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Home , Little shearwater, Puffinus, Shearwater

TheLittle (Pufinus assimilis) in the western North Atlantic

A summary of the reported occurrence for the past century and an examination of at-sea identification of the cryptic black-and-white found in these waters

David $. Lee

Puffinusassimilis baroli, the subspe- Cape Verde Islands. Although it has cordscomprised the only late nine- cies documented as straying north to been appropriately regarded as a race teenthORYEARS, century TWO indicationSPECIMEN that RE-the England and into the westernAtlantic, of Audubon's Shearwater,this popu- ( assimilis) breedson small islandsoff Madeira, the lation hasendlessly been switched back strayedinto the westernNorth Atlantic. Selvagens,Canaries, and Azores (only and forth between assimilis and lher- The first publishedrecord is of a one record). Additionally, James and minieri by variousauthors. It is similar that strucka lighthouseon SableIsland, Alexander (1984) report two "pros- in size (Table 1) and appearanceto the off Nova Scotia, September 1, 1896 pecting" Little Shearwatersin a Manx Little Shearwater, and earlier authors (Dwight 1897; Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. Shearwater(Puffinus puffinus) colony had considered it to be P. assimilis 407683), while the secondis actuallyan on Skomer Island, Dyfed, Wales. While Other races of the Little Shearwater oc- earlier record of a storm-exhausted bird the 1957 A.O.U. Check-listregards the cur in the southernoceans (P. a. elegans picked up alive on Sullivan's Island, North American records as P. a. baroli, in the South Atlantic), but there is no South Carolina, in August 1883 (Mus. this has apparently never been con- indication of trans-equatorial move- Comp. Zool. 220051). This bird, mis- firmed. Peters (1924) was cautious, ments. In fact, the speciesis generally takenly identified as an Audubon's pointingout that adequatematerial was regardedas rather sedentary,although Shearwater (Puffinis lherminieri), lacking,and Dwight (1897) did not dis- little is actuallyknown aboutits marine changedhands several times, and it was cusssubspecies at all. In examiningthe distribution. The speciesdoes at least 40 yearsbefore it wascorrectly identified Nova Scotia specimen,it is clear to me regularlyvisit British waters(Sharrock (Peters1924). Another 60 yearselapsed that it is not boydi becauseof its short and Sharrock 1976; Wallace and before a substantial number of western tail length, and not elegansbecause of Bourne1981). Furthermore, its nesting Atlantic reports emerged,although to its small size. The specimencompares seasonand/or periodof associationwith date still fewer than 20 records are favorably with a seriesof nine baroli I North Arianticnesting islands is difficult available.At present,there are scattered examined,and Murphy (1927) included to judge.Eastern North Atlantic breed- records for the northern Atlantic south this same specimenwith a small Mad- ing populationshave never been inven- to New York, the Carolinas,and Puerto eira series(N = 8) of Puffinusassimilis toried,but they are certainlysmall (sev- Rico. he studied. P. l. boydi breeds on the ere thousandpairs of each of the two

