30. PUFFINUS GRAVIS (O'Beitty). 



(GREAT SHEARWATER.) 



(Plate 25.) 



Shearwater Petrel, var. A., Lath., Gen. Syn. Birds, III., pt. 2, p. 407 (1785). 



Procellaria gravis, O'Reilly, Voy. Greenland, p. 140, PI. 12, Fig. 1 (1818). 



Procellaria major, Faber, Prodr. Isl. Orn., p. 56 (1822) ; Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, 



VI., Procell., p. 27 (1863). 

 White-faced Petrel, Lath., Gen. Hist. Birds, X., p. 185 (1824). 

 Puflinus cinereus (nee Gm.), Audub., Birds Amer., PL 283 ; id., Orn. Biogr., III., 



p. 555 (1835). 

 Nectris cinerea, pt. Keys, and Bias., Wirb. Eur., pp. xciv., 239 (1840). 

 Puffinus major, Temm., Man. d'Orn., IV., p. 507 (1840) ; Coues, Pr. Acad. Philad., 1864, 



pp. 132, 144 ; Saunders, Man. Brit. Birds, p. 715 (1889). 

 Greater Shearwater, Yarrell, Brit. Birds, III., p. 502 (1843). 

 Puffinus gravis, Salvin, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XXV., p. 373 (1896) ; Saunders, Man. 



Brit. Birds, 2nd ed., p. 737 (1899). 



Major : cauda rotundata : subtus albus, abdomine brunneo notato : axillaribus albis, 

 brunneo terminaliter notatis. 



The Great Shearwater is the largest Petrel found in British waters, the only species with 

 which it could be confounded being the Mediterranean P. kuhli. It is brown on the 

 back, and has a dark brown, instead of a grey, head ; the sides of the face and neck 

 are not freckled, but uniform white, extending backwards and almost meeting at the 

 back of the neck. Another distinctive character of P. gravis is the brown mottling on 

 the middle of the abdomen, which is due to the brown tips of the feathers ; 

 the axillaries have also brown spots near the ends. Salvin has not insisted 

 on these characters, but they seem most important for the recognition of the 

 species. 



P. gravis occurs off the coasts of Great Britain, more especially on the south- 

 western side ; and Mr. Eagle Clarke, who spent some time on the Eddystone Rock, 

 studying the migration of birds, saw large numbers, when the shoals of Pilchards were 

 in the vicinity (Ibis, 1902, p. 262). This Shearwater is recorded from the Orkneys 



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