VOL. IX. j BIRDS NEW TO BRITISH LIST. 203 



P. a. god-mani). Mr. Nichols has kindly lent me for com- 

 parison the following : — male Lydd, Nov. 27, 1905, female 

 St. Leonards, Oct. 27, 1911, male Pevensey Sluice, Nov. 15, 

 1911, and these are all typical P. a. godmani, as well as a 

 specimen obtained at Lydd on December 27, 1913, and not 

 hitherto recorded. 



The one obtained in Ireland on May 6, 1853. and the one 

 found dead near Bungay, Suffolk, in April, 1858, should be 

 re-examined, but both appear to have been P. a. godmani, 

 since Howard Saunders examined them and in his description 

 of the species (Manual, 2nd ed., p. 744) he states that the 

 imder tail-coverts are pure white, the white extending over the 

 lower part of the lores, the outer portion of the inner webs 

 of the primaries Avhite — all distinguishing characters of 

 P. a. godmani. 



The bird obtained near Bexhill on December 28th, 1900, 

 was compared by Mr. W. R. Butterfield with Cape Verde 

 examples (Bull. B.O.C. XL, p. 45) and stated to be like them, 

 but at that time the differences of the Cape Verde bird were 

 not understood, and as Mr. Butterfield gives no description 

 it is impossible to say to which form this bird belonged. 



The Little Shearwater found in the West Indies (P. assimilis 

 I,hermi7iieri=P. auduboni, see Mathews, Birds of Australia, 

 Vol. II., part I., pp. 69-70) is much like P. a. boydi, but is 

 usuallv browner on the upper-parts and is larger, measuring : 

 Aving 200-206 mm., tail 88-94, tarsus 39-41, bill 29-30 ; the bill 

 is also considerably stouter. An undoubted example of this 

 form in the British Museum collection has on the label in 

 Gould's writing (it was formerly in his collection) " said to 

 have been killed in Devonshire, Mr. Whitely." Mr. Mathews 

 (Birds of Australia, Vol. II, p. 59) takes me to task for not 

 mentioning this in a note in British Birds (Vol. V., p. 253), 

 but this record had already been disposed of by Howard 

 Saunders (Manual, 2nd ed., p. 744) where it is correctly stated 

 in reference to this specimen that " there is no confirmatory 

 evidence, and Gould did not so much as allude to the supposed 

 occurrence of the species in his ' Birds of Great Britain.' " 



H. F. WiTHERBY. 



NORTH ATLANTIC GREAT SHEARWATER 



IN SUSSEX. 



A Great Shearwater was washed ashore at Bulverhythe, 

 West St. Leonards, Sussex, on March 14th, 1914, and was 

 recorded by Mr. H. W. Ford-Lindsay as a male Puffinus 

 gravis (see Brit. Birds, Vol. VIL, p. 324). Directly I received 



