MANX shp:arwater 



2 I 7 



To Ireland it is an uncertain visitor, making its appearance chiefly 

 along the west coast in autumn, where it has occasionally been taken 

 by fishermen on their lines, while in two instances dead or dying 

 individuals have been washed ashore. As this species is essentially 

 a bird of the open ocean, the landsman has but little opportunity of 

 observing its habits. According to a well-known account, these 

 shearwaters, when in pursuit of fish, are in the habit of flying rapidly 

 just above the surface of the water, when from time to time they 

 disappear without the slightest check in their headlong course beneath 

 the waves, from which they again emerge after a few yards ; this 

 movement being repeated time after time. 



Manx Shearwater Since the Manx shearwater is the species to which 

 (Pufflnus Linnaeus gave the name oi Procdlaria piijfinns, those 



anfflorum) ornithologists who refuse to accept the elevation to 

 generic rank as sufficient recognition of a species- 

 name, and at the same time do not object to alliterative nomenclature, 

 designate this bird Pitffinns puifiniis, in preference to the title by which 

 it has so long been known. 



In addition to its inferior 

 size (total length i 5 inches), 

 this species may be distin- 

 guished from the great shear- 

 water b)- the sooty black 

 upper-parts, the white under 

 surface, broken by mottlings 

 of greyish brown on the sides 

 of the neck and the upper 

 part of the breast, and by a 

 patch of brown on each side 

 of the abdomen, the flesh- 

 coloured legs and feet, and 

 the blackish - brown beak. 

 Young birds in their first 

 plumage are of an even deeper 

 tinge of sooty brown than the 



adults, and have the throat and breast mottled with brownish grey, the 

 flanks and abdomen brown, the legs brownish, and the webs of the 

 toes pale yellow. With the exception of a white stripe along the 

 breast and abdomen, the down of the chick is greyish black. 



The Manx shearwater takes its title from its former abundance in 



MANX SHKAUWATKK. 



