276 BIRDS OF BERMUDA. 



time (say betvveen 200 and 300 years ago) : ' There was a great variety 

 of fowl, both wild and tame, such as Hawks of all sorts, Storks, Herons, 

 Bitterns, Ospreys, Cormorants, Bald-Coots, Moor-Hens, Swans, Teal, 

 Snipes, Ducks, Widgeons, Sparrows, Woodpeckers, and a vast multitude 

 and variety of the smaller kinds, besides Owls, Bats, and other noctur- 

 nal birds. Here was likewise formerly a kind of water-fowl, peculiar 

 to those islands, which used to come to land and hatch its young in 

 holes and burrows of the rock like rabbits. They were in great plenty, 

 and were called Cow-koes. They were easilj^ caught, and good to eat, 

 the size of a Sea-mew. Our English made such havock among them 

 they are become scarce. Here is likewise found the Tropic Bird and 

 the " Pemlico." The last is seldom seen in the day-time, and, when it is^ 

 it is looked upon as the unwelcome harbinger of a storm.' 



" Now my belief is that the Cow-koes of old are lost and gone long 

 ago, and that the Cahow of the present day is neither more nor less than 

 the old and ancient Pemlico. For, in the first place, the Cahow of this 

 day is not nearly so big as a Sea-mew ; secondly, the Pemlico has never 

 been lost sight of by tlie Bermudians, the name having been handed 

 down from father to son from the earliest times to the present day ; and,^ 

 thirdly, the habits of the old Pemlico and the Cahow of to-day corre- 

 spond to a T — that is, they are seldom seen flying in the day-time, only 

 at night." 



Mr. Bartram goes on to say that on making inquiries of the people of 

 Tucker's Town, St. David's, and Bailey's Bay, they knew nothing of 

 the Cahow, but all could tell him of the Pemlico. From the above inter- 

 esting account and from the strong e^'ldence adduced by Mr. Bartram, 

 I am inclined (with all due deference to Mr. Hurdis) to share his opinion 

 as to the proper local name for P. ohscurus being Pemblyco or Pemlico,. 

 and further to believe that the Cow-koes or Cahows of old were of a 

 larger species, probably Manx Shearwaters (P. anglorum). This, after 

 all, is pure conjecture and of doubtful interest to any but Bermudians 

 themselves ; still I venture to mention the facts in the hope that some 

 more (conclusive historical evidence may be forthcoming. 



Puffi,nus opisthomelas (Coues): Black-vented Shearwater. On the 1st 

 May, 1877, Mr. Bartram obtained a bird sitting on its eg^ on a rocky 

 islet in Castle Harbor, which, from its measurements and admixture of 

 black feathers with the white of the under tail-coverts, may be refera- 

 ble to the variety or species P. opisthomelas; though, as I know nothing 

 of this bird and am ignorant of its synonymy, I have not thonght it 



