76 BULLETIN 121, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



notes sent to Mr. George N. Lawrence (1889), that they have a 

 "peculiar cry resembling a cat howl." He also says (1902) : "They 

 make a most unearthly noise when leaving and returning to their 

 nest, hence the name given them by the fishermen [diablotin], which" 

 literally means 'little devil.'" Feilden (1889) says: "The young 

 shearwaters uttered a plaintive, liquid-sounding note, something like 

 lohitter^ whitter, whit^ lohit, wit." Reid (1884) speaks of a young 

 bird that " had become remarkably tame, following me about the 

 house and garden, waddling along awkwardly enough on his tarsi, 

 and uttering a musical ' chirrup ' the while." 



Even this bird of the ocean is not proof against storms, for Wayne 

 (1894) found a specimen of the Audubon shearwater washed up 

 dead on the coast of South Carolina after the great cyclone of 

 August 2G-27, 1894, that destroyed countless numbers of the greater 

 shearwater. 



Reference has already been made to the use by the early colonfets 

 of this species as food. The recent history of this use is thus de- 

 scribed by Wells (1902) : "When the young arrive at a certain stage 

 they become simply a ball of fat inclosed in down ; it is then that the 

 fishermen take them in large numbers, and, after salting and drying 

 them, they are taken to the different markets in Grenada, Avhere they 

 are readily bought and appear to be relished by certain people." 

 P^eilden (1889) quotes a letter from Rev. G. Duncan Gittens, who 

 says " the birds, if very young, are a mass of gluten, and although 

 very strong-tasted, when properly purified by lime juice and salt 

 are by some considered a delicacy." 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Breeding range. — Bermuda, Santo Domingo, the Lesser Antilles 

 (St. Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, Carriacou, Grenada, etc.), and 

 the Bahama Islands (Andros and the Ragged Islands, Green, Wash- 

 erwoman, and Ship Channel Keys, etc.). A subspecies breeds in the 

 Cape Verde Islands. 



Range. — The warmer portions of the western North Atlantic 

 Ocean. West, more or less regularly, to Cuba, the Gulf of Mexico, 

 and the coast of Florida. North to about 37° north, off Chesapeake 

 Bay. 



Casual records. — South Carolina (Sullivan Island, August 10, 

 1911), North Carolina (Beaufort, July 28, 1910), Virginia (Cobb 

 Island, September 1, 1893), and New York (Bellport, Long Island, 

 August 1, 1897). 



Egg dates. — Bahama Islands: Thirty-five records, April 4 to 20; 

 eighteen records, April 12 to 14. 



