470 Mr, D. A. Baunerraan on the Distribution of 



The main body of Puffinus k. Jlavirostris arrives in the 

 vicinity of the Canary Islands at the beginning of March ; 

 Savile E,eid noticed many hundreds, off Tenerife, on the 

 19th of this month. A short itinerary of my recent expe- 

 dition in May and June of last year (191.3) will show the 

 results arrived at : — 



Isla Graciosa, May 27-31. Birds all paired in nesting-lioles, but no 

 ego's. 

 „ June 1-7. Birds just beginning to lay. 



Montana Clara, June 7-14. Birds all have eggs. 

 West Rock, June 11. Every bird sitting un an egg. 

 AUegranza, June 9-14. Birds all sitting ; eggs perfectly fresb. 



As already noted, the majority of the birds arrive in the 

 group at the beginning of March, but Meade- Waldo, who 

 visited Graciosa on the 6th of April, reports that the Shear- 

 waters had not yet arrived in their breeding-holes. They 

 frequent tbeir nesting-holes, as the fishermen say, " to clean 

 them '^ during the latter part of April and beginning of 

 May, but no eggs are laid, at the earliest, nntil the end of 

 the latter month. By the second week in June nesting 

 seems to be in full swing and continues through JUI3', when 

 the young are hatched. The fishermen start taking them 

 on August 5th, when they are said to be very good to eat. 

 In September many more are taken and boiled down for oil. 

 I was told that all the large Shearwaters left the islands in 

 November. Dr. Bolle thought that they left earlier, but 

 I have myself seen many in Gran Canaria between 

 November the 1st and 17th. The main body certainly 

 goes out to sea at this time and the birds are not in any 

 numbers near the islands between the end of November 

 and the end of February, although a few may often be seen 

 during December and January. 



8. PuflBnus kuhli edwardsi. Cape Verde Island Shearwater. 

 Type locality — Branca, C. V. Is. 



Pufinus edwardsi Oustalet, Ann. Sci. Nat. (6) xvi. 1883, 

 Art. V. p. 1. 



Puffinus maria Boyd Alexander, Ibis, 1898, pp. 92, 108^, 109. 



