386 THE TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS — TUBINARES. 



Captain Sperling also mentions finding these birds breeding on a small rocky 

 island near Malta. The fishermen take them in large numbers in nets, and make 

 use of their flesh as bait. 



Mr. A. G. More (" Ibis," 1865) states that this Shearwater breeds on the Scilly 

 Islands, and also on Lundy Island, in the Bristol Channel. It was formerly abun- 

 dant on the Calf of Man, but has become extinct there, its extermination being sup- 

 posed to have been caused by rats. It is also said to breed On the Island of Staft'a, 

 the Outer Hebrides, in Orkney, and in Shetland. 



Captain Elmes found this species breeding on the Island of Mingalay, one of the 

 Hebrides. He was told that it was once much more common than it is now, and that 

 the young birds were formerly very highly regarded as an article of food. Of late 

 this Shearwater has been very nearly driven away by the intrusions of the Fratercula 

 arctica. 



Mr. D. W. Mitchell furnished Yarrell with an interesting sketch of his visit to the 

 Scilly Islands. There, on a barren island called Annet, the northern shore of which 

 is abrupt and craggy, and gradually sloping toward the south, where it narrows into 

 a sandy peninsula, is the headquarters of this Shearwater. Yet a visitor to this spot 

 may wait an entire day in June without seeing one of these birds, either on land or 

 water. There are many of them near all the time, as is easily perceived by the odor 

 that comes from their burrows. As soon as the sun is down, the birds themselves 

 begin to issue in small parties. One evening he encountered a great gathering of not 

 less than three hundred of them in Smith's Sound, in the middle of the tideway, 

 washing, dipping, preening their feathers, and stretching their wings, evidently having 

 just been roused from sleep. They are said to sit low on the water, and when 

 disturbed there to make no noise ; but in their holes they are noisy enough, the 

 fishermen's names of Grew and Cockothodoti being derived from the guttural sounds 

 the bird pours forth as the spade approaches its nest. 



The egg is frequently deposited on the fine sandy soil without any preparation, 

 although generally there is a slight accumulation of fern-leaves and old stems. The 

 bird lays but one egg, which when fresh is of the most dazzling whiteness, and of 

 peculiarly beautiful texture. It is said to measure 2.42 inches in length by 1.75 in 

 breadth, and to be very large in comparison with the size of the bird. 



This Shearwater when handled vomits a very offensive oil, which is apparently of 

 a green color, although the stain which it leaves is yellow. The quantity of this fluid 

 discharged is often enormous. The young bird when just hatched is covered with a 

 grayish black down, except a stripe along the centre of the breast and belly, which 

 is white. 



This species is also found on the coast of Norway, on the Faroe Islands, and about 

 Cape Farewell. It is rare on the east coast of England. Mr. Strickland procured it 

 from Smyrna. 



Puffinus Auduboni. / 



AUDUBON'S DUSKY SHEARWATER. 



Puffinus obscurus, Bokap. Synop. 1S28, 371 ; Consp. II. 1856, 204 (nee Procellaria obscurn, Gmel. ). — 

 Nutt. Man. II. 1834, 337. — Aud. Orn. Biog. III. 1835, 620; B. Am. VII. 1844, 216, pi. 458. 

 — Lawr. in Baird's 15. N. Am. 1858, 835. — Baibd, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 650. — Coves, 

 Pr. Ac. Nat. ScL 1'hilad. 1864, 137 ; Key, 1872, 331 ; Check List, 1873, no. 600 ; ed. 2, 1882, 

 no. S35. 



? Puffinus Lherminieri, LESSON, Rev. Zool. 1839, 102 (Antilles). 



Puffinus Auduboni, Finsch, P. X. S. 1872, 111. — Ridgw. Nom. ST. Am. B. 1SS1, no. 712. 



