SOOTY SHEARWATER. 17 



TV BIN A RES. PROCELLA RIIDJi. 



PUFFINUS GRISEUS (Gmeliii*). 

 THE SOOTY SHEARWATER. 



The Sooty Shearwater represented by the upper figure 

 in the woodcut at the head of the preceding species, is a 

 more frequent visitor than has generally been supposed to 

 the shores and the vicinity of the British Islands. As 

 already stated, it was, until recently, considered to be the 

 young of the Great Shearwater, and it is consequently 

 impossible, in the absence of any description, to say to 

 which of the two species many of the earlier records refer. 

 Those which the Editor has been able to identify with the 

 Sooty Shearwater are the following ; but there are doubtless 

 many more, for although not observed in such large flocks 

 as the Great Shearwater has been in the south-west of 

 England, the present species appears to be more generally 

 distributed, especially along the eastern side. 



The first example of which there is any record was ex- 

 hibited at a meeting of the Zoological Society on the 12th 

 of July, 1832, by Mr. Arthur Strickland, of Boynton, near 

 Bridlington, in Yorkshire, who stated that it was shot by 

 Mr. George Marwood, jun., of Busby, in the middle of 

 August, 1828, on a very stormy day, at the mouth of the 

 Tees ; it was seen early in the morning, sitting on the water 

 like a duck, and was shot as it was rising ; its manner of 

 flight was consequently not noticed. This specimen, which 

 was then identified with Puffinus fuliginosiis, Kuhl, was 

 subsequently figured on the same plate with an example of 

 the Great Shearwater {P. major), by Gould, in his 'Birds 

 of Europe,' under the impression that they belonged to the 

 same species. Another, obtained on the Northumberland 

 coast, was described and figured by Selby (111. Brit. Orn. ii. 

 p. 528, pi. 102*), under the name of P. cinercus, Stephens 



* Procellaria (jrisea, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 564 (1788) ex Latham. 

 VOL. IV. D 



