PUFFINID^. 



737 



vV 



.Va>-- ^- 



THE GREAT SHEARWATER. 



PUFFINUS GRAVIS, O'REILLY. 



The Great Shearwater is a fairly regular visitor to British waters, 

 though it does not often make a very near approach to land. In 

 some years it appears in considerable numbers from August onwards 

 off Cornwall and the Scilly Islands, where it is called the "Hackbolt" ; 

 it is also not infrequent off Devon and Dorset, and in the latter it 

 has been obtained as early as the month of June; while on the east 

 coast many have been seen off Flamborough in September, and 

 several in Norfolk and Suffolk — one of them as late as November loth. 

 As regards Scotland, on July 13th 1885, the Rev. H. A. Macpherson 

 found a dead bird in Skye, and of late years examples have been 

 obtained off Tiree and at St. Kilda, while birds have been noticed 

 in other waters of the Hebrides, as well as off the Orkneys and 

 Shetlands ; and many frequent the fishing-banks near Rockall. On 

 the shores of Ireland this species has been captured on several 

 occasions, and under the name of " Hagdown " it appears to be 

 well known to the fishermen, who sometimes take it with a hook. 



The Great Shearwater occasionally visits the coast of Norway, and 

 in November 1879 a flock was observed off Heligoland; while I saw 

 many off Normandy in the autumn of 1898. It has been noticed in 

 the Faeroes and in Iceland, and visits the south of Greenland, though 

 Reinhardt was mistaken in supposing that it bred there. Capt, J. W. 



3 L 