Volume42, Number2 213 forms, baroh and boy&, would be a both taxonom•sts and bird watchers for mths was beheved to be confined essen- generousestimate), further decreasing the foreseeablefuture. Here I simply1n- tlally to New Zealand and Australia, the probability of them being encoun- tend to provide additional sightrecords and the few records from the Madeira tered at sea. of the Little Shearwater, summarize Islandswere regardedas strays.The Sa- The Little Shearwater is perhaps a its reported occurrencein the western ble Island specimen is not a vagrant temperate-subtropicalequivalent of the North Atlantic, and present several youngof the year becauseit is in active more tropical Audubon's Shearwater, previously unmentioned clues and bodyand wing molt. The fifth primaries but the ecologicaland temperaturere- problemsin at-sea identification of the are barely out of their sheaths,and the lationshipsof thesetwo are rather cryptic North Atlantic "black-and- inner ones(1-4) are new. A sightingof difficult to define, particularly in the white" shearwaters. a possibleLittle Shearwater ispresented southern hemisphere. Some authors by Ryan (1967) and also included by have consideredthem allopatric forms Post(1967) in an addendumto hisstudy of a singlespecies. Olson (1975), for ex- of 1964; the bird was about five mfies Summary of western North Atlantic ample,was unable to find any structural records off JonesBeach, Nassau County, New differencesin the skeletonsof the two, York on January 2, 1967, and Peterson while Bourne and Loveridge (1978) (1980) includes a Maine occurrence I discuss two intermediate individuals of Northern Atlantic assume it is based on a record from off unknown breedingorigin found on As- Bar Harbor, Maine, of up to four small cension and St. Helena islands. Bourne The Little Shearwater records sum- shearwatersreported with an extremely (tn Post 1964; Vaurie 1965) also sug- marized from the 1940s to 1960s by fastshallow flap and verybrief moments gested combining these two small Post(1967) were from far offshore(be- of scalingvery low overthe water (July shearwatersinto a single species.Little tween 44-50øN and 40-33øW) in the 3 and 10, 1971 Am. Birds 25(5):830). Shearwatersare ecologicallyinterme- central North Ariantic. All four are from diate between the cold water Manx cold-waterareas. Dates of these sight- Shearwaterand the tropical-subtropical ingsare August 15, 1943, December 8, The Carolinas Audubon's Shearwater,and geograph- 1943, November 23, 1948, and August ically they occupyintermediate North 13, 1951. Brown's (1972) sightingsare Atlantic breeding sites as well. Nev- from the southeastern Grand Banks on Steve Planania and I saw two or four ertheless,Little Shearwatersoccur over February 28, 1971 (one bird 42ø562N small "black-and-white" shearwaters on the coldCanary Current where they nest 50ø47%V),March 1, 1971 (one bird November 14, 1978, 85 kilometers in the winter, while the Manx frequents 43ø052N, 50ø47%V and one bird south southeastof Oregon Inlet, North the warm Atlantic current(Bourne pers. 43ø26•N,50ø07%V), March 5, 1971(two Carolina(35 ø1 VN, 75ø03•), whichwe comm.) and nestsin the summer. In ex- birds 43 ø172N, 51 ø28%V,and two birds suspectedwere Little Shearwaters.Two ternal appearanceand flight characters, 43ø212N, 51ø26%V),and becauseof shearwaters were seen on separate oc- however, Little Shearwaters are inter- their proximity to land are more rea- casionson and near the inner edge of mediate in some aspectsbut not others sonably regarded as North American the Gulf Stream. Although the birds (see below; Fig. 4). The small "black- records. The 1896 Sable Island bird is wereonly viewedas they flew away,and and-white" shearwaterspresent an ex- obviouslyalso a record associatedwith their face patterns were not observed, tremely intriguingand complexworld- inshore waters. When Dwight (1897) it was apparent that they were not Au- wide faunal mosaic that will continue reported that record it was considered dubon's or Manx shearwaters because to present interpretive problems for quite unusual becausePuffinus assi- of the combination of small size, rap•d

Table 1. Comparative measurementsand weights of the three speciesof small black-and-white shearwaters known from the North Atlantic. Puffinuslherminieri P. lherminieri Puffinuspuffinus P. assimilisbaroli boydi lherminieri puffinus

Wing span -- -- 652 (555-712) (N 34) 778 (749-822) (N 13) Wing cord male 184 (176-190) (N 7) 182 (173-193) (N 14) 192(187-203) (N 25) 222 (211-235) (N 8) female 179 (170-185) (N 6) 180 (172-187) (N 11) 195 (185-207) (N 25) 232 (225-237) (N 4) Totallength 250-300(') -- 339(294-356) (N 29) 374(342-403) (N 14) Tail 72 (67-78) (N 14) 96 (85-105) (N 25) 96 (83-116) (N 50) 82 (75-90) (N 12) Tail as % of total length 26% -- 28% 22% Bill male 26 (24-28) (N 8) 25 (22-26) (N 14) 30 (27-33) (N 25) 36 (34-38) (N 8) female 25 (24-26) (N 6) 24 (22-27) (N 11) 28 (24-31) (N 25) 34 (32-36) (N 4) Tarsus 37 (36-39) (N 14) 33 (33-36) (N 25) 38 (35-43) (N 50) 42 (40-46) (N 12) M•ddletoe 41 (37-44) (N 12) 40 (33-42) (N 25) 44 (40-48) (N 50) 48 (46-50) (N 11) Weight -- -- 212 (156-261) (N 25) 412 (338-503) (N 13) Percentagewith whiteon % of 100%(N 9) 60% (N 25) 63% (N 50) 100%(N 12) under-tail coverts

P assimilisfromCramp (1977), total length for variousraces (*) fromHarrison (1983), P. I. boydifromspecimens examined, other measurements from birdscollected off North Carolinacoast (all North CarolinaState Museum). Mean (range)and (N = samplesize). Lengths in millimeters,weight in grams.

