266 



TUBINARES. 



261. PUFFINUS GRISEUS. 

 (SOOTY SHEARWATER.) 

 Proccllaria ffritea, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 5G4 (1788). 



The Sooty Shearwater is slightly smaller than the Pink-footed 

 Shearwater (wing from carpal joint 12 to 11 inches). It is almost 

 uniform hrown, except the under wing-eoverts, which are mostly 

 white. Its bill, legs, and feet are very dark. 



Figures: Dresser, Birds of Europe, viii. pi. 616. 



Head of Puffinus grtgeus. Natural size. 



The Sooty Shearwater was obtained by Mr. Snow on the Kurile 

 Islands (Seebohm, Ibis, 1884, p. 33). It was procured by him as 

 far north as Urup Island (Blakiston and Prycr, Trans. As. Soc. 

 Japan, 1882, p. 106), whence there are several examples in the 

 Ilakodadi Museum. An example formerly in my collection is now 

 in the British Museum. 



The Sooty Shearwater breeds in the Southern Hemisphere in the 

 Pacific, and probably in the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic. It 

 has frequently occurred on the British coasts, and may be regarded 

 as a non-breeding summer visitor to the North Atlantic and the 

 North Pacific. Its only known breeding-place is on the Cliatham 

 Islands cast of New Zealand, but there can be little doubt that other 

 breeding-grounds remain to be discovered. 



