60 Col. H. W. Feilden on the 



Hab. Bogota. The type is in the British Museum. 



I have never seen an example of D. murinus, but^ from 

 descriptions of the bird, I have no doubt it will prove to be 

 a nearer ally of the present species than is D. olivinus, in so 

 far as the top of the head, as well as tlie occiput, is red in 

 the male. 



V. — On the Breeding of Puffinus auduboni ia the Island of 

 Barbados. By Colonel H. W. Feilden. 



It is with considerable pleasure that I am able to add another 

 breeding species to the very limited recorded list of the 

 avifauna of Barbados. 



The species is Puffinus auduhon'i *, and it breeds on an iso- 

 lated rock off the north shore of the island. I may safely say 

 that this fact has hitherto been generally unknown, and that 

 the knowledge that some species of sea-bird visited the island 

 of Barbados for the purposes of incubation was confined to 

 a few individuals in the parish of St. Lucy, off which the 

 Bird-rock lies. Before leaving England for the West Indies, 

 I had been reading Hughes^ s ' Natural History of Barbados ' 

 (London, 1750), wherein, at page 251, the following passage 

 occurs: — ''The several cavities in the cliffs facing the sea are 

 proper dens for Racoons, and such wild beasts. They are like- 

 wise a place of safety for several Sea-birds to breed in, especi- 

 ally at a place called the Bird-rock, where are to be seen at 

 most times of the year, a great many of their nests and eggs. 

 The young ones are sharp-billed, wet-footed, and very fat, but 

 taste fishy. The old ones are seldom or ever seen in the 

 day-time, for they are obliged to range to so great a distance 

 from the shore for food, that they have been seen scores of 

 miles from land.^' 



I had hardly dared to hope that after the lapse of nearly 

 one hundred and forty years, in the most populous and highly 

 cultivated island in the world, anything more than the 

 tradition of the feathered inhabitants of Bird-rock would 

 * [The specimens sent home by Colonel Feilden have been determined 

 by Mr. Salvin as Puffinus auduboni, Finsch : Ridg-w. Man. N. A. B. p. GO. 

 —Ed.] 



