SHEARWATERS 487 



The larger species, ohscurus, Gmelin, for which 

 (as above shown) it has been more than once mis- 

 taken, is not known with certainty to have been 

 obtained in British waters. It may be noted that 

 in assimilis the nndertail coverts are pure white ; in 

 ohscurus they are described by Salvin as " blackish- 

 brown tipped with white, the shorter central feathers 

 white." In the colour of the bill and legs there is 

 not much difference between the species, 



SOOTY SHEARWATER. Fujffinus griseus (Gmelin). 

 Length, 18 in. ; bill, 2 in. ; wing 12 in. ; tarsus, 2-4 in. 



Hah. Generally distributed over the Atlantic and 

 Pacific Oceans, but, so far as at present known, breeding 

 only in the Southern Hemisphere. 



One off the Little Skellig rock, co. Kerry, Aug. 1853 : 

 Andrews, Proc. Duhl. Nat. Hist. Soc, 1853, p. 76 ; More, 

 Zool, 1881, p. 334. In the collection at Chute Hall, 

 near Tralee. Usslier, "Birds of Ireland," p. 391. 



One off' Bangor, co. Down, Sept. 29, 1869 : Ussher, op. cif. 

 In the collection of Mr, Lloyd Patterson of Belfast. 



One or more, Mount's Bay, Cornwall: Rodd, "Birds of 

 Cornwall," pp. 181, 212. 



Others in Falmouth Harbour : Couch, " Cornish Fauna," 

 described as the Cinereous Shearwater. 



Two, Plymouth Sound : D' Urban and Mathew, " Birds of 

 Devon," p. 406. 



One, Poole Harbour, Dorsetshire, June 1877 : Mansel 

 Pleydell, "Birds of Dorset," p. 113. 



One picked up dead after a gale at Seaford, Sussex, July 

 1850 : Borrer, " Birds of Sussex," p. 282. 



One shot off Hastings, Sept. 3, 1890: Borrer, 02?. ci^. In 

 his collection. 



One, mouth of the Ouse, near Lynn, July 25, 1851 ; pre- 

 served in the Lynn Museum ; originally recorded as 



