SOME THREATENED EXOTIC SPECIES 291 



here we may call attention to the partial extinction 

 of a second, the magnilicent Bearded Vulture 

 {Grypcetus barbatus). This species frequents the 

 mountain ranges of South Europe and Asia, but in 

 many localities is fast becoming rare, whilst in 

 others complete extinction seems to have overtaken 

 it. In some parts of Europe its decrease has been 

 attributed to poison and shooting ; whilst in certain 

 Asian haunts the value set upon its plumage has 

 led to its extermination. It is most certainly a 

 threatened, if not a downright vanishing species, 

 and it seems a pity that such a splendid type of 

 raptorial bird cannot be preserved to us. 



Some of the species of Petrel are also threatened 

 with extermination. One of these, the Capped 

 Petrel (CEstrelata hcesitata), is specially interesting 

 to English ornithologists, because it has been known 

 to visit the British Islands on abnormal flight. 

 Although the distribution of many Petrels is very 

 little known, the present species appears formerly 

 to have resorted to the islands of Guadaloupe and 

 Dominica for the purpose of breeding, but here it 

 seems to have become extinct or nearly so, and our 

 only hope can be that the Capped Petrel has other 

 nesting-places still undiscovered by man. It is said 

 that the disappearance of the bird from Dominica 



