62 BULLETIN 15 5, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Bond saw it near Inagua Island to the northward. These are the 

 only pertinent records. For the statement of Godman 18 that it 

 breeds on " San Domingo " we find no basis ; we assume that Bent 19 

 followed Godman when he also included " Santo Domingo " in the 

 breeding range of this species. 



Audubon's shearwater nests in the Bahamas and may be expected 

 to occur regularly off the northern coasts of both republics, mainly 

 well out at sea. It is possible that careful exploration in the group 

 of islands known to the Haitians as Les Sept Freres and to the 

 Dominicans as Los Siete Hermanos, may reveal the species as a 

 nesting bird. 



This shearwater is sooty black above and white below with tubular 

 nostrils and sharply hooked bill. It measures about 325 mm. in 

 length, with the wing from 195 to 203 mm. long. The flight is 

 smooth and graceful, performed often by sailing with stiffly spread 

 wings. On land the bird is not able to stand erect. 



PTERODEOMA HASITATA (Knhl) 

 BLACK-CAPPED PETREL 



Procellaria hasitata Kuhl, Beitr. Zool. Vergl. Anat., 1820, p. 142 ("Mers de 

 l'Inde"). 



Diablotm, Buffon, Hist. Nat. Ois., vol. 9, 1783, p. 335 ("Saint-Domingue"). 



JEstrelata hasitata, Coby, Cat. West Indian Birds, 1892, p. 84 (Haiti). — 

 Saivin, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 25, 1896, p. 403 (Haiti, specimen). — Godman, 

 Mon. Petrels, pt. 3, 1908, p. 186, pi. 49 (specimen from Haiti figured). 



Pterodroma hasitata, Moltoni, Att. Soc. Ital. Scienz. Nat., vol. 68, 1929, pp. 

 307-308 (Moca, specimen). 



Early record for the black-capped petrel for this area is based 

 upon the skin of an adult in the British Museum received from 

 J. Hearne and marked as from Haiti. It may be noted that at a 

 meeting of the Zoological Society of London on July 14, 1835 John 

 Gould exhibited "a collection of skins of Birds, formed in Haiti 

 by J. Hearne, Esq.," that contained sixteen species. 20 The petrel is 

 not, however, specifically mentioned. Godman gives a colored plate 

 taken from the British Museum specimen, and says regarding it 

 "it was originally presented to the Zoological Society by Mr. J. 

 Hearne, and is believed to have come from Hayti." In addition 

 to this Buffon has quoted a statement from Labat which attributes 

 the diablotin to " Saint-Domingue." There may be mentioned also an 

 excellent water color drawing of this species in a portfolio of 

 paintings by M. de Rabie, which we have examined through the 

 courtesy of Messrs. Wheldon and Wesley, in which a specimen is 



18 Monograph Petrels, Part 2, March, 1908, p. 130. 

 "U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 121, 1922, p. 76. 

 »Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1835, p. 105. 



