Puffinus nativitatis Streets
Christmas Shearwater
Puffinus (Nectris) nativitatis Streets, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 7, 1877, p. 29. (Type locality, Christmas Island, Pacific Ocean.)
Puffinus nativitatis Salvin, Cat. Birds British Mus., 25, 1896, p. 389 (Krusenstern); Lister, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1891, pp. 295-300 (Krusenstern); Godman, Monogr. Petrels, pt. 3, 1908, p. 153 (Marshalls).
Geographic range.—Breeds at Wake and Laysan Islands south to Christmas, Phoenix, Marquesas, Tuamotu, and Austral Islands. In Micronesia: Marshall Islands—Ailuk.
Characters.—Upper parts chocolate brown; underparts resemble upper parts but throat may be slightly grayer; bill and feet black. P. nativitatis resembles P. pacificus but is similar with black feet.
Remarks.—The only specimens of this bird known from Micronesia, are those taken in the spring of 1883 by H. J. Snow at Krusenstern (Ailuk) in the Marshall Islands. For two birds from this island in the collections of the British Museum, Godman (1908:154) gives the following measurements: wing, 9.6 and 10.0; tail, 3.35 and 3.4; culmen, 1.15 and 1.2; tarsus, 1.7 and 1.8; middle toe and claw, 2.0 and 2.1.