290 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



The upper parts are ash brown, except on the tail-coverts ; 

 the quills and tail-band are blackish brown, and the sides of the 

 face and under parts white, mottled with brown on the abdomen ; 

 the under tail-coverts are sooty. The bill is yellowish green, 

 the legs are greenish grey, and the webs flesh-coloured. Length, 

 20 ins. Wing, 127 ins. Tarsus, 2 ins. 



Mediterranean Great Shearwater. P2iffinus kuhli 

 (Boie). 



The North Atlantic and Mediterranean Great Shearwaters are 

 subdivided as sub-species, P. k. borealis Cor}', and P. k. kiihli 

 (Boie), and other formes are recognised elsewhere in the 

 Atlantic. The former nests in the Canary and Salvage Isles, 

 Madeira, and the Azores, the latter in the Mediterranean, yet 

 examples have only twice been recorded from our shores, though 

 P. gravis is a regular visitor ; birds in the warmer seas have 

 less occasion to migrate or wander than those from the south. 

 The Mediterranean bird was obtained in February, 1906, the 

 North Atlantic form in March, 19 14. Both are said to have 

 been picked up dead on the Sussex beach, but to include drifted 

 bodies as British is rather swelling the list on slender evidence. 

 The upper parts are paler than those of the Great Shearwater, 

 the sides of the neck are mottled, but the abdomen is without 

 spots ; the bill and legs are yellow. The main difference 

 between the sub-species is in the bill, which is stouter in the 

 North Atlantic bird. Length, 20 ins. Wing, 14*3 ins. Tarsus, 

 2'2 ins. 



Little Dusky Shearwater. Puffinus obsnirus (Gmelin). 



Mr. T. Iredale, when discussing the nomenclature of this 

 shearwater, which is distinguished from all others on our list 

 by its small size, aptly remarks — " A more unfortunate little bird 



