530 



In size they were rather longer across the wing than the Fulmars. The Shearwaters parted 

 company with our ship in Davis Strait, near the latitude of Godthaab. These birds, I imagine, 

 leave the south coast of Greenland in winter and take to the more temperate regions of the 

 Atlantic. On the 19th October 1876, when returning to England, in lat. 55° 44' N., long. 35° 

 38' W., a thousand miles from Cape Clear, we ran in amongst these birds, and they followed the 

 ship, in company with Fulmars and Kittiwakes. A few miles south of the fifty-fourth parallel 

 the Fulmars left us ; but the Pujffinus major and Kittiwakes kept us company across the Atlantic, 

 and a dozen or more of these large Shearwaters were round the ship when we sighted the 

 Blasquets, off the coast of Kerry. As we approached within eight or ten miles of the Irish coast, 

 and the vicinity of the Skelligs, Pujffinus major left us, and flocks of Pujffinus anglorum were 

 seen. The flight of the Greater Shearwater is very striking ; with a single movement of the 

 wings they alter their course, and, without any apparent effort, glide down the valleys between 

 the Atlantic rollers, the only movement of the wings being a barely perceptible quiver." 



According to Professor Schlegel, there is in the Leyden Museum a specimen of Pujffinus 

 Jcuhli, received from Mr. Moschler, the well-known dealer at Herrnhut, which is stated to have 

 come from Greenland ; but I cannot help surmising that there may have been some mistake 

 about this specimen. 



Twice when crossing the Atlantic I have seen the present species of Shearwater — once some 

 distance off the coast of Ireland, and once on the banks off Newfoundland. 



According to Captain Feilden, it is sometimes seen by the fishermen out at sea, during the 

 winter, near the Fseroes, but does not nest on those islands. It only ranges eastward to the 

 Norwegian coast as an extremely rare straggler. Mr. Collett records (J. f. O. 1874, p. 45) a 

 female obtained near Christiania in the month of October, this being the only instance I find on 

 record of its occurrence there; but Lilljeborg states (Ofv. K. Vet. Ak. Forh. 1849, p. 31) that he 

 saw it on the sea, between Schuretskaja and the North Cape, in August 1849. According to 

 Mr. Cordeaux a large Shearwater, probably the present species, has been seen off Heligoland ; 

 but no specimen was obtained ; nor do I find it recorded from the northern shores of the conti- 

 nent of Europe, except by Messrs. Degland and Gerbe, who say that Mr. Hardy has obtained it 

 near Dieppe. 



I do not find any undoubted record of its occurrence on the Atlantic islands ; for although 

 Mr. F. DuCane Godman states that it is found off the Azores, I have lately ascertained from him 

 and Mr. Salvin that he was mistaken as to the species occurring there, it being P. Jcuhli, not 

 P. major. 



On the American side of the Atlantic the present species is found not uncommonly off the 

 northern portions of the coast. Mr. Lawrence gives its range as from the Gulf of St. Lawrence 

 to the Florida coast ; and Mr. G. A. Boardman informs me that it is common on the mackerel- 

 grounds off the Bay of Fundy, arriving early from the north. In the South Atlantic it has been 

 obtained off the coast of Guinea by Pel, and at the Cape of Good Hope by Smith and Dr. van 

 Horstock ; and a specimen from Terra del Fuego, collected by Mr. T. R. Peale, was examined by 

 Dr. Coues, and pronounced to be specifically identical with the North- Atlantic bird. It does not, 

 Dr. Coues says, occur in the Pacific. 



In habits the present species is stated to resemble Pujffinus anglorum, from which it is easily 



