nor could I ascertain that a Greater Shearwater was ever shot,
but always taken with a hook. They are commonly known
by the name of Hagdowns
Mr. Thompson further adds : “ So little is known respecting
this species as an inhabitant q£ our seas, that. I am in-'
duced to add the following: Mr. Robert Ball, when dredging
off Bundoran, on .the west coast of Ireland, in company
with Mt. E. Forbes and Mr. Hyndman, on the 16th .of
July,'184iO, saw three Petrels on wing near to him,; which
he believed to be of this species.”
Faber’s account of this species in .his Prodromus of the
Ornithology of Iceland, is very short; in substance; it: is as
follows:—I t is very scarce, and is only seen on the most
southern parts of the island; it does not breed here. Only
a single individual has fallen into my hands. The fishermen
talk of a Puffinus, which they see sometimes, and is twice as
big as Puffinus avcticus^ (Fabér’s name for our P. anglorum,)
it may well .be this oné. There is no description,, but I
infer that Faber’s v bird was white underneath, and. that he
called it P. major because i t only differed; from our P.
anglorum, which is common in Iceland, in being largerr
The measurements-.of P. driereus of Gmelin#i Latham, and
others ate. stated at twenty inches and a quarter, for the
whole length of that species, but of the several examples
of our Greater Shearwater that I have seen, none • have
exceeded eighteen inches in length, and. the dark-coloured
specimens, which maybe females* or young birds,, are not
quite so much. That our new bird is not the P. fuligi-
nosus of Kuhl, I believe,, from having. obtained a. specimen
of this bird, which is not only two inches shorter in its whole
length than our new bird, .but is also a true Procellaria^
having the short, strong, hooked* and cutting beak, like that
of our Fulmar last described.
In the dark-coloured bird from which our upper figure was
taken, the bill is dark brown, the base of the under mandible.
lighter brown; irides dark brown ; head and neck all
round and the back dark dove-brown ; scapulars and tertials
the same, but with lighter-coloured margins; wing-coverts,
primaries, and tail-feathers blackish-brown; breast and belly
greyish hair-brown, each feather much darker in colour on
the margin than over the centre; legs brown on the outer
surface,-but pale wood-brown on the inner; toes and their
membranes yellowish-brown. The whole length of the bird
seventeen inches and one quarter; wing, from the anterior
bend, twelve inches and three-quarters ; whole length of the
bill ,one inch and three-quarters ; of the tubular portion half
an inch ;, of the tarsus tyro inches; of the middle toe, including
the claw, two inches and five-eighths.
-In the-bird from which the lower figure m our woodcut
was taken the bill is dark brown, under mandible lighter
brown at the base;, irides dark brown; head and occiput
dark-ash-grey L back of the neck almost white ; back, wing-
coverts, and tertials ash-grey; all the margins greyish-white;
primaries and tail-feathers blackish-brown; chin, sides, and
front of neck, the breast, and sides of the body white ; lower
belly; vent, and under tail-coverts varied with dull white and
ash-brown ; legs, toes, and their membranes brownish-yellow.
The whole length eighteen inches; of the wing, from the
bend, thirteen inches | whole length of the bill one inch and
seven-eighths, of the tubular portion half an inch; of the
tarsus two inches and one-eighth; of the middle toe and
claw two inches and seven-eighths.
There are specimens in the British Museum, from South
Africa, and known to be the young and adult of the same
Species, which exactly resemble the two birds here figured.
M. Temminck says this species breeds by thousands on
the banks of Newfoundland. I t is probably the Wandering
Shearwater of Messrs. .Audubon and Nuttall.