Bulletin - United States National Museum - si-pddr - Smithsonian ...

BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 51
bird was so emaciated that the pectoral muscles were reduced to thin
bands overlying the sternum, a condition due apparently to lack of
food, as there was no indication of disease. The measurements of
this specimen, in millimeters, are as follows : Wing, 227.5 ; tail, 71.5
culmen, 35.6; tarsus, 42,6. The feathers of wings and back are
somewhat worn, while the rectrices seem to have been renewed re-
cently. The specimen is of the type with blackish upper surface
(differentiating it from the grayer P. p. yelkouan and P. f. mauretanicus).
A shearwater of this species (subspecific form unknown)
has been recorded from Iguape, on the coast of Sao Paulo, Brazil,^*^
but there seems to be no previous note of occurrence for Argentina.
PUFFINUS CREATOPUS Coues
Pufflnus creatopus Coues, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1864, p. 131.
(San Nicholas Island, California.)
Skulls of this shearwater were preserved from two mummied
specimens found on the beach at Antofagasta, Chile, on May 2, 1921.
PUFFINUS GRAVIS (O'Reilly)
Procellaria Gravis O'Reilly, Greenland, Adj. Seas, etc., 1818, p. 140, pi. 12,
fig. 1. (Cape Farewell and Staten Hook to Newfoundland.)
On January 23, 1921, 1 found the dried body of a great shearwater
on the beach at La Paloma, Department of Rocha, Uruguay, and
secured the skull. There seems to be no other record for the occur-
rence of the species in Uruguay, though it is known from the Falk-
land Islands and Tierra del Fuego north into North Atlantic seas.
PUFFINUS GRISEUS (Gmelin)
Procellaria grisea Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 564. (New-
Zealand.)
A number of mummified shearwaters of this species were found
on the beach at Antofagasta, Chile, on May 2, 1921, and three skulls
were collected. About 9 in the evening on May 5, while the steamer
was passing 12 kilometers west of the Balliesta Islands, Peru, several
came on board attracted by the lights, and near the same hour
on May 7, wben 16 kilometers west of Lobos Afuera Island, we
encountered large numbers. On this last occasion 40 or 50 blun-
dered aboard, and several hundred in the water were observed
scurrying aside as the ship passed by the lights from the promenade
deck. Those that came aboard fell sprawling on deck and then
scuttled along, half erect, with rapid awkward steps. The
obliquely placed feet, with the comparatively slight flexure of which
they were susceptible, made their stride short and stilted. Some
» Von Ihering, Aves do Brazil. 1907, p. 37.
;