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The Great Shearwater has occurred on the coast of Dorset (a specimen was, Mr. Mansel- 

 Pleydell says, shot in Swanage Bay in 1868) ; and it has been met with off the coast of Norfolk. 

 It is, Mr. Cordeaux states, a rare autumn visitant to the coast of Yorkshire ; but, judging 

 from his description of the bird, Puffinus grisens occurs there more frequently than the present 

 species. On the coasts of the mainland of Scotland it does not seem to have occurred ; but 

 Mr. Eobert Gray says that Messrs. Baikie and Heddle, in a manuscript note, state that it has 

 occurred in Shetland ; and Dr. Saxby (B. of Shetl. Isl. p. 363) says that on the 10th of June 

 1870, Mr. Robert Nicholson brought him a specimen shot at the haaf a day or two previously. 

 It has also been obtained on the Irish coast ; Mr. Davis informed Mr. Thompson (B. of Irel. iii. 

 p. 407), " the first specimen recorded from there was ' taken in August 1835 near Dungarvan, 

 county of Waterford, and sent to me alive. It was apparently in good health, but would not eat 

 any thing, and died after having been in my possession for about ten days or a fortnight. It had 

 an extremely rank, fishy, or oily smell at all times ; but I never saw any appearance of oil being 

 discharged from its mouth or nostrils. It seemed unable to walk, but scrambled about with its 

 breast about an inch from the ground. Although its wings were perfect and uninjured, it made 

 no attempt to fly, but if let fall from a height dropped heavily to the ground. It showed an 

 inclination to climb, having several times mounted up the handle of a long spade that rested 

 against the wall of the yard in which it was kept. It did not ramble about, nor care much for 

 water, but when put in a large tub very dexterously pulled itself up by the hooked bill until the 

 claws got on the edge. When handled it bit severely.' 



"The second specimen was received alive on the 19th of September 1839 by Mr. Davis, who 

 informed me that it was captured one or two miles outside Dungarvan by a person fishing for 

 hake (Merlucius vulgaris) with a hook and line, it having taken his bait. I kept it alive for 

 about a week, but not having a suitable place for it, had the bird killed and set up. It was 

 more lively than the former one, which, so far as can be recollected, it resembled in every 

 respect as to plumage, and ran along with the breast about an inch and a half from the ground. 

 Having on one occasion placed this bird on a roof, it seemed to be more at ease on the inclined 

 plane afforded by that situation than on a flat surface, and mounted rapidly to the top, though 

 on reaching the edge no attempt at flight was made, and it fell heavily to the ground. It rarely 

 stirred at all during the day, but kept itself as much out of view as possible, and if the body 

 could not be concealed would endeavour to hide its head." It is found in Iceland and Green- 

 land ; but Professor Newton remarks that Faber only met with one example of this Shearwater 

 in Iceland, and that it probably rarely extends its wanderings so far north, though it is said by 

 Professor Reinhardt to breed in Greenland, where, according to Holboll, large numbers are 

 found from the southern point of the country to 65° 30' N. lat. Captain H. W. Feilden, who, 

 when in the ' Alert ' on the recent Arctic expedition, tried to obtain some particulars respecting 

 this Shearwater, writes to me as follows : — " I was unfortunate in not being able to obtain spe- 

 cimens ; but I have no doubt that this is the species of Shearwater noticed by the whalers off 

 Cape Farewell, and which accompanies them some distance up Davis Strait. On the 22nd of 

 June 1875, when sixty miles to the south of Farewell, several examples were flying in the wake 

 of the ship. Some were of a uniform sooty hue, whilst others were white on the underparts, 

 with a neck-band of the same colour, and a band of white across the middle of the tail-feathers. 



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