The Female, which is a little larger, is similar to the male.
THE MANKS SHEARWATER.
Puffinus anglorum, Ray.
PLATE CCXCV. Adult.
Although I have procured this species to the westward of the banks of Newfoundland, or between their soundings and the American coast, I am unable to say any thing of importance respecting its habits as observed by myself. This species formerly inhabited a small islet close to the Isle of Man, but appears to have now entirely deserted it. In the Orkneys, however, it is still abundant, and the eggs and young are in much request there. It arrives in March, and, when the young are able to fly, betakes itself to the open sea, disappearing towards the approach of winter. The British writers who have described it inform us, that it stands nearly erect, flies with great rapidity, feeds on marine animal substances of all kinds, and, when taken, squirts out an oily fluid from its nostrils in the manner of the Petrels. It is said to breed in burrows, and to lay only a single egg, of a white colour, and elliptical form, about the size of that of a domestic fowl.
Procellaria Puffinus, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 213.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 824.
Puffinus Anglorum, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 371.
Shearwater Petrel, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 336.
Adult. Plate CCXCV.
Bill about the length of the head, rather slender, a little compressed, straightish, the tips curved. Upper mandible with the dorsal line convex, and sloping at the base, afterwards slightly concave, on the unguis curved, the ridge broadly convex, narrowed towards the end, the sides convex, the edges sharp and slightly inflected; the unguis stout, curved, rather acute. Nostrils tubular, approximated, dorsal; the narrow nasal groove extending to the unguis. Lower mandible with the angle very long and narrow, the short dorsal line beyond it decurved, the sides convex and sloping inwards, the edges sharp and inflected.
Head of moderate size, ovate, narrowed before. Neck of moderate length. Body elongated. Feet of moderate size; tibia feathered to near the joint; tarsus compressed, anteriorly and posteriorly sharp, covered all over with diversiform scales, of which a series on the inner side is scutelliform. Toes rather long, slender, excepting the first, which is a mere conical knob principally composed of the claw; anterior toes connected by striated webs of which the margin is concave, scutellate above, the third and fourth longest and about equal. Claws small, compressed, slightly arched, obtuse, that of third toe with the inner edge a little dilated.