112 BULLETIN 121, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Breeding range. — Bred formerly in the Lesser Antilles (Guade- 

 loupe and Dominica). 



Range. — ^Warmer parts of the North Atlantic Ocean. 



Casual records. — Ten records for eastern North America. South 

 to Florida (Indian River, winter, 1846). West to Kentucky (Au- 

 gusta, October 4, 1898,) and Ohio (Cincinnati, October 5, 1898). 

 North to Ontario (Toronto, October 30, 1893,) and New Hampshire 

 (Pittsfield, August 30, 1893). Other records are for intermediate 

 localities. Accidental in England (Norfolk, March or April, 1850). 



PTERODROMA CAHOW (Nichols and Mowbray). 

 CAHOW. 



HABITS. 



The earlier writers on Bermuda birds had much to say about a 

 mysterious bird, now supposed to be extinct, which was very abundant 

 at one time and very well known by the earliest inhabitants as the 

 " cahow," " cowhow," or " cowkoe." Much confusion has existed as 

 to what bird these names were applied. For example Capt. Savile G. 

 Reid (1884) writes, under the name Pufflnus ohscurus: 



Siuce Mr. Hurdis, in 1849, identified the " cahow " or " cowhow " of the his- 

 torians of Bermuda with this interesting species, very few observations have 

 been made on the few pairs still frequenting the islands. That the poor 

 " cahow " has almost ceased to breed there is a melancholy fact. Formerly it 

 was plentiful, and even within the last fifteen years, Mr. Bartram informs me, 

 there were many nests in the isolated rocks, both on the north and south shores. 

 On the north side the bird was formerly called " pemblyco " or " pimlico," 

 probably from its call note, while on the southern shores the name " cahow " 

 or " cowhow " was applied to it. I found two nests in 1874, each containing a 

 single young bird, one of which I kept alive for about six weeks, intending to 

 send him to the Zoological Society's Gardens in London ; but before I got an 

 opportunity of doing so the unfortunate bird died. An egg of this species, kindly 

 presented to me by Mr. Bartram, is, of course, pure white ; it has a considerable 

 polish and is about the size of a bantam's, but less elongated in form. Mr. 

 Bartram was good enough also to present me with two skins of the adult bird. 

 He tells me that the statement made by the old historians of Bermuda as to 

 the capture of the " cahow " at night is no exaggeration, for on visiting an 

 island one night where there were several pairs breeding he quickly caught 

 half a dozen of them, the stupid things settling on his body as he lay on the 

 ground and allowing themselves to be taken in his hand. I know of only one 

 instance of a " cahow " being seen on the wing in the daytime in Bermudian 

 waters ; this was in August, 1874, when one was shot crossing Castle Harbor 

 by Lieutenant Hopegood, 97th Regiment, but I believe they are occasionally 

 observed by fishermen on the south side. 



With reference to local names " cahow " or " cowhow," and " pemblyco " or 

 " pimlico," Mr. Bartram writes to me on the 19tli July, 1878 : "About twelve 



