MONOGRAPH OF THE PETRELS. 



The following measurements are given by Gould :— " Total length, 19 inches ; bill, 

 2| ; wing, 15.0 ; tail, 6-|- ; tarsi, 2-J- ; middle toe and claw, 3£." The occurrence of the 

 species in the seas of South Africa seems to have been overlooked by Dr. Bowdler 

 Sharpe, in his edition of Layard's " Birds of South Africa " ; but Mr. W. L. Sclater 

 (Faun. S. Afr., Birds, IV., p. 469) points out that a specimen of this Shearwater was 

 obtained by the No vara Expedition off the Cape of Good Hope in Lat. 36° S., Long. 

 5° E., and another in Lat. 35° 8' S., Long. 7° E. It likewise occurs in Kerguelen Island, 

 having been procured by the Antarctic Expedition (Sharpe, I.e.), but Mr. Robert 

 Hall did not meet with it there. Mr. M. J. Nicoll observed the species between 

 St. Paul's Rocks and Bahia (Ibis, 1906, p. 667). 



P. kuhli has been seen in great numbers off the island of Tenerife (Savile Reid, 

 Ibis, 1888, p. 80), and Mr. Meade- Waldo states that it is resident in the Canaries, 

 and that he has seen these Shearwaters in flocks of many thousands between 

 Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura (Ibis, 1893, p. 207). In the spring of 1890 

 Mr. Ogilvie-Grant found the species on Deserta Grande, near Madeira, but obtained 

 no eggs, though the birds were paired (Ibis, 1890, p. 444). He met with it again on 

 Great Salvage Island in the spring of 1895, but there again it had not commenced 

 to lay. Padre Schmitz forwarded specimens from Porto Santo. 



In the Azores I met with this Shearwater throughout the archipelago. It was 

 breeding in holes in the cliffs about the end of May (Ibis, 1860, pp. 103, 107). Mr. 

 Ogilvie-Grant found the species on several of the islands, and procured eggs on Villa 

 Islet (Santa Maria) and Praya Islet, near Graciosa. It also breeds on some of the 

 other islands, such as Flores and Pico (Nov. Zool., XII., p. 97). 



Specimens from the eastern coast of North America have been described under the 

 name of Puffinus borealis by Mr. C. B. Cory, but I cannot find any difference between 

 individuals from the coast of Massachusetts and others from the Atlantic islands. 



P. kuhli sometimes wanders northward like other Petrels. In the Stuttgart 

 Museum is an example obtained near that town in October, 1891 (Sclater, Ibis, 1894, 

 p. 107). It has once been found in England, a specimen having been picked up dead 

 on the beach at Pevensey, in Sussex, on the 21st of February, 1906, and examined by 

 Mr. Butterfield, who states that it belonged to the true Mediterranean form, P. kuhli, 

 and not to the Atlantic form, P. flavirostris. 



Mr. Whitehead describes the breeding habits of P. kuhli in the islands off the 

 coasts of Corsica during the month of June. The nest consisted of a few sticks, a little 

 seaweed, and some feathers from the bird's own breast, and was usually placed under 

 N a rock in the short scrub at some distance from the water. The birds, like other 

 Shearwaters, bit and scratched the hands of those molesting them. A full account 

 of the breeding of the species on the Salvage Islands is given by Mr. Ogilvie-Grant 

 (Ibis, 1896, pp. 47-50). 



Puffinus kuhli, with its white quill-lining, would, at first sight, appear to be 



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