214 AmericanBirds, Summer 1988 wingbeatand veryshort tails. Thus, they sible. Derb Carter, who accompanied tropical occurrenceof Little Shearwa- were 1dentitled largely by processof me on this trip, saw one bird that I did ters in the North Atlantic, while the ehmination. "The birds flew only about not see,and he statedthat it was a very date, January 30, 1977, is within a gen- one meter abovethe surface,alternating small shearwater.Another bird seenby eral late summer-winter western Atlan- a rapid flappingand short,gliding flight both of us was too far away for any tic period of occurrencethat seemsto pattern.... When we first saw them meaningful observations.The third be emerging. from a distance,we thought they were sightingwas of dorsal glimpsesof a Raffaelekindly providedme with the Alcids;... At no time were we closer small, compact, banking, black-and- following details of the Puerto Rican than 30 m, and at this distancethe birds white shearwater with a short tail. It was record: appeared virtually tailless" (Lee and seen three times as its flight path Platania 1979). broughtit abovea largecresting wave. Don Erdman reportedto me by phone On December 28, 1984, I had the Although the bird was only about 30 that on 1/30/77 in MayaguezBay from 9:00-10:00 a.m. he saw 3 Little opportunity to make detailed observa- yards away, waves prevented observa- Shearwater for almost 1 hour from shore tions of a Little Shearwaterunder good tion of all but the glidingarch of its flight Virtually no glideexcept turning. Almost sea conditions, helping to compensate path. Thus the wing motion and flight no tail. The bill was very hard to see, very for the frustrations of the encounter in cadence were not noted. small and dark. The white on the side of Water temperaturesand depth for headreally stood out. The backis kind of 1978. This sightingalso occurredoff brownishbetween Bridled and Sooty. No OregonInlet, North Carolina(35 ø16•T, my three North Carolina sightingsare more than about 10" in size. Came to 74ø46%V)(Lee 1987). The bird wasseen asfollows: November 14, 1978, 17.5øC, almost50 yardsfrom shore,seen w/ twice in profile flight from distancesof 24.4øC, and 200 fathoms; December binocs. Shearwaters sometimes have dark about 30 metersand once sittingon the 28, 1984, 23.3øC, and 1200 fathoms; colorcoming down by neck;this had some,but not much. Tremendousstorms surface.In flight the bird wasdark dor- February 21, 1985, 21.7øC, and 1000 in midwest Atlantic at the time. sally, so much so it was di•cult to fol- fathoms. low it visually once it was more than Tim Koebal (pers. comm.) saw 15 In addition there is one possible 50-60 meters from the boat. The dark small shearwaters,which he made out Florida record that has not previously dorsal coloration contrasted sharply to be Little Shearwaters, 37 miles east been available. It was suppliedto me with the white ventral surface,perhaps of Diamond Shoalson August 16, 1987. by Robert D. Barber.What followsis more so than in other shearwaters I have They had white undertail covertsand a an excerptfrom a letter he sent to me seen. It had a short tail that was more buzzy wing beat that remindedhim of in October 1985. rounded than that of an Audubon's a Razorbill (Alca torda). A singlespec- Shearwater,but not asrounded as might imen record for South Carolina is In regardsto the blue legged,black and be expectedfrom illustrationsin field available(Peters 1924). This is the only white shearwaterthat I mentioned picked