GREAT SHEARWATER. 
i6i 
the base of the inner web, increasing in extent on the second- 
aries, which are fringed with white at the ends ; tail black, 
moderately w'cdge-shapcd , crown of head uniform dark brown, 
scarcely forming a cap, though the hind-neck is lighter and 
shaded with grey, especially on the sides of the neck , lores 
dark brown ; sides of face lighter and more ashy-brown ; cheeks 
and under surface of body white, the centre of the abdomen 
sooty-brown ; lower flanks and under tail-coverts also sooty- 
brown, the latter tipped with white ; under wing-coverts and 
axillaries white, the latter with sub-terminal spots of brown ; 
bill dark horn-colour ; feet yellow. Total length, ip'S inches; 
culmen, I'g; wing, i2‘6; tail, 47 ; tarsus, 2'2S. 
Adult Female. — Similar to the male. Total length, 19 inches ; 
wing, 12-5. 
Characters. The tail is short and rounded, scarcely to be 
called wedge-shaped. The species is distinguished from the 
other Shearwaters by its large size, the wing being 12 ‘5 inches 
and upwards. Its brown back, with the lighter edges to the 
feathers, white breast, with the sooty-brown patch on the 
abdomen, are also distinguishing characters. 
Range in Great Britain. — A more or less frequent visitor in 
England, sometimes occurring in some numbers off the south- 
western coasts, but rarer on the east coast and off Scotland ; off 
Ireland it has been frequently met with. 
Range outside the British Islands. -I'lie Great Shearwater occurs 
on both sides of the Atlantic from the Faeroes and Greenland 
southward to the Cape of Good Hope and the Falkland 
Islands. It is replaced by an allied species, P. kuhli, in the 
Mediterranean and on the Azores and Canaries. This species 
also occurs on the shores of North America and extends south 
as far as Kerguelen Land. The Great Shearwater has also 
been found in the Baltic round Heligoland. 
Habits. — Mr. Howard Saunders writes : — “ The food of this 
species consists chiefly of squid, and Mr. Gurney found the 
horny jaws of a cuttle-fish in the stomach of a bird shot near 
Flamborough ; but any animal substance is greedily swallowed, 
and the species is systematically taken with a hook to furnish 
bait for fish. When alighting it strikes the water with great 
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