

L X X X V 1 1. S H E A E W A T E E. 



(Puffinus anglorum.} 



THE Shearwater is to be met with here on the open sea, between 

 the coast of Moidart and the island of Eigg, where it is said to 

 breed ; as also in the Isle of Man, whence its name, " The. Manx 

 Shearwater." The illustration is done from a disabled specimen 

 we picked up when yachting, which, after being sketched, was let 

 go. I have seen many such birds in the Mediterranean flying 

 low, just over the tops of the waves. Among the French sailors 

 they go by the name of " Ames Damnees ; " wherefore, I do not 

 know ; perhaps a survival of the doctrine of transmigration of 

 souls. 



Major-General Eichardson tells me that long ago, when he 

 was shooting on the Pontana marshes in Sicily, there used to be 

 a lot of Terns, which fluttered about, and that Mario, his fac- 

 totum, a superstitious Sicilian, said they were " the souls of the 

 dead," and did not want him to shoot any of them. 



A Sicilian friend also writes me that a Tern, which he calls 

 Sterna fluvialis, is to be found on these marshes, and is called 

 Ame de Sbirro. 



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