guides.The wingslooked proportionally storm-relatedrecord, but there is no in- up dead on the beach.The date was 18 short, perhaps narrow, and the overall dication than an August storm would August1971, and I found the bird on size was suggestiveof a large storm-pe- havemoved this bird any greatdistance, PlaylindaBeach, which is now Canaveral National Seashore,just eastof Titusville trel. The undersideof the bird in flight although it could have transportedit Fla. on the mainland. As I mentioned at showednothing diagnosticother than acrossthe GulfStream. The precisedate the time I wasperhaps one notch abovea the shorttail. The flightpath wasa series of collectionis unknown and, checking novicebirder and had no knowledgeof of short, occasionallytilting glides,fol- with the U.S. Weather Bureau, I found seabirdswhatsoever and presumedit was lowed by a rapid volley of wingbeats. that there were two hurricanes off South Audubon's.The bird appearedto be fairly freshlydead (little odor),but something This individual had no gapsin its pri- Carolina in August 1883. The first was had eaten most of the breast meat. I did maries or secondariesindicating ab- trackedbetween August 18 and 28 and measurethe bird and cameup with an senceof active flight-feathermolt. The the secondbetween August 24 and 31. overalllength of 11.75 in. and wingspan bird was lost, but then relocated several Both had their reportedorigin between of 23.75 in., which wasclose to what Petersongave for Audubon's(12 in.). In minutes later restingon the surface.At the 70 ø and 68 ø parallel, moving be- retrospectthese measurements could have maximum distance I assumed the bird tween Bermuda and the mainland, but beeninflated due to the gapinghole in the to be a Bonaparte'sGull ( phila- neither actually came ashore.A third breastand belly. I notedthe leg color as delphia)because the white on the face tropical storm came ashorejust above "powderblue", and I do rememberthat and sides of the neck dominated from the legswere darker on the front or back the South Carolina line on September but can't remember which. I also noted my three-quarters frontal view. The 1l, 1883. The original label, however, that the upperpartswere "jet black" and dark eye was clearly in a field of white, statedonly "Summer, •, SullivansId., the underparts"pure white" but did not and the bill was small and dark. With S.C. Disabled and exhausted but not note the undertail-coverts. I also did not binoculars,however, I could seeit was dead. Taken after a storm on the Florida note the color of the featheringaround the eye,but I do not rememberit being the shearwater, and the black on the coast." The August 1883 date was ac- surrounded in white but was at least crown and foreheadlooked greatly re- tually provided later by Wayne, who partiallyor whollywithin the dark ducedfrom this angle.On approachthe may have suppliedit from memory. featheringon the sideof the head. bird took wing and again displayedthe characters described above. Neither of theserecords appear to be On February 21, 1985, two, possibly Tropical well enoughdocumented to indicate three, small black-and-white shearwa- anythingother than possible occurrence ters were seen in 1000 fathom water off in tropical waters.There are no other Oregon Inlet. Unfortunately, sea con- The singlePuerto Rican sightrecord records of assimilis type shearwaters dltlons made prolongedviews impos- (Raffaele1983) is the only indicationof from the tropics(Bourne pets. comm.).

