SHEARWATER

This article appears in Volume V24, Page 815 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: SHA-SIV

SHEARWATER , the name of a bird, first published in F.

Willughby

WILLUGHBY, FRANCIS (1635—1672)

's Ornithologia (p. 252), as made known to him by Sir T.,Browne, who sent a picture of it with an account that is given more fully in J. Ray's

translation

TRANSLATION

of that

work

WORK

(p. 334), stating that it is " a Sea-fowl, which fishermen observe to resort to their vessels in some numbers,

swimming

SWIMMING (from " swim," A.S. swimman, the root being common in Teutonic languages)

1 swiftly to and fro, backward, forward and about them, and doth as it were radere aquam, shear the water, from whence perhaps it had its name." 2 Ray's mistaking

young

birds of this kind obtained in the Isle of Man for the

young

of the coulterneb, now usually called " Puffin," has already been mentioned under that heading; and not only has his name Puffinus anglorum hence become attached to this species, commonly described in English books as the Manx puffin or Manx shearwater; but the barbarous word Puffinus has come into use for all birds thereto allied, forming a well-marked group of the family Procellariidae (see PETREL), distinguished chiefly by their elongated bill, and numbering some twenty species, if not morethe discrimination of which has taxed the ingenuity of ornithologists. Shear-waters are found in nearly all the seas and oceans of the world,' generally within no

great

GREAT

distance from the land, though rarely resorting thereto, except in the breeding season. But they also penetrate to waters which may be termed inland, as the Bosporus, where they are known to the French-speaking part of the population as dmes damnees, it being held by the Turks that they are animated by condemned human souls. Four species of Puffinus are recorded as visiting the coasts of the United Kingdom; but the Manx shearwater is the only one that at all commonly breeds in the British Islands. It is a very plain-looking bird, black above and white beneath, and about the size of a pigeon. Some other species are larger, and almost whole coloured, being of a sooty or dark cinereous hue both above and below. All over the world shearwaters seem to have precisely the same habits, laying their single purely white egg in a hole under ground. The young are thickly clothed with long down, and are extremely fat. In this

condition

CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

they are thought to be good eating, and enormous numbers are caught for this purpose in some localities, especially of a species, the P. brevicaudus of Gould, which frequents the islands off the

coast

COAST (from Lat. costa, a rib, side)

of Australia, where it is commonly known as the " Mutton-bird." (A. N.)

End of Article: SHEARWATER

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/SHA_SIV/SHEARWATER.html">
SHEARWATER
</a>

(Previous)
SHEARS

(Next)
SHEATHBILL

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email