Letters, Extracts, Notices, ^c. 351 
abundant, and easily captured — so easily, in fact, that it 
quickly became extinct. After quoting many extracts from 
old authorities on the subject, Mr. Verrill comes to the 
conclusion that the *' Cahow " was a " web-footed sea-bird," 
not a Shearwater nor a Petrel of any kind, but possibly an 
Auk. It was strictly nocturnal in its habits. It came to the 
Bermudas in October to breed, and remained until June. 
It. laid its single large white egg in burrows. It was about 
the size of a Pigeon, brown above and white beneath, and 
had a strong hooked bill. Now, what was the ^* Cahow '' ? 
!5^XII. — Letters, Extracts, Notices, 8^c. 
We have received the following letters, addressed *' to the 
Editors " : — 
Sirs, