PUFFINUS GRAVIS. 



and Shetlands, and, by the late Professor Newton, as abundant amongst the Western 

 Hebrides. Messrs. Harvie-Brown and Barrington observed it in numbers off the 

 Rockall Banks in June, but it was not breeding there (Tr. R. Irish Acad., XXXI., 

 pt. 3, p. 66). June is the earliest record of its appearance in northern waters, but 

 Mr. Howard Saunders mentions that many individuals have been seen on the east 

 coast of England in September, and on one occasion as late as the 10th of November 

 {Man. Brit. Birds, 2nd ed., p. 737), and he also notes its occurrence on the coasts 

 of Ireland and Normandy. It was observed off Ushant in September, and 

 also off the Casquets, by Mr. Eagle Clarke, in company with Manx Shearwaters 

 (Ibis, 1899, p. 270). In the vicinity of Heligoland, flocks have been seen 

 at rare intervals, and the species ranges to the Norwegian coast, as well as to the 

 Faroes. Faber described the species as Procellaria major from Iceland, where, 

 according to Mr. H. J. Pearson, it is known as the " St6ra Skrofa " (Ibis, 

 1895, p. 249). 



The Great Shearwater is often seen in the North Atlantic Ocean, in autumn and 

 winter, but Seebohm considered it to be much more local than the Fulmar, 

 or Wilson's Storm-Petrel ; it was generally seen in pairs, though occasionally in 

 small flocks. 



Dr. Walker, of the " Fox," states that he saw P. gravis off Cape Farewell, but there 

 is no conclusive evidence that it nests in Greenland (Ibis, 1860, p. 165). Although 

 Dr. Brewer says that he possesses eggs taken in Greenland, and quotes Dr. Bryant, 

 who states that a Puffinus is very numerous at Belle Isle in July, when the birds might 

 reasonably be thought to be feeding their young, the inhabitants told him that they 

 had never found an egg, nor knew of a Shearwater breeding there. Dr. Brewer, 

 however, thinks that Mr. Dresser was mistaken in disavowing the Greenland eggs, 

 taken by the Moravian missionaries. 



Giraud says that the Great Shearwater is of rare occurrence off Long Island, but is 

 more frequent on the coasts of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and it has been recorded 

 by Mr. Hurdis from Bermuda. 



To the southward, Mr. Nicoll saw these birds, in pairs, off Tristan d'Acunha, 

 and between that island and the Cape of Good Hope, when on Lord Crawford's yacht, 

 the " Valhalla," in 1906. In the Rothschild Collection there is a specimen from 

 Inaccessible Island, captured on the 23rd January, 1904. At this time of year the 

 Great Shearwater is absent from the British seas. A specimen, now in the British 

 Museum, was procured by Sir Andrew Smith in South Africa, and the Leyden Museum 

 possesses two examples, one from the Cape seas, and another from the Gold Coast, the 

 latter obtained by Governor Pel (Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, VI., Procell., p. 27). 

 The species is said to occur on the Falkland Islands, and Dr. Brewer 

 mentions an example in the U. S. National Museum as obtained by Titian Peale on 

 Tierra del Fuego. 



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