32 PROCELLARIIDiE. 



much, but remain most of the time quiet upon the surface 

 of the water. I did not see one on the banks, and never 

 saw them dive or apparently catching any fish, though they 

 are often in company with Boobies and different species of 

 Terns, all of which are actively employed in fishing. About 

 half-way from Andros to the Bank I saw, on the 26th April, 

 a flock of Boobies, Sooty Terns, Noddies, Cabot's Tern, and 

 the Dusky Petrel, that covered the surface of the water or 

 hovered over it for an extent of at least a square mile. Their 

 number must have been enormous." 



At the Bermudas, where the Dusky Shearwater was 

 formerly plentiful, and was known by the name of ' Cahow ' 

 as well as ' Pimlico,' it has, according to Capt. S. G. Eeid 

 (Zool. 1877, p. 491), almost ceased to breed. Capt. Eeid 

 found two nests in 1874, each containing a single young 

 bird, which he describes as nearly ready to fly, but still re- 

 taining the long nestling-down, slate-coloured on the head 

 and shoulders, light brown on the underparts ; the former 

 soon rubbed oif, but the latter was more permanent, and 

 was not got rid of for some days. One of these birds, which 

 he kept alive for about six weeks, was remarkably tame, 

 waddling awkwardly after his owner about the house and 

 garden, feeding on fish and sleeping throughout the day in 

 the darkest place it could find. So thoroughly nocturnal is 

 this species that Capt. Reid is aware of only one instance 

 of its being seen on the wing in Bermudian waters. Mr. 

 Bartram told him that the statement made by the old his- 

 torians 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 them- 

 selves to be taken in his hand. 



The Dusky Shearwater appears to have a wide oceanic 

 range, both in the Atlantic and the Pacific. Mr. Osbert 

 Salvin has specimens from Montserrat in the West Indies, 

 New Zealand, and the Galapagos Islands on the west coast of 

 South America ; examples from Australia are in the British 



