In July 1974, a seabird was received for identification from Mrs. M. P. Panday of Paramaribo, Suriname. The bird proved to be an immature specimen of the Great Shearwater, Puffinus gravis (O'Reilly), a species not previously recorded from Suriname or the adjacent countries, which explains why Mrs. Panday had been unable to identify it with the literature available to her. Further information received from Mrs. Panday was that she had found the dead bird on the beach of the fauna reserve Bigi-Santi (east of Paramaribo) during a visit made from 13 to 15 June, 1974. There were many dead shearwaters on the beach at the time, but only a few (like the one collected) were fresh, most of the birds found were already entirely desiccated, and would have been dead for at least a week or so. The total number of dead birds must have been considerable; the two wardens of the reserve estimated that they had seen about 150 between Matapica and the mouth of the Oranjekreek, a distance of 35 km, but the actual number would have been much greater as half of this stretch, between Motkreek and Oranjekreek, is never done on foot but by boat, so that dead birds on the beach would have remained unnoticed. In addition, the wreck may have extended to beaches beyond the area indicated, which are rarely visited. The bird received was forwarded in a frozen condition, its weight on arrival was 390 grammes, and in the short time (less than a month) it had been frozen, the loss of weight through cold storage would have been negligible. This weight indicated, and autopsy confirmed, that the bird was very thin. Few weights of healthy birds of this species appear to have been published, but Hagen (1952: 92) gave for a series of 14 adult birds of both