276 BIRDS OF BERMUDA. 
time (say between 200 and 300 years ago): ‘There was a great variety 
of fowl, both wild and tame, such as Hawks of all sorts, Storks, Herons, 
Bitterns, Ospreys, Cormorants, Bald-Coots, Moor-Hens, Swans, Teal, 
Snipes, Ducks, Widgeons, Sparrows, Woodpeckers, and a vast multitude 
and variety of the smaller kinds, besides Owls, Bats, and other noctur- 
nal birds. Here was likewise formerly a kind of water-fowl, peculiar 
to those islands, which used to come to land and hatch its young in 
holes and burrows of the rock like rabbits. They were in great plenty, 
and were called Cow-koes. They were easily caught, and good to eat, 
the size of aSea-mew. Our English made such havock among them 
they are become scarce. Here is likewise found the Tropic Bird and 
the “‘Pemlico.” The last is seldom seen in the day-time, and, when it is, 
it is looked upon as the unwelcome harbinger of a storm.’ 
‘““ Now my belief is that the Cow-koes of old are lost and gone long 
ago, and that the Cahow of the present day is neither more nor less than 
the old and ancient Pemlico. For, in the first place, the Cahow of this. 
day is not nearly so big as a Sea-mew; secondly, the Pemlico has never 
been lost sight of by the Bermudians, the name having been handed 
down from father to son from the earliest times to the present day; and,. 
thirdly, the habits of the old Pemlico and the Cahow of to-day corre- 
spond to a T—that is, they are seldom seen flying in the day-time, only 
at night.” 
Mr. Bartram goes on to say that on making inquiries of the people of 
Tucker’s Town, St. David’s, and Bailey’s Bay, they knew nothing of 
the Cahow, but all could tell him of the Pemlico. From the above inter- 
esting account and from the strong evidence adduced by Mr. Bartram, 
I am inclined (with all due deference to Mr. Hurdis) to share his opinion. 
as to the proper local name for P. obscurus being Pemblyco or Pemlico, 
and further to believe that the Cow-koes or Cahows of old were of a 
larger species, probably Manx Shearwaters (P. anglorum). This, after 
all, is pure conjecture and of doubtful interest to any but Bermudians. 
themselves; still I venture to mention the facts in the hope that some 
more conclusive historical evidence may be forthcoming. 
Puffinus opisthomelas (Coues): Black-vented Shearwater. On the 1st 
May, 1877, Mr. Bartram obtained a bird sitting on its egg on a rocky 
islet in Castle Harbor, which, from its measurements and admixture of 
black feathers with the white of the under tail-coverts, may be refera- 
ble to the variety or species P. opisthomelas ; though, as I know nothing 
of this bird and am ignorant of its synonymy, I have not thought it 
