364 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



received on the spot, the Colonel has no doubt that its 

 extermination in Dominica has been effected by the 

 introduction of a rapacious marsupial (possibly a South 

 American opossum) as was first announced by Mr. Ober 

 in his " Camps in the Caribbees" a gentleman who, 

 in 1876, had also searched in vain for the species ; but 

 it must be borne in mind that in this island, as well as 

 in Guadeloupe, the young were greatly esteemed as a 

 delicacy, and a great many of them, as well as of the 

 old, were caught in their breeding holes and killed for 

 the table. This destruction of the parent birds, carried 

 on as it was for many years, would naturally reduce 

 their numbers, and, even* without this interference of a 

 predatory animal, might in time bring about the extir- 

 pation of this petrel. 



PUFFINUS GRISEUS (Gmelin). 

 SOOTY SHEAKWATER. 



The only Norfolk specimen of this bird of which I 

 am aware is still preserved in the Lynn Museum. At 

 the time of its capture it was recorded by Mr. E. L. 

 King as the " greater shearwater, Puffinus cinereus," 

 "Zoologist," p. 3234, and a full description given, 

 but a subsequent examination proved it to belong to 

 this species, probably immature ("Trans. Norfolk and 

 Norwich Nat. Soc.," iii., p. 474). I purchased the bird 

 alive of a boy who had caught it at the mouth of the 

 river Ouse as he was returning to Lynn in a fishing- 

 boat, it being apparently asleep on the water. This 

 occurred on the afternoon of the 25th July, 1851. 

 During the five days which it lived, it passed the day 

 sleeping, but, as evening advanced, became more lively, 



ii., pp. 349361 (Paris: 1722); Froger, "Relation d'un Vc^age 

 de la Mer du Sad," p. 213 (Amsterdam : 1715) ; Attwood, " History 

 of the Island of Dominica," pp. 3032 (London : 1791) ; and 

 Lafresnaye, " Revue Zoologique," 1844, p, 168 ; besides Ober's 

 " Camps in the Caribbees," above mentioned. 



