British Birds. 
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The Great Shearwater. 
The Sooty Shearwater. 
white tips to the long 
upper tail-coverts. It 
is white below, with a 
patch of sooty-brown 
in the centre of the 
abdomen. The length 
of the bird is over 
nineteen inches, and 
the wing twelve-and- 
a-half inches. The tail 
is short and rounded, 
and not wedge-shaped 
as in some of the other 
members of the genus. It is found throughout the greater part of the Atlantic 
Ocean, and visits Ireland and the western coasts of England and Scotland, some- 
times in considerable numbers. It is generally seen in pairs, but sometimes in 
small flocks, and it will feed on almost anything, while it is also an expert diver. 
Authentic details of the nesting of the species are still wanting. 
This species belongs to the smaller section of the genus 
Puffinus, the general 
colour of whose upper 
surface is black, including 
the head and neck. The under surface is 
white, including the under tail-coverts, the 
latter having only a little black along their 
outer webs. The length is about fourteen-and- 
a-half inches, and that of the wing from nine 
to nine-and-a-half inches. Like the fore- 
going species, the Manx Shearwater is an 
inhabitant of the Atlantic Ocean, and it breeds 
in many parts of Ireland and on our western 
coasts from the Scilly Islands to the Hebrides, 
Orkney, and Shetland Islands, in suitable 
localities. Although it is occasionally seen 
during the day-time, the Manx Shearwater, 
like most Petrels, is a night-flying bird. It 
burrows into the peat or into the sandy-soil 
on a cliff', and lays its single white egg either 
on the bare soil or on a few scraps of grass, 
or dead leaves of plants, which serve as an The Dusky Shearwater. 
apology for a nest. The Manx Shearwater. 
THE MANX 
SHEARWATER. 
(Puffinus puffinus.) 
