Shufeldt: Birds from Bermuda. 365 



^strelata vociferans,'- sp. nov. 



(Extinct.) 



[" Cahow " ; Bermudan Cahow ; Noisy Petrel.] 



As set forth on previous pages of the present memoir, the material 

 upon which this new species is based is remarkably abundant, for 

 which science can thank the painstaking labors of Mr. Edward Mc- 

 Gall, who collected it in the Bermuda caves. 



It has long been a question among ornithologists as to whether the 

 famous "Cahow" was a Shearwater (" Puffinus obscitnts" ?) or a 

 Petrel (^strelata). In so far as my observation carries me, there 

 is at least one character in the skeleton by means of which we can, 

 with certainty, distinguish from each other these two different kinds 

 of birds. This character is seen in the form of the cncmial process 

 of the tibiofarsus. In the genus Puffinus — and possibly in some of 

 its near allies — the cnemial process of the tibiotarsus is conspicuously 

 elongate, as we see it in the Grebes and Loons ; while in the Petrels 

 it is notably shorter, with rounded superior margin. These differ- 

 ences are well shown in the bones figured on Plate XXVII (figs. Ii6- 

 125, inclusive). Judging from this character, too, such forms- as 

 Pelecanoides urinatrix and ProccUaria cooki are more closely related 

 to the Petrels than to the Shearwaters of the genus Puffinus (see 

 Plate XIX, fig. 20, and Plate XX, fig. 24). Judging from this char- 

 acter alone, there is no question but that the "' Cahow " of the Ber- 

 muda Islands was an JEstrelata and not a Puffimis. This fact is 

 sustained by other osteological as well as external characters found 

 in the representatives of the two genera in question. For example, 

 both the horny sheaths to the mandible, as well as those parts in the 

 dried skulls when deprived of the sheaths, are positively diagnostic 



12 ^strelata, the generic name for these petrels, is here retained, as it is 

 so spelled in the A. O. U. Check-list. Nevertheless, it is incorrect, and per- 

 petuates a blunder in orthography, for which Charles Lucien Bonaparte is 

 responsible. More correctly, the word should be spelled CEstrelata. Prince 

 Bonaparte would be highly complimented were it possible for him to know 

 that an ornithological committee of high standing, in the twentieth century, 

 stood, in cold blood, for what was probably a lapsus calami of his. 



Vociferans (sp. name), Latin: the participle vocifcrans from vocifero (vox, 

 gen. vocis, voice + f£>'0, I bear) ; hence, noisy, vociferous ; here bestowed 

 upon this bird as -it was known in life to be a very noisy species. 