Volume42, Number2 215 Comparisonsof black-and-white gestthat in the westernAtlantic the Lit- charactersare available to the expert shearwaters tie Shearwater's season of occurrence eye,but most are subjectto specificand may be quite protracted, extending subspecificoverlap." Off the southeast coast of North from late Augustthrough early March. The tail of Audubon's is quite long America the most common speciesof This period correspondsrather closely comparedto thetails of Manx andL•ttle this cryptic group is, of course,Audu- to the non-breeding season of North shearwaters,while the wings of Manx bon's Shearwater. It is documented as Ariantic populationsas presentlyun- and Audubon's are proportionally occurringoff North Carolina from April derstood. Excluding the single South longerthan the Little Shearwater's.Face 23 throughNovember 7, with lingering Carolina and Puerto Rican birds, all patternsare also a potential field char- •mmature birds present to early De- have been associated with waters that acter but should be used with caution. cemberand one recordfor late January. are cold due to location or season. Examination of study skinsshows that Generally, North Carolina's offshore the facepatterns depicted in fieldgrades watersare regardedas the northernlimit representextremes. Contrary to field of regulardispersal from the Caribbean Identification guides,the black on the face usually, nestinggrounds. Post (1967) summa- but not always,stops below the eye on rlzes 38 records from Virginia north, Because of flight, size, and face Little Shearwaters. On Audubon's •t most of which are July and August markings, Little Shearwatersare more normally transectsthe lower eye lid, but beach wrecks. Individuals have been likely to be confused with Audubon's this can be somewhat variable. Typi- found regularly but not commonly than with Manx. Table 1 presentscom- cally, the zone of demarcation is not north to Rhode Island, and still farther parative sizesof the three species.In sharpon any of these shearwaters(F•g. north and eastin the Gulf Stream, and dramatic contrast to the Little, the 1). On all speciesdark facemottling ex- yet there are no satisfactoryrecords Manx is the largest, with dark face tendsinto the white plumageto a vary- from the eastern North Atlantic (see markingsextending well belowthe eye, ing degree.A dark eye distinctly•n a B.O.U. 1971). Bourne (pets. comm.) and with the slowestwingbeat of the field of white should be a good field points out two dubious, but not nec- three species. I have found Manx mark for positive Little Shearwater essarilyerroneous records of Audubon's Shearwatersto be the slowestflyers as identification(see photo in Jamesand Shearwaterfor Britain--an old speci- well. To provide some indication of Alexander1984), especially if combined men suppliedby Gould to the British speed,I should point out that we have with other characters,but in spiteof tins Museum in 1881 which was said to have been able to chase Manx Shearwaters being evident on my sightingof De- been killed off Devonshire,and a second down with boats, something we can cember 28, I do not expect this diag- b•rd saidto have been found alive, but only occasionallydo with Audubon's, nostic character to be present on most beingpersecuted by gullson a beachin and that we have not been able to do birds. The nine North Atlantic L•ttle Sussex. The latter had been discounted with Little Shearwaters. Audubon's Shearwater spedmens I examined all becauseit passedthrough the handsof Shearwaters have an intermediate havedark facemottling extending to the a fraudulent taxidermist. Yet even in- wingbeatwhile the Little hasthe fastest, middle of the eye (Fig. 1). On the other eluding the British records of Audu- and exhibits minimal soaring (Post hand, the extensivewhite on the sides bon's Shearwaters,its normal and ex- 1964;Brown 1972;andpers. obs.).The of the neck of Little Shearwaters •s treme dispersalremains comparatively cadencein soaring versuswingbeat of striking; in the other two speciesthe modest for a . Most local records either the Manx or the Little should be dark colorationextends laterally farther are from mid-March throughApril 17, apparent to anyone familiar with Au- around the neck. This dark area con- and from throughoutDecember. Post dubon'sShearwaters in flight. tinues down onto the breast on Audu- (1967) summarizespast recordsfrom Curtis et al. (1985) presentan excel- bon'sand Manx; the amount is variable, the northwestern North Atlantic south lent review of identification and iden- but in the extreme it producesan •n- to Florida. It is assumed that the bulk tification problems of the smaller complete breast band. This character, of the Manx Shearwatermigration, shearwatersfrom a British perspective. seldom depicted adequately in field however,occurs far offshore,since south Their problem is compoundedby vari- guides,is usually less well-defined•n of Maryland the speciesis seldomen- ation in Manx Shearwaters,since there Little Shearwaters,but is variablein all counteredconsistently or in numbers. are three racesof this speciespresent in threespecies. Manx exhibitwhite at the All North American specimensare of the eastern North Atlantic. Bourne base of their tail that extends around to the nominate race. The Little Shear- •ers. comm.)suggests that yelkouanis the dorsal surface. Seen from above and wateris apparentlyan infrequenttrans- a distinctspecies. The article is a good whenthe bird is flying away,it givesthe oceanicmigrant, seen irregularly and one and well worth studying,although appearanceof two round white dorsal locally,and only in late fall and winter. much of the discussionis not pertinent spotson either side of the base of the The North Carolina sightingshave been to the western North Atlantic. They tail. I have not seen this character men- after the mass exodus of Audubon's conclude that "small-shearwater iden- tioned or illustrated in the major field Shearwaters,with two recordsduring tiffcationdemands a long apprentice- guides.The presenceof white under-taft the same generalperiod as the fall mi- ship." They provide someinformative coverts should never be used as a pri- gration of Manx Shearwaters.The ma- flight diagramscontrasting Manx and mary field mark for any of the black- jority of recordsto the north are also Little shearwatersand note that sepa- and-white shearwatersbecause many from a period when stray Audubon's ration at all rangesis "best based on Audubon's collected off the North Car- Shearwaterswould not be expectedto flight action, structure and size. At olina coastdo not havecompletely dark occur. Dates of records to the north and closerranges and in lightsrevealing true under-tail coverts. Often the coverts are southof North Carolina, however,sug- plumage patterns and colours, other white for one quarter to three-quarters

