PUFFINUS ANGLOEUM YELKOUAN 388 



The note or cry of the species is weird and melancholy, and is 

 chiefly to be heard at night. Lord Lilford, when yachting off the 

 coast of Sardinia and at anchor in the Bay of Teulada, during the 

 night heard " strange moaning sounds," which he afterwards ascer- 

 tained were uttered by these Shearwaters. 



The species breeds in the holes and clefts of cliffs and rocky islands, 

 depositing a single white egg on the bare gi'ound. The average 

 measurements of eggs are 66 x 43 mm. The sitting birds allow 

 themselves to be captured on the nest, but are capable of inflicting a 

 severe bite if handled incautiously. 



PUFFINUS ANGLORUM YELKOUAN (Acerbi). 

 LEVANTINE SHEARWATEK. 



Procellaria yelkouan, Acerbi, Bibl. Ital. cxl. p. 294 (1827) 



PuflBnus yelkouan, Bonap. Consp. Avium, ii, p. 205 (1856) ; Lochc, 



Expl. Sci. AUj. Ois. ii, p. 176 (1867). 

 Pufflnus anglorum, Koenig, J. f. 0. 1893, p. 102. 

 Puffinus yelkouanus, Salvin, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxv, p. 379 ; 



Erlangcr, J. /. 0. 1900, p. 77. 



Description. — Adult male, winter, from Tunis, North Tunisia. 



Upper plumage dull smoke-black, with a faint lii'own tinge, and slightly 

 paler on the hindpart of the neck ; under parts pure white, with the excep- 

 tion of the under tail-coverts, flanks, and axillaries, which have the feathers 

 tipped with greyish-brown. 



Iris dark brown ; bill blackish ; feet livid flesh-colour, the outer toes 

 darker. 



Total length 14-50 inches ; wing 9-20 ; culmen 1-60 ; tarsus 1-80. 



Adult female similar to the male. 



Observations.— 'Exa.m-ples of this Shearwater from Tunisia are not nearly 

 so dusky on the under parts as specimens from some other parts of the 

 Mediterranean, and approximate more to typical P. amjlorum. They are, 

 however, identical with specimens fronr Sicily and Crete. Examples from 

 Malaga, and some other parts, are very different, bein'g much browner on 

 the upper parts and far more dusky below, besides being rather larger in size. 

 Lord Lilford appears to have noticed this difference {Ibis, 1887, p. 262), and 

 should further study and a more complete examination of material prove it 

 to be constant, it will be necessary to separate the two forms. 



