 
tinguishable from those of P. assimilis. 
Breeding-season. February (Saba Island, West Indies). The breeding-season varies in different 
localities. 
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