468 PROCELLARIHXaE PUFFINUS 



Genus I. PUFFINUS. 



Type. 

 Puffinus, Brisson, Orn. vi, p. 131 (1760) P. kuhli. 



Bill compressed and slender, about as long as the head, strongly 

 hooked, both mandibles being turned down at the tips ; nostril tube 

 short, about a quarter the length of the bill ; openings separated 

 by a well-marked septum and directed forwards and upwards ; wings 

 long and pointed, first primary the longest ; tail of twelve feathers, 

 graduated and rounded ; tarsus somewhat slender, the anterior edge 

 sharp in front, covered with small hexagonal plates, and shorter than 

 the middle or outer toe, which are nearly equal ; hind claw distinct 

 but very small. 



This is a large genus containing some twenty- five species of 

 birds, generally known as Shearwaters ; they must not be con- 

 fused with the bird known as the Puffin in England, which is allied 

 to the Auks, a group not represented in South Africa. The Shear- 

 waters are generally distributed throughout the seas of the whole 

 world. Although four species are here included as having been 

 found about the South African Coast, none of them are at all 

 common or have been met with more than once or twice. 



Key of the Species. 



A. Below white. 



a. Larger ; wing 12-5 and upwards. 



a 1 . Colours of the sides of the neck distinctly 

 defined, flanks spotted, middle of the abdomen 



dusky P. gravis, p. 468. 



b 1 . Sides of the neck mottled ; flanks and middle 



of the abdomen white P. Ttulili, p. 469. 



1. Smaller ; wing 9-0 or under ; primaries white 



below on the inner edge of the inner web P. assimilis,p. 470. 



B. Plumage generally sooty ; wing about 12*0 ; bill 



dark P. yriscus. p. 471. 



si ' 



784. Puffinus gravis. Great Shearwater. 



Procellaria gravis, O'Beilly, Voy. to Grccnl. p. 140, pi. 12, fig. 1 (1818), 



Procellaria major, Fabcr, Prodr. IsL Orn. p. 56 (1822). 



Puffinus major, Gurney, in Andcrsson's B. Damaral. p. 850 (1872); 



Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 527, pi. 616 (1877) ; Swinburne, P. P. Pliys. 



Soc. Edin. ix, p. 196 (1886). 

 Puffinis gravis, Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 373 (1896) ; Shelley, B. Aft: 



p. 166 (1896) ; Eeiclienow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 29 (1900). 



