" Cakow " of the Bermudas. 27 



been for this source of food-.supply in winter, it is probable 

 tiiat many of the early sliipwrecked crews and first settlers 

 would have died of starvation. Good accounts of the bird 

 and its habits were written by two of the party wrecked on 

 these islands with Sir George Somers in 1609. Other pub- 

 lished accounts were written by some of the earliest settlers, 

 especially by the Rev. Lewis Hughes and Governor Butler, 

 1614 to 1621. See Lefroy's ' Memorials ' and the ' Historye 

 of the Bermudaes,' by Nathaniel Butler (not by John Smith, 

 as supposed by the editor). 



The islands were settled in 1612, and in 1616 this bird 

 liad become nearly extinct, as stated by Governor Butler. 

 This was largely due to the famine of 1615, when 150 

 starving people were sent by Governor More " in the be- 

 ginning of the newe yeare " to Cooper's Island, which was 

 one of the principal breeding-places, to feed on the birds 

 and their eggs or young (for they bred in December and 

 January, when other birds could not be obtained). These 

 famished people, according to Mr. Hughes and Governor 

 Butler, were inordinately gluttonous, and killed and ate the 

 birds in vast and wasteful numbers, so that many persons soon 

 became ill, and some died of surfeit. This caused their subse- 

 quent removal to Port Royal, where they had to live largely 

 on fish ; but still they could get some of the birds from " the 

 adjacent islands." This statement indicates that the cahow 

 bred also on some of the islands in Great Sound. 



The following extracts from the ' Historye of the Ber- 

 mudaes,' by Governor Nathaniel Butler, written about 1619, 

 relates to the famine of 1615, and shows some of the causes 

 of the very rapid extermination of the birds : — 



" Whilst this Pinnace was on her way for England, 

 scarcetie and famine every day more and more prevayleinge 

 upon the sickly colony, caused the governour to look well 

 about him ; in the beginning of the newe yeare, therefore 

 (1G15), 150 persons, of the most ancient, sick, and weake, 

 wer sent into Coopers Hand, ther to be relieved by the 

 conieinge in of the sea-birds, especially the Cahowes, wher, 

 by this half hunger-starved compajiy, they are found in 

 infinite numbers, and with all so tame and amazed they are, 

 that upon the least howeteinge or noyce, they would fall 

 downe, and light upon their shoulders as they went, and leggs 

 as they satt, suffering themselves to be caught faster than 

 they could be killed. 



" Wittnesse the generall carriage and behaviour of this 

 company, who being thus arrived and gott uj) to a libertie 

 and choice of eateing as much as ihey would, how monstrous 



