Puffinus cinereus, Steph. Gen. Zool. xiii. p. 227.
Procellaria puffinus, Linn.
This bird frequents the seas on the whole coast of South America. I obtained specimens from Tierra del Fuego, Chiloe, the mouth of the Plata, and Callao Bay on the coast of Peru. It is likewise known to be common in the Northern Hemisphere; this species, therefore, has a most extensive range. It generally frequents the retired inland sounds in very large flocks; although, occasionally, two or three may be seen out at sea. I do not think I ever saw so many birds of any other sort together, as I once saw of these petrels, behind the Island of Chiloe. Hundreds of thousands flew in an irregular line, for several hours in one direction. When part of the flock settled on the water, the surface was blackened; and a cackling noise proceeded from them, as of human beings talking in the distance. At this time, the water was in parts coloured by clouds of small crustacea. The inhabitants of Chiloe told me that this petrel was very irregular in its movements;—sometimes they appeared in vast numbers, and on the next day not one was to be seen. At Port Famine, every morning and evening, a long band of these birds continued to fly with extreme rapidity, up and down the central parts of the channel, close to the surface of the water. Their flight was direct and vigorous, and they seldom glided with extended wings in graceful curves, like most other members of this family. Occasionally, they settled for a short time on the water; and they thus remained at rest during nearly the whole of the middle of the day. When flying backwards and forwards, at a distance from the shore, they evidently were fishing: but it was rare to see them seize any prey. They are very wary, and seldom approach within gun-shot of a boat or of a ship;—a disposition strikingly different from that of most of the other species. The stomach of one, killed near Port Famine, was distended with seven prawn-like crabs, and a small fish. In another, killed off the Plata, there was the beak of a small cuttle-fish. I observed that these birds, when only slightly winged, were quite incapable of diving. There is no difference in the plumage of the sexes. The web between the inner toes, with the exception of the margin, is “reddish lilac-purple;” the rest being blackish. Legs and half of the lower mandible blackish purple. From accounts which I have received, the individuals of this species, which live in the Northern Hemisphere, appear to have exactly the same habits as those above described.
1. Pelecanoides Berardi. G. R. Gray.
Puffinuria Berardi, Less. Tr. d’Orn. p. 614.
Procellaria Berardi, Quoy et Gaim. Voy. de pl. 31
This bird is common in the deep and quiet creeks and inland seas of Tierra del Fuego, and on the west coast of Patagonia, as far north as the Chonos Archipelago. I never saw but one in the open sea, and that was between Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands. This bird is a complete auk in its habits, although from its structure it must be classed with the Petrels. To the latter Mr. Gould informs me, its affinity is clearly shewn by the form of its beak and nostrils, length of foot, and even by the general colouring of its plumage. To the auks it is related in the general form of its body, its short wings, shape of tail, and absence of hind-toe to the foot. When seen from a distance and undisturbed, it would almost certainly be mistaken, from its manner of swimming and frequent diving, for a grebe. When approached in a boat, it generally dives to a distance, and on coming to the surface, with the same movement takes flight: having flown some way, it drops like a stone on the water, as if struck dead, and instantaneously dives again. No one seeing this bird for the first time, thus diving like a grebe and flying in a straight line by the rapid movement of its short wings like an auk, would be willing to believe that it was a member of the family of petrels;—the greater number of which are eminently pelagic in their habits, do not dive, and whose flight is usually most graceful and continuous. I observed at Port Famine, that these birds, in the evening, sometimes flew in straight-lines from one part of the sound to another; but during the day, they scarcely ever, I believe, take wing, if undisturbed. They are not very wild: if they had been so, from their habit of diving and flying, it would have been extremely difficult to have procured a specimen. The legs of this bird are of a “flax-flower blue.”
2. Pelecanoides Garnotii. G. R. Gray.
Puffinuria Garnotii, Less. Voy. de l’Coqu. pl. 46.
Procellaria urinatrix, Gm. ?