AQ THE BIRDS OF THE BERMUDAS. 
uttering a musical ‘‘chirrup’’? the while. He used to sit under 
the table where I was writing, pecking away at my boots, and 
apparently extremely happy. I fed him on fish, and gave him 
a salt-water tub occasionally, which he thoroughly enjoyed. He 
slept a great deal during the day, and usually got behind an open 
door—the darkest place he could find—for his ‘‘siesta.”’> When 
I took him from the nest he was nearly able to fly, but still 
retained the long nestling-down of the young bird, slate-coloured 
on the head and shoulders, light brown on the under parts; the 
former soon rubbed off, but the latter was more permanent, and 
was not got rid of for some days. The nests were simple holes in 
the face of the rock—my bird had barely room to turn round in 
his. There was no unpleasant smell about the nests or young 
birds, the peculiar—and to me not disagreeable—odour of the 
Shearwater tribe being alone distinguishable by its presence. I. 
saw nothing of the old birds, who were in all probability far out at 
sea at the time. 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. Myr. 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 Harbour, by Lieut. Hopegood, 
97th Regiment. 
Podiceps cornutus, Horned Grebe.—One shot by Dr. Cole, on the 
24th November, 1846, is now in the Rev. H. B. Tristram’s 
collection. One was killed by Capt. Tolcher, 56th Regiment, near 
‘Spanish Point, on the Ist February, 1855: it was in company with 
three or four others. Mr. Bartram has two specimens of different 
‘dates. 
Podilymbus podiceps, Pied-billed Grebe; Water Witch.—Three 
are recorded in ‘‘The Naturalist in Bermuda’’—two obtained in 
‘October, 1849, and one by Maior Wedderburn, in February, 1850. 
Mr. Hurdis once found a perfect skeleton of this bird by the side 
ofapond. Tolerably abundant in the winter of 1874-5, especially 
at Trott’s and Basden’s Ponds. The way in which these birds can 
sink under water, without leaving a ripple behind, is truly mar- 
vellous, and entitles them fully to the name ‘‘ Water Witch.”’ 
“They are very shy, but I once surprised one asleep on a flat stone, 
-as much to my astonishment as to the bird’s. All the specimens 
I saw were in immature plumage, wanting the black bar on the 
‘bill and the black throat-patch. 
Mergulus alle, Little Auk; Sea Dove.—Mr. Hurdis says, ‘‘ One of 
these birds was captured alive on the 28th January, 1850, by a 
servant of the Rev. J. U. Campbell at Ireland Island. It was 
in company with four or five others on a piece of grass-land near 
