PUFFINUS KUHLI. 



The Mediterranean Shearwater is one of the largest species (wing, 12.5-14.5 inches) 

 of the genus, having the rounded tail of P. gravis, and approaching it in size and general 

 appearance. It is, however, easily distinguished by its pure white under-surface and 

 axillaries, having none of the large brown spots so conspicuous on these parts in 

 P. gravis, with which P. Icuhli has more than once been confounded. The upper- 

 surface is slightly mottled with pale edges to the feathers, and the upper tail-coverts 

 are margined with white ; the head is also slightly darker than the back, but not so 

 pronounced as in P. gravis. 



In the true P. kulili of the Mediterranean the quill-lining is generally white. In the 

 birds of the Azores and Madeira it is dusky, and thus, at first sight, the two forms 

 appear to be specifically distinct. Dr. Hartert puts the case very fairly for the identi- 

 fication of the two sub-species (Nov. Zool., XII., p. 97), and sums up the characters as 

 follows : — The bill in the Mediterranean bird, P. kuhli, is generally thicker, higher and 

 longer ; but males must be compared with males, and females with females. The 

 crown and sides of the head are generally darker, more slaty, paler and more cinereous 

 in P. kuhli than in the Atlantic form, which he calls P. flavirostris, in which the outer 

 primaries are uniformly dark below, with no white beyond the under wing-coverts, whereas 

 in P. kuhli the white extends beyond the under wing-coverts, sometimes even beyond 

 the middle of the feathers. Dr. Hartert says that there is very rarely any deviation 

 in this characteristic, and it is this feature which raises the question of specific identity. 

 I find that there is usually a distinction between the light-winged bird of the Mediter- 

 ranean and the dark-winged form from the Azores and Canaries, but no hard-and-fast 

 line can be drawn. Having examined the specimens in the Rothschild Museum and the 

 series in the British Museum, on which Salvin depended, I am driven to the conclusion 

 that a perfect gradation exists, and I follow Salvin in uniting the two races. 



The Mediterranean Shearwater is rightly named, for it is abundant in that sea 

 from the Straits of Gibraltar to the shores of Palestine, extending to the Adriatic and 

 to the Sea of Marmora, and nesting in the Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sardinia, and other 

 suitable places during the months of May and June. Count Arrigoni degli Oddi says 

 that it is not rare in the Gulf of Venice (Ail. Orn., p. 525). Mr. C. A. Wright found it 

 breeding in the Maltese Islands in June and July, taking its departure in October 

 (Ibis, 1874, p. 240). 



Beyond the limits of the Mediterranean, P. kuhli extends to the Portuguese coast, 

 where the differences between it and P. major are recognised by the fishermen (Tait, 

 Ibis, 1887, p. 398). I have not seen specimens from Portugal, but they will probably 

 be found to belong to the dark-winged form (P. flavirostris), which occurs in the 

 Atlantic. Mr. Nicoll, during the voyage of the " Valhalla," noticed these 

 Shearwaters between Lisbon and Madeira (Ibis, 1904, p. 33). The type-specimens 

 of P. flavirostris are said by Gould to have been procured by Sir George Grey, 

 on one of his voyages to Australia, in the Cape seas in Lat. 36° 39' S., Long. 10° 3' E. 



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