PUFFINUS GRISEUS IN THE FIRTH OF FORTH 27 



They are stated to be shyer than their smaller and much 

 commoner white-breasted relatives, the Manx Shearwaters, 

 in whose company, however, they sometimes approach the 

 boats when the men are baiting the lines. The period 

 within which they may be looked for ranges from the latter 

 part of August to the end of October. As a rule they are 

 seen singly or in pairs, but occasionally as many as half a 

 dozen or more have been observed together. 



o 



The first recorded specimen a male was shot off 

 North Berwick by Mr. Robert Chambers on 27th August 

 1878: when first seen, the bird "was resting upon a piece 

 of wreckage, and appeared to be comparatively tame, 

 allowing the boat to make a near approach " (cf. "Zoologist," 

 1878, p. 436; "Proc. R. Phys. Soc." v. p. 34; " Proc. 

 Berw. Nat. Cl." viii. p. 502 ; and Yarrell's "Brit. Birds," ed. 

 4, iv. p. i 8). The second a female was shot in the same 

 locality by R. Kelly, fisherman, on 25th October 18/9, and 

 was acquired by the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, 

 where it is still preserved (cf. " Proc. R. Phys. Soc." v. 

 p. 376, and " Zoologist," I 880, p. 69). These two specimens, 

 both of which I have seen, were at the time they were 

 obtained regarded as young Great Shearwaters, and were 

 recorded as such, the specific distinctness of the two forms 

 not having then become generally known. But previous to 

 these occurrences namely, in September 1875 an d again in 

 September 1876 Robert Gray had observed several in the 

 Firth between North Berwick and the Bass Rock : they 

 " were at once recognised " -so he subsequently wrote, under 

 P. griseus, in one of his note-books " by their uniform 

 sooty plumage." It was evidently to these observations 

 that he referred in his note on the " Greater Shearwater," 

 printed in the " Proceedings " of the Berwickshire Naturalists' 

 Field Club for 1878 (vol. viii. p. 502). 



In August 1887, Sooty Shearwaters seem to have visited 

 our shores in greater numbers than usual. On the 27th of 

 that month I was fortunate enough to see, at close quarters, 

 first four and then two of these ocean birds, from the deck 

 of the steamer Tantallou Castle, when about midway be- 

 tween North Berwick and Elie. The last pair, when first 

 noticed, were sitting on the water directly ahead of us, and 