216 AmericanBirds, Summer 1988 of the length of the tail, and in some, the under-tail covertsare totally white (Fig. 2). Furthermore, the Cape Verde shearwatershave mostly dark under-tail coverts, but in about half of the 25 I examined the white extends well down the under-tailcoverts, adding still more confusion to an unreliable field mark. I doubtthat the blueleg color of Little Shearwaterswould be apparent under most seaconditions, or any more useful in the identificationof flying birdsthan the blue legs of a Long-tailed Jaeger (Stercorarislongicaudus). Furthermore, the shearwaters'low flight, with infre- quent tilting glides,would seldompro- videa chancetosee leg color. The dif- ferencebetween theblack dorsal surface of LittleShearwaters andthe deep brown of Audubon'sis a subtleone, and

wouldpro•bly not • u.fuleven in goodlight; and after early September,

Shea•ater•emed ap•rent ona rest- •ng..... •rd I •w,but after exam,rang s•ns I have trouble believingthat this char- acterwo•d be u•ful. As previously pointedout in attemptsat •c•nizing Band-•mp•Sto•- (Ocean- odromacastro), fii•t path is probably the mostu•ful aid •n sowingc•pt•c

•a-birds(L• 1984).All authors cussing..... 1dent,ficatlon of Little Sh•r- •tersat •a havenoted the rapid flap pingand abbreviat• soaring oft•s s•oes nl•t. Molt•uence maybe umful in m•

Volume 42, Number 2 217 A B-1

B-2

B-3

C

Figure 2. Extent of white on under-tailco- vertsof the threeNorth Atlantic black-and- white shearwaters.A) Little Shearwater, (USNM 175255).B) Audubon• Shearwater, threeexamples, all North Carolina,(NCSM 8166, 8101, and 6941), and C) ,North Carolina (NCSM 7093).

218 American Birds, Summer 1988 .?

Figure3. Audubon• Shearwatersoff theNorth Carolinacoast, August 1980. Note molt of primariesin someof the birds.Photo/Wayne Irvin.

the primaries are easily seen on most Cunha group,has been recorded off Ar- comparative marine distribution of individualsencountered (Fig. 3). Young gentina.In fact,transoceanic migratory thesetwo cryptic forms. of the year apparentlydo not molt until movementsmay be exhibitedby many the following season.North Atlantic pelagic organisms.For example, Scott Little Shearwatersmolt flight feathers (1984), through recent tag returns, has ACKNOWLEDGMENTS from May to September, and Manx demonstratedtransoceanic migration in Shearwaters molt during the winter the Blue Marlin (Makaira nigricans). The December 1984 and February months. Because the season of occurrence and 1985 trips were funded by the United In summary, two of the main char- geographical distribution of Little States and Wildlife Service, New acters (face pattern and coloration of Shearwaters in the western North At- Orleans Field Station, Slidell, Louisi- under-tail coverts) cited in North lantic are not well understood, it is ana. The U.S. National Museum, American field guides for recognition hopedthat bird studieswill useextreme Cleveland Museum of Natural History, of Little and Audubon's shearwaters are cautionin reportingfuture sightings;a American Museum of Natural History, not reliable. Audubon's may, and often handful of undiscriminating reports and PeabodyMuseum providedloans does, have white under-tail coverts, and would quickly, and perhaps perma- of specimenshoused in their collections. the white areas on the face and neck of nently, mask distributional patterns Wayne Irvin and W. R. P. Bourne sup- Little Shearwatersare variable,but typ- emergingfrom the 16 to 20 recordsthat plied many usefulcomments on this ically overlap with what is expectedon have accumulatedover the last century. manuscript,and Renaldo Kuhler pre- Audubon's. Flight path and relative tail At the sametime, field observersshould pared Figures I and 2. length are much more reliable field be aware that under good sea condi- characters. tions, at closerange, and in good light, records can be obtained that have a rea- Through careful documentation it LITERATURE CITED may eventually turn out that Little sonablecertainty of correctness,at least Shearwaterscross the oceanas regularly for individuals in typical plumage. Re- BOURNE, W. R. P. and A. LOVERIDGE. 1978. Small shearwaters from Ascension asdo many of the othereastern Atlantic gardlessof the ultimate systematicpo- and St. Helena, South Atlantic Ocean. Procellariformes(see Watson et al., sition assignedto the assimilis/lhermi- Ibis 120:65-66. 1986). In the SouthAtlantic, the larger nieri mosaic, field workers are in a po- BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION. Puffinusassirnilis elegans, which breeds sition to make an important 1971. The status of birds in Britain and on Gough Island and in the Tristan da contribution to our understandingof Ireland. Oxford.

