LEVANTINE SHEARWATER. 167 



III. THE LEVANTINE SHEARWATER. PUFFINUS YELKOUANUS. 



Procellaria yelkouan, Acerbi, Bibl. Ital. cxl. p. 294 (1827). 

 Puffinus yelkoiiamiS) Salvin, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxv. p. 379 

 (1896). 



Adult Male. Similar to P. puffinus, but rather paler ard 

 browner above ; the flanks dusky brown, and the under tail- 

 coverts usually dusky brown also. Total length, i5 - o inches; 

 culmen, 1-5 ; wing, 9'! ; tail, 2*7 ; tarsus, 1*8. 



Adult Female. Similar to the male. Total length, 14*5 

 inches ; wing, 9*0. 



Characters. When the under tail-coverts are sooty-brown, 

 this species is easily distinguished from the Manx Shear- 

 water, with its white under tail-coverts. This character, how- 

 ever, seems not always to be constant, so that the characters 

 for the identification of P. yelkouanus appear to be the brown 

 lower flanks, and, above all, the greater length of the tarsus 

 (1*8 inch), and the middle toe (1*95). In the Manx Shear- 

 water the tarsus measures 175 inch, and the middle toe only 

 i '8 inch. 



Range in Great Britain. Two specimens of the Shearwater 

 from Devonshire are in the British Museum, one from Torbay 

 and another from Plymouth. The species probably occurs 

 more often than is suspected, and has been confounded with 

 the ordinary P. puffinus. 



Range outside the British Islands. This species is an inhabitant 

 of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, but appears to wander 

 north occasionally, when it visits the English coasts. 



Habits. Doubtless similar to those of P. puffinus. 



Nest. Doubtless in similar situations to that of the Manx 

 Shearwater. 



Eggs. One. Doubtless similar to that of P. puffinus. 



