Bill strong and moderately long, terminating in a strong, sharp,
overhanging hook or nail; nostrils impervious and tubular, opening
forward or upward; feet moderate; toes webbed; hind toe small and
elevated, rarely absent. Oceanic birds of strong flight and wandering
habits; colors black, brown, and white. Eggs white, deposited in
burrows or among piles of loose stone; young covered with down and
fed for some time before leaving the nest.
Families.
a1. Smaller; wing less than 150 mm. ... Procellariidæ (p. 84)
a2. Larger; wing more than 300 mm. ... Puffinidæ (p. 84)
Family PROCELLARIIDÆ.
Nasal tube prominent, vertically truncated and with a thin partition.
Subfamily PROCELLARIINÆ.
Genus Oceanodroma Reichenbach, 1852.
Wing less than 180 mm.; tarsus not longer than middle toe with claw;
tail emarginate or slightly forked; tarsus less than twice as long
as culmen.