550 PUFFINIDA 
then plunge under the surface in hot pursuit. It can dash 
under a wave with great speed, though apparently not 
diving deeply, and will take a baited hook, often being 
made prisoner in that way by fishermen. It may be seen 
assiduously beating to and fro over the sea like a sporting 
dog quartering a field for game (Warren). Cuttle-fish are 
said to be largely consumed. 
Nest.—The nidification of the Great Shearwater appears 
at present to be shrouded in mystery ; it 1s well-nigh certain, 
however, that it does not breed in the islands of the North 
Atlantic, especially on any of those adjacent to the British 
coast. Notwithstanding the large numbers seen during the 
Rockall expedition in June, 1896, the bird was seldom if 
ever noticed in pairs;' moreover an adult female shot on 
June 15th, 1896, and submitted to Dr. H. Gadow for dis- 
section, showed by the condition of its generative organs 
that it had not laid any eges, nor was it going to breed that 
season. Professor Newton noticed these birds chiefly in 
pairs on his way to the Faroes in 1894; he points to the 
general difficulty there is in finding the nesting holes of 
any species of Shearwater. . . . . ‘‘ We think all our 
data, so far, go to prove that the birds which frequent our 
seas are but wanderers over the North Atlantic for feeding 
purposes ”’ (Barrington and Harvie-Brown, Notes On Rockall 
Island and Bank). 
Geographical distribution. —'The breeding-haunts are 
probably on Islands in the Southern Oceans, specimens 
of this Shearwater having been obtained in the Falkland 
Islands, Terra del Fuego, and near the Cape of Good Hope. 
During its travels the bird visits the coasts of Norway, 
Iceland, and the Faroes, and from May till about October 
is plentiful and widely distributed over a large tract of the 
North Atlantic Ocean. On the American side” it visits 
South Greenland, ranging southward along the eastern sea- 
board of Canada and the States. 
' In August and September, in the North Atlantic, I did not notice 
it flying in pairs, and I kept it under observation with a strong prism- 
binocular for five consecutive days. 
> On August 15th, 1906, I observed numbers of this, and a few of 
the next species some little distance outside the Straits of Belle Isle, lat. 
52° N., long. 56° 20° W., North Atlantic. 
