288 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



the Manx the axillaries are white, or sharply tipped with brown. 

 The Levantine is the larger bird. Length, i6 ins. Wing, 

 lo ins. Tarsus, I'Q ins. 



Sooty Shearwater. Puffijiis griseus (Gmelin). 



Though the Sooty Shearwater (Plate 124) is a world- wanderer, 

 it would indeed be strange if the large numbers which visit the 

 Atlantic, even so far north as the Canadian coast and the 

 Fxroes, were all reared in the one known breeding haunt, 

 the Chatham Islands, in the New Zealand seas. Considering 

 how plentiful it is in the southern Atlantic, it is more than 

 probable that there are colonies on unexplored or partially 

 explored oceanic islands, where, no doubt, the crepuscular 

 habits during the breeding season have lessened the chance 

 of discovery. At the termination of its breeding season this 

 southern shearwater migrates northward, in our spring, and 

 must, in the light of all the records, be looked upon as a more 

 or less regular annual visitor to our shores. In mid-July it 

 has been seen off the Butt of Lewis, and frequently from August 

 to October on all parts of the east and south coast, and the 

 west of Ireland, from the Orkneys to Land's End ; it has 

 seldom been noticed in the Irish Sea. Off the Yorkshire coast 

 it is so well known as to be named the " Black Shearwater " by 

 the fishermen ; at a distance it looks very black as it flies with 

 typical shearwater flight, skimming and swinging, now the 

 upper, now the lower parts in view. From the Great Shear- 

 water it can be told by its uniform brown colour. At times it 

 flies in strings or lines ; ten or a dozen together have several 

 times been observed. Belated birds have been recorded in 

 November and December, but as a rule the southward migra- 

 tion is at its height in September, the birds travelling south to 

 breed when our northern birds are seeking winter quarters. 



The general colour is deep brown, darkest on the upper 



