550 PUFFINID.E 



then plunge under the surface in hot pursuit. It can dash 

 under a wave with great speed, though apparently not 

 diving deeply, and will take a baited hook, often being 

 made prisoner in that way by fishermen. It may be seen 

 assiduously beating to and fro over the sea like a sporting 

 dog quartering a field for game (Warren). Cuttle-fish are 

 said to be largely consumed. 



Nest. The nidification of the Great Shearwater appears 

 at present to be shrouded in mystery ; it is well-nigh certain, 

 however, that it does not breed in the islands of the North 

 Atlantic, especially on any of those adjacent to the British 

 coast. Notwithstanding the large numbers seen during the 

 Kockall expedition in June, 1896, the bird was seldom if 

 ever noticed in pairs ; l moreover an adult female shot on 

 June 15th, 1896, and submitted to Dr. H. Gadow for dis- 

 section, showed by the condition of its generative organs 

 that it had not laid any eggs, nor was it going to breed that 

 season. Professor Newton noticed these birds chiefly in 

 pairs on his way to the Faroes in 1894 ; he points to the 

 general difficulty there is in finding the nesting holes of 



any species of Shearwater " We think all our 



data, so far, go to prove that the birds which frequent our 

 seas are but wanderers over the North Atlantic for feeding 

 purposes " (Barrington and Harvie-Brown, Notes On Rockall 

 Island and Bank). 



Geographical distribution. -- The breeding-haunts are 

 probably on Islands in the Southern Oceans, specimens 

 of this Shearwater having been obtained in the Falkland 

 Islands, Terra del Fuego, and near the Cape of Good Hope. 

 During its travels the bird visits the coasts of Norway, 

 Iceland, and the Faroes, and from May till about October 

 is plentiful and widely distributed over a large tract of the 

 North Atlantic Ocean. On the American side 2 it visits 

 South Greenland, ranging southward along the eastern sea- 

 board of Canada and the States. 



1 In August and September, in the North Atlantic, I did not notice 

 it flying in pairs, and I kept it under observation with a strong prism- 

 binocular for five consecutive days. 



2 On August 15th, 1906, I observed numbers of this, and a few of 

 the next species some little distance outside the Straits of Belle Isle, lat. 

 52 N., long. 56 20 W., North Atlantic. 



