hagden

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The greater shearwater, Puffinus major. This sea-bird ranges widely in Atlantic waters, and abounds on the North Atlantic coasts of America and Europe. It belongs to the petrel family, and to that section of Procellariidæ in which the beak is comparatively long and slender, with short, low nasal tubes, and a hook at the end. It is 18 or 20 inches long, and 40 to 45 inches in extent of wings. The adult is dark-brown above and mostly white below. Hagdens sometimes gather in flocks of thousands, flying low over the water and skimming the crests of the waves with marvelous ease without visible motion of the long thin pinions. They breed on coasts in holes in the ground and lay one white egg. Several related shearwaters are known by the same name. See Puffinus. Also hag. [Local, New Eng.]