bo 
o> 
Or 
677 A. E. Verrill— The Bermuda Islands. 
of which have similar white eggs and burrowing habits, and are 
edible. 
3. It was strictly nocturnal in its habits. It flew only at night 
and made a “strange hollow and harsh howling” and a loud call, 
from which its name (cahow) was given. It came readily to persons 
imitating its note, and could then be easily taken by the hand, in the 
night. 
4. It had good powers of flight, but could also run about on the 
ground without difficulty. It was very tame and unsuspicious. 
5. It nested generally, if not always, in burrows in the soil, and 
laid a single, large, white egg, of good flavor, like a hen’s egg in 
size and taste. - 
6. It arrived at the Bermudas in October or November (old style) 
and remainéd till about the first of June (Hughes). 
7. It laid its eggs in December and January, “in the coldest 
months of the year.” In this respect it differed from all other sea- 
birds of the northern hemisphere. Therefore it probably spent its 
summer south of the equator, or else it was a local pelagic species 
that remained constantly at sea in summer, perhaps not far away. 
8. In size it was compared to a “pigeon,” to a “green plover,” 
and to a “partridge.” Therefore its egg must have been very large 
in comparison with the size of the body of the bird. The large 
number of birds said to have been eaten at a meal also indicates a 
rather small bird. 
9. It had a strong hooked bill and could bite viciously. No men- 
tion was made of its ejecting oily or other matter from its bill for 
defence, as do the petrels. 
10. Its color was “russet-brown” on the back; its quill-feathers 
were russet-brown and white ; its belly was white (Sérachy). 
In this combination of characters it differed from all known birds.* 
d.—The Pimlico or Audubon’s Shearwater. (Puffinus Auduboni 
Finsch, 1872 = P. obscurus of Hurdis and Reid.) 
The early writers refer to a nocturnal bird that they called the 
“Pimlico” (spelled pimplicoe by Butler, and pemblyco by Capt. 
Smith) from its peculiar note, helped out, as Governor Butler sug- 
* These views have also been maintained by the writer in an article on the 
Cahow in Popular Science Monthly, vol. lx, p. 22, Nov., 1901, and in Annals 
and Mag. Nat. History, vol. ix, p. 26, Jan., 1902. 
