i6o 
ali,en’s naturalist’s library. 
THE SHEARWATERS. SUB-FAMILY, PUFFININ/E. 
These Petrels are distinguished by the absence of lamellse 
on the side of the palate, a character which is developed in 
the Fulm^s. Eight genera of Shearwaters are recognisL, the 
genus being found nearly everywhere throughout the 
seas of the world, whereas the allied genera, such as Priofinus 
Thalassaca, Prwcella, and Afajaqueus, are inhabitants of the 
southern oceans. CEsirelata and Btilweria are more widely 
^stributed, and range into the temperate seas of the Northern 
riemispnere, 
THE TRUE SHEARWATERS. GENUS PUFFINUS. 
Puffinus, Briss. Orn. vi. p. 131 (1760). 
Type, P. puffinus (Linn.). 
In these Petrels the tarsus is distinctly compressed, with its 
anterior edp sharp. The nasal tube is low, and both nostrils 
me visible from above, directed forwards and slightly upturned 
There are twelve tail-feathers. (Cf. Salvin, Cat. B. Brit Mus’ 
XXV. P. 368.) Twenty species are known, distributed over the 
seas of both hemispheres. 
I. THE GREAT SHEARWATER. PUFFINUS GRAVIS. 
Procellaria gravis, O’Reilly, Voy. Greenland, p. 140, pi 12 
ng. I (i8t 8). -til 
Puffinus major, Temm.; Dresser, B. Eur. viii. p C27 nl 616 
\ 0- P- i p , .,8 
Yarrell s Brit. B. iv. p. 12 (1884); Seebohni, Hist. Brit. 
Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. part viii. 
('888); Saunders, Man. Brit. B. p. 715 (1889). 
Puffinus gravis, Salvin, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxv. p. 373 (1896). 
Adult Male.— General colour above brown, with somewhat 
pa er edges to the feathers of the back and scapulars, some of 
the alter having whitish margins ; long upper tail-coverts 
mottled with white and having broad white tips ; wing-coverts 
rather darker brown than the back, the greater series externally 
shaded with ashy-grey; quills dusky-blackish, with white at 
