CINEREOUS SHEARWATER. 439 



Others are added by Mr. Yarrell. But differences in the 

 colours of the plumage and bare parts, as well as the dimen- 

 sions of these birds, have rendered their determination some- 

 wliat uncertain. 



Mr. Selby describes his specimen thus : — " Bill, from the 

 forehead to the tip, one inch and three-quarters long-, slightly 

 recurved, with the dertrum arched and strongly hooked ; 

 nasal tubes obliquely truncated and open in front. Tip of 

 the loAver mandible bent down, and following the curve of the 

 upper one. Head, back, part of the neck, and the upper 

 plumage, blackish-brown, Avith the margins and tij)s of the 

 feathers of the scapulars lighter. Throat, lower part of the 

 neck, and the Avhole of the under plumage, deep ash-grey, 

 with a tinge of broccoli -brown. Quills and tail brownish- 

 black. Legs having the outer part of the tarsus deep grey ; 

 the inner part and webs yellowish. Tarsus two inches and 

 one-eighth long. Middle and outer toes two inches and a 

 half in length." 



Mr. Strickland's specimens are figured by Mr. Gould as 

 Puffinus cinereus, but doubtfully. M. Temminck, however, 

 asserts that two species have been confounded under the name 

 of Puffinus cinereus ; one, that long known, or at least 

 described or referred to, and belonging to the southern tracts, 

 another, which is "very abundant in high latitudes, and 

 extremely common on the banks of Newfoundland, and which 

 is Puffinus major of Faber." The three British specimens 

 above mentioned, he refers to this latter. 



But neither Puffinus cinereus, nor Puffinus major, has 

 been satisfactorily described, in so far as I am aware ; nor, if 

 they be different, have they been compared and contrasted. 

 M. Temminck states that in P. major the nostrils are distant, 

 which is not said to have been the case in the English speci- 

 mens. His assertion that it nestles in thousands on the 

 banks of Newfoundland, Avould, if true, be a most interesting 

 announcement. In Mr. Audubon's Ornithological Biography 

 is a full description of a North American bird, which he refers 

 to Puffinus cinereus, but which, from its size, and some other 

 characters, ought to belong to P. major, if, indeed, the two be 

 not identical. 