Volume42, Number2 219 BROWN, R G B 1972 ProbableslghUngs 1987 December records of RYAN, R 1967 Small black-and-white of Little Shearwaters,Puffinus asstmths, off North Carohna. Wtlson Bull. 99(1). shearwateroff Long Island.Ktngbtrd 17. on the southeastern Grand Banks. Ca- 116-121. 86. nadian Field Nat. 86:293-294. __ and S. P. PLATANIA. 1979. Unveri- SCOTT, E. L. 1984. OceanicPelagics Pro- CRAMP, S. and K. E. L. SIMMONS (eds). fied sight recordsof sea birds in North gram Summary 1983.NOAM-NMFS 1- 1977. Birds of the Western Palearctic Carolina waters. Chat 43:79-81. 67. Volume I. Oxford University Press. MURPHY, R. C. 1927. On certain forms of SHARROCK, J. T. R. and E. M. SHAR- ROCK. 1976. Rare Birds in Britain and CURTIS, W. F., P. A. LASSEY, and Puffinus assirnilisand its allies. Arner. Mus. Novitates 276:1-15. Ireland. Berkhamsted. U.K. D. I. M. WALLACE. 1985. Identifying the smallershearwaters. Brit. Birds 78(3): OLSON, S. L. 1975. Paleornithologyof St. VAURIE, C. 1965. The Birds of the Pa- 123-138. Helena Island, South Atlantic ocean. learcticFauna. Witherby. London. Srnithsonian Contr. Paleobio. 23:1-49. WALLACE, D. I. M. and W. R P DWIGHT, J., Jr. 1897. A speciesof shear- PETERS, J. L. 1924. A secondNorth Amer- BOURNE. 1981. Seabird movements water (Puffinusassimilis Gould) new to ican record for Puffinus assimilis. alongthe east coast of Britain.Brit. Btrds the North American fauna. Proc. Biol. 41:337-338. 74:417-426. Soc. Wash. 11:69-70. PETERSON, R. T. 1980. A field guide to WATSON, G. E., D. S. LEE, and E S HARRISON, P. 1983. Sea birds an identi- the birds eastof the Rockies.Houghton BACKUS. 1986. The statusand subspe- fication guide. Houghton Mifflin Com- Muffiin Company. Boston. cific identity of White-faced Storm-Pe- pany. Boston. POST, P. W. 1964. The occurrenceand field trels in the western North Atlantic Ocean JAMES, P. C. and M. ALEXANDER. 1984. identification of small "black-and-white Am. Birds 40:401-408. Madeiran Little Shearwater,Puffinus as- shearwaters"in New York. Kingbird 14: sirnilis•baroli, prospecting on SkomerIs- 133-140. land, U.K. Ardea 72:236-237. __. 1967. Manx, Audubon's and Little LEE, D. S. 1984. Petrels and storm-petrels Shearwaters in the Northwestern North in North Carolina's offshore waters: in- Atlantic. Bird-Banding38:278-305. cludingspecies previously unrecorded for RAFFAELE, H. A. 1983. A guide to the ßNorth Carolina State Museum of North America. Am. Birds 38(2):151- birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Is- Natural History, P.O. Box 2 7647, 163. lands. Fondo Educativo Interamericano. Raleigh, North Carolina 27611

220 AmericanBirds, Summer 1988