676 A. E. Verrill—The Bermuda Islands. 
the rubbish heaps about the old forts on Castle Island, but though 
we found numerous bones of fishes, hogs, etc., and a few of birds, 
none of them belong to the cahow. But probably the deposits that 
we excavated were of too late a date, for the Castle Island forts were 
again garrisoned during the war of 1812. (See pp. 462, 463.) 
We were, much to our regret, unable, for lack of time, to dig for 
the bones of the cahow on Cooper’s Island. Much of the land there 
is now cultivated. The loose ground is full of the holes of two 
species of land crabs. One of these is a very large species ( Cardi- 
soma Guanhumi), whose holes may easily have served the cahow 
for nesting places in early times, 
The chances of finding bones of the cahow would probably be 
much better on Coopers Island than elsewhere, judging by the 
above quoted narratives of Governor Butler and Mr. Hughes. 
The soil of calcareous sand on these islands is admirably adapted 
for the long preservation of bones and shells. Therefore it is rea- 
sonable to expect that some fortunate party may yet discover the 
skeleton of a cahow, by which its real nature may be determined. 
That its identification with the shearwater or “pimlico” by Mr. 
Hurdis was an unfortunate error, seems absolutely certain. The 
latter differs in size, color, structure, manner and time of nesting, 
and other habits, flavor of flesh and eggs. 
It even seems improbable that the cahow belonged to the petrel 
family. It appears to me more probable that it was allied to the 
auks (Alcidie), many of which burrow in the ground and lay white, 
edible eggs. The northern auks have edible flesh and often a strong 
hooked bill. But no existing species breeds so far south, nor do 
they breed in winter. The cahow may have spent the summer in 
the southern hemisphere; or it may have been a localized pelagic 
species, coming to the land only for breeding purposes. 
Known Characteristics of the Cahow. 
The peculiarities of this bird, so far as known, can be briefly sum- 
marized as follows : 
1. The cahow is an extinct web-footed sea-bird, unknown to ornith- 
ologists. It rapidly became extinct about 285 years ago, as the direct 
result of the occupation by the earliest settlers of the islands on 
which it bred. 
2. It was not a shearwater, nor like any other member of the 
petrel family. It may have been related to the auks (Alcidz), some 
