GREAt SHEARWATER. l6l 



the base of the inner web, increasing in extent on the second- 

 aries, which are fringed with white at the ends ; tail black, 

 moderately wedge-shaped ; crown of head uniform dark brown, 

 scarcely forming a cap, though the hind-neck is lighter and 

 shaded with grey, especially on the sides of the neck ; lores 

 dark brown ; sides of face lighter and more ashy-brown ; cheeks 

 and under surface of body white, the centre of the abdomen 

 sooty-brown ; lower flanks and under tail-coverts also sooty- 

 brown, the latter tipped with white ; under wing-coverts and 

 axillaries white, the latter with sub-terminal spots of brown ; 

 bill dark horn-colour ; feet yellow. Total length, 19-5 inches; 

 culmen, i'q; wing, 12 "6; tail, 47 ; tarsus, 2 "25. 



Adult Female. — Similar to the male. Total length, 19 inches ; 

 wing, 12-5. 



Characters. — The tail is short and rounded, scarcely to be 

 called wedge-shaped. The species is distinguished from the 

 other Shearwaters by its large size, the wing being 12*5 inches 

 and upwards. Its brown back, with the lighter edges to the 

 feathers, white breast, with the sooty-brown patch on the 

 abdomen, are also distinguishing characters. 



Range in Great Britain. — A more or less frequent visitor in 

 England, sometimes occurring in some numbers off the south- 

 western coasts, but rarer on the east coast and off Scotland ; off 

 Ireland it has been frequently met with. 



Range outside the British Islands. — The Great Shearwater occurs 

 on both sides of the Atlantic from the Faeroes and Greenland 

 southward to the Cape of Good Hope and the Falkland 

 Islands. It is replaced by an allied species, P. ktihli, in the 

 Mediterranean and on the Azores and Canaries. This species 

 also occurs on the shores of North America and extends south 

 as far as Kerguelen Land. The Great Shearwater has also 

 been found in the Baltic round Heligoland. 



Habits. — Mr. Howard Saunders writes : — "The food of this 

 species consists chiefly of squid, and Mr. Gurney found the 

 horny jaws of a cuttle-fish in the stomach of a bird shot near 

 Flamborough ; but any animal substance is greedily swallowed, 

 and the species is systematically taken with a hook to furnish 

 bait for fish. When alighting it strikes the water with great 



15 M 



