NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. 319 



Family PROCELLARIID.^. Genus Puffinus. 



SOOTY SHEARWATER. 



Puffinus griseus {Gmeliii). 



(British : Rare summer visitor during the period of the Antipodean 



winter.) 



Single Brooded probably. Laying season, December and 

 January. 



Breeding area: Southern Seas. The Sooty Shear- 

 water is at present only known to breed on the Chatham 

 Islands, but there can be no doubt that many other 

 places remain to be discov^ercd. 



Breeding habits : As is unfortunately the case 

 with so many species in the present family, but little is 

 known of the nidification of the Sooty Shearwater. The 

 bird spends the greater portion of the year at sea, but 

 as the breeding season approaches, resorts to certain 

 spots for purposes of reproduction. Of the pairing 

 habits of this Shearwater nothing appears to have been 

 observed, but doubtless the bird mates for life. It is 

 gregarious and breeds in scattered colonies. The nest 

 is placed at the end of a burrow made in the soft 

 ground, and is merely a slight collection of twigs and 

 dry leaves. The burrow, according to i\Ir. Travers, 

 runs for some three or four feet nearly straight, and 

 then turns for a short distance to the right or left. This 

 Shearwater is nocturnal in its habits, and is described as 

 very noisy at night at its breeding places. Like its con- 

 geners it is a close sitter, and is consequently undemon- 

 strative at the nest. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The Sooty Shearwater produces only a single ^g^ for a 

 sitting. This is somewhat smooth in texture, oval in 



