The Petrels. 
2 1 9 
THE LEVANTINE 
SHEARWATER. 
( Puffinus 
yelkouanus.) 
This south- 
ern r e p r e - 
The Levantine Shearwater. 
sentative of 
our Manx 
Shea rwa ter 
differs in being slightly browner, 
and in having the lower flanks 
dusky-brown, as well as the under 
tail- coverts. The tarsus seems 
to be a little longer than in P. 
puffinus, and the middle toe is 
i -95 inch in length instead of i-8 
inch. 
The home of this species is in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, but it 
occasionally wanders northward, as is shown by two specimens in the British 
Museum, one from Plymouth and the other from Torbay. Nothing has been 
recorded of its habits and nesting, but these are doubtless similar to those of our 
own Manx Shearwater. 
This is a smaller species than the Manx Shearwater, from 
which it is distinguished by its pure white axillaries, and the 
length of the wing, which does not exceed eight inches. A 
specimen of this species, which is found in the tropical and 
sub-tropical seas of the whole world, has been captured in England, near Bungay 
in Suffolk, in the Spring of 1858. Another specimen, said to have been procured in 
Devonshire, is in the British Museum. The single white egg is laid in the hole of a 
rock, and the nesting habitat of the species appears to be in the West Indian Islands. 
A specimen of a small Shearwater was obtained oft' Valentia 
Harbour, in Ireland, in May, 1853, and has always been referred 
to Puffinus 
THE DUSKY 
SHEARWATER. 
(Puffinus obscurus.) 
THE ALLIED 
SHEARWATER. 
( Puffinus assimilis. 
obsc u r us. Re- 
cently, however, Mr. Howard 
Saunders re-examined the bird in 
question, and it turned out to belong 
to P . assimilis, a species very similar 
to P. obscurus, but smaller, and dis- 
tinguished by the white shading to 
the inner webs of the primaries, the 
white under tail-coverts, and the 
more decided white line on each side 
ol the neck. As the species breeds 
in the Canaries, Madeira, and the 
The Allied Shearwater. 
