506 LARID/E. 



nor could I ascertain that a Greater Shearwater was ever sliot, 

 but always taken with a hook. They are commonly known 

 by the name of Hagdowns.'''' 



Mr. Thompson further adds : " So little is known respect- 

 ing this species as an inhabitant of our seas, that I am in- 

 duced to add the following : Mr. Robert Ball, when dredg- 

 ing off Bundoran, on the west coast of Ireland, in company 

 with Mr. E. Forbes and Mr. Hyndman, on the 16th of 

 July, 1840, saw three Petrels on wing near to him, which 

 he believed to be of this species." 



Faber's account of this species in his Prodromus of the 

 Ornithology of Iceland, is very short ; in substance, it is as 

 follows : — It is very scarce, and is only seen on the most 

 southern parts of the island ; it does not breed here. Only 

 a single individual has fallen into my hands. The fishermen 

 talk of a Puffimis, which they see sometimes, and is twice as 

 big as Pujffinus arcticus, (Faber's name for our P. angloriim,) 

 it may well be this one. There is no description, but I 

 infer that Faber's bird was white underneath, and that he 

 called it P. major because it only differed from our P. 

 anglorum, which is common in Iceland, in being larger. 

 The measurements of P. cinereiis of Gmelin, Latham, and 

 others are stated at twenty inches and a quarter, for the 

 Avhole length of that species, but of the several examples 

 of our Greater Shearwater that I have seen, none have 

 exceeded eighteen inches in length, and the dark-coloured 

 specimens, which may be females, or young birds, are not 

 quite so much. That our new bird is not the P.fuUgi- 

 nosiis of Kuhl, I believe, from having obtained a specimen 

 of this bird, which is not only two inches shorter in its whole 

 length than our new bird, but is also a true Procellan'a, 

 having the short, strong, hooked, and cutting beak, like that 

 of our Fulmar last 'described. 



In the dark-coloured bird from which our upper figure was 



