214 BIRDS OF (UJEliNSFA'. 



include the Great Shearwater m my hst as an 

 occasional wanderer to the Islands, as, although 

 I have not a Channel Island specimen, nor have I 

 seen* it near the shore or in any of the bays, 

 I did see a small flock of four or five of these birds 

 in July, 1866, when crossing from Guernsey to 

 Torquay. We were certainly more than the 

 Admiralty three miles from the land ; but had 

 scarcely lost sight of Guernsey, and wTre well 

 within sight of the Caskets, when we fell in with 

 the Shearwaters. They accompanied the steamer 

 for some little way, at times flying close up, and 

 I had an excellent opportunity of watching them 

 l)otli with and without my glass, and have therefore 

 no doubt of the species. There w^as a heavyish 

 sea at the time, and the Shearwaters were generally 

 flying under the lee of the waves, just rising suffi- 

 ciently to avoid the crest of the wave when it 

 broke. They flew with the greatest possible ease, 

 and seemed as if no sea or gale of wind would hurt 

 them ; they never got touched by the breaking sea, 

 but just as it appeared curling over them they rose 

 out of danger and skimmed over the crest ; they 

 never whilst I was watching them actually settled 

 on the Avater, though now and then they dropped 

 their legs just touching the water with their 

 feet. 



The Great Shearwater is not mentioned in 



