LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS, 107 



dogs and black servants, when I was a child some fifty years ago. The diablotin 

 is not pure black ; that I feel certain from distinct recollection, and you may 

 consider the specimens sent by the old Dr. L'Herminier as correct, as he was 

 one of those old sportsmen I have just spoken of, who, in company with my 

 great uncles, grandfather, and other relatives and friends, used to go after 

 them amongst the rocks and mountains surrounding the Soufriere. A few 

 years ago, even as low as Camp Jacob, there was a diablotin caught by a dog 

 in a hole in the bank of a mountain stream. The master of the dog was satis- 

 fied to eat the bird, and I only knew of it when it was too late. The bird was 

 black above and white below, crooked beak, and webbed feet. 



The name " diablotin " has also been applied to Audubon's shear- 

 water, but in this case he probably referred to the black-capped 

 petrel, for Mr. Lawrence (1891) finally concluded that, "from the 

 description given by Doctor Colardeau of the specimen obtained in 

 Guadeloupe lately, it was probably Aestrelata haesitata^ which species 

 Prof. Alfred Newton determined the specimens sent by L'Herminier 

 to Lafresnaye to be." 



Godman (1907) gives the following fragments of the life history 

 of this little-known species: 



Ae. haesitata is described as a very rare bird, nocturnal in its habits, and fre- 

 quenting rabbit-like burrows, in which the eggs are laid. The old birds, when 

 leaving the nest at night, utter a mournful cry as they go out to sea. The 

 flesh was much prized as an article of food, and the native hunters have 

 been known to return with a dozen or more birds hung round their necks. 



In 1696 Fere Labat landed in Guadeloupe, and shortly after his arrival he 

 accompanied four black hunters to the breeding-places of the " diablotin," 

 which he also mentions as occurring in Dominica. The " diable " arrived in 

 the month of September in Guadeloupe, where the birds occupied their bur- 

 rows in pairs till the end of November, when they all disappeared and were 

 not seen again until about the middle of January. Only a single male or 

 female remained in the holes till the month of March, when the female was 

 found with " two " nestlings, covered with a thick yellow down and resem- 

 bling little balls of fat. The young birds are able to fly at the end of May, 

 when they disappear, and are not seen again till September, at which season 

 they return with great regularity. 



In 1791 Mr. Thomas Atwood wrote a history of the island of Dominica and 

 compai-ed the " diablotin " to an owl from its nocturnal habits and its owl-like 

 cry. Mr. F. A. Ober, an enthusiastic American naturalist, made a special 

 expedition to the highlands of that island to search for the nesting places, but 

 was unsuccessful. The next attempt was made by Colonel Feilden himself, 

 with Admiral Markham and other friends, and accompanied by some Negroes 

 who had actually taken the birds in former years. They ascended the Morne 

 au Diable in Dominica, but. though the burrows under the roots of trees still 

 remained, no traces of the bird could be found. 



M. Jean Baptiste Labat (1722) gives the most detailed account 

 of these birds; he says: 



We were at that time. [March 14, 1696] in the season for hunting certain 

 birds which are called "devils," or "little devils" [diablotins]. I do not 

 know if they are met with elsewhere than in Guadeloupe and Dominica, 



