CINEREOUS SHEARWATER. 
125 
Shearwaters, in immature plumage, was caught by a boy at 
the mouth of the River Ouse, near Lynn, on the 25th. of 
July, 1851. 
In Orkney one was procured from the Island ol r oula, in 
the year 1853, as related in a note to me from Dr. Baikie, 
K . .1 AT j 1 TT* J_ A Ltt LI vwnAlf 
ot tne ±>iras oi xrenuiu, mcuuiuuo ^ — X.-X ° 
Two were taken in the autumn of 1839, off Dungarvan Bay. 
These birds are of crepuscular or twilight habits. 
They are kept in confinement without difficulty, if supplied 
with suitable food and water. On the ground they walk and 
run about with the body near the ground. In flight they 
skim close over the surface of the water, whence their 
appropriate name. 
They feed on fish, sea-worms, and other marine insects. 
This Shearwater is of very plain and dull plumage, and 
even in the summer season, when all birds put on their best, 
the gayest apparel that it dons, ‘la haute toilette, is sober 
and unpretending. Male; length, one foot six inches; bill, 
dark brown, the under mandible paler at the base: there is 
a double tube on the upper one, from whence the bill rounds 
slightly upwards, and then tends down in a deep hook, the 
points of both mandibles being bent downwards. Ins, dark 
brown; head on the crown and back, dark ash grey; neck 
on the back, and nape, greyish white; chin, throat, and breast, 
white, the latter on the lower part varied with dull greyish 
brown. Back, ash grey, the margins of the feathers lighter. 
Greater and lesser wing coverts,. ash grey, the < edges ot 
the feathers paler; primaries, blackish brown; tertianes, ash 
grey, the edges lighter coloured. Tail, blackish brown; upper 
tail coverts, a mixture of dull white and greyish brown. T e 
legs which are placed far backwards, are much compressed 
laterally, they, as the toes, are brownish yellow; hind toe 
rudimentary; webs, brownish yellow. 
In the female the length is a little over one foot five 
inches; bill, dark brown, the base of the lower mandible paler; 
iris, dark brown; head, crown, neck, and nape dark brown; 
chin and throat, greyish brown. Breast, greyish brown, the 
feathers darker on the edges. Back, dark dusky brown. 
Greater and lesser wing coverts, dusky blackish brown; pri¬ 
maries, dusky blackish brown; tertianes, dark brown, the 
edges paler. Tail, blackish brown; legs, deep greyish brown 
