PUFFINUS GAVIA. 



contain examples from other parts of the coast. Mr. Henry Travers met with this 

 Shearwater on the Snares Islands, and the Rothschild Museum contains one of his 

 specimens. 



P. gavia is found in the Australian seas, for there is a specimen from Adelaide in 

 the British Museum ; and also one presented by Professor Anderson Stuart, which had 

 been blown on shore during a storm, and was picked up in the Victoria Park at Sydney, 

 N.S.W., on the 2nd of August, 1891, by Mr. F. J. Bourne (Salvin, P. Z. S., 1891, p. 

 627 ; id., Cat. Birds Brit. Mies., XXV., p. 381). 



The species is recorded by G. R. Gray from New Caledonia (Cat. Birds Trop. I si., 

 p. 56, 1859), but I have found no authority for this statement. 



Mr. Wiglesworth draws attention to the fact that Forster described a variety of 

 his P. gavia from Tahiti (native name " Etaowe "), and another from Raiatea 

 (■" Tera-6 "). " They appear," says Mr. Wiglesworth, " to be two distinct species — 

 the latter perhaps P. obscurus (Gm.) — but the descriptions are insufficient for their 

 identification " (Abhandl. K. Mus. Dresden, 1890-91, No. 6, p. 81, 1891). 



Sir Walter Buller gives the following excellent account of the habits of this 

 Shearwater : — 



" They congregate in flocks, often of considerable size, and fly in a compact body, 

 generally in a zigzag course, with a very rapid movement of the wings and not far above 

 the water. Their flight is peculiar, too, in this respect, that they appear all to turn at 

 the same moment, like a company of soldiers, showing first the dark plumage of the 

 upper-surface and then the white under-parts, as they simultaneously dip towards the 

 water. 



" Their habits are sociable, and flocks may often be seen in the daytime disporting 

 themselves in the sea, making short flights just above the surface, then flopping into 

 the water, splashing and chasing one another in their playful gambols, and when tired 

 of their fun, rising in a body and rapidly disappearing from view as already described. 

 On one occasion I saw a flock of several hundreds thus amusing themselves in the broad 

 sunshine (although the bird is more nocturnal than diurnal) as our ship was steaming 

 through the narrow ' French Pass ' in Cook's Strait. 



; ' They seem to scatter at night, for as darkness approached I have noticed numerous 

 single examples, as if the flocks of the daytime were dispersing over the surface of the 

 ocean in quest of their food. They fly low but swiftly, and with a note resembling the 

 native name by which the bird is called, but somewhat prolonged, as ' paka-ha-a- 

 paka-ha-a.' During the breeding season I have seen very large flocks of them between 

 Whale Island and the mainland, some of them hovering on the wing, hundreds together 

 in ' schools,' or flocks, and others scattered far and wide over the surface, floating in a 

 listless manner, as if resting after the hunting exploits of the night. 



" Occasionally, perhaps once in several years, they appear in prodigious flocks, and 

 seem to cover the sea for miles around ; but they soon scatter again over ' Ocean's 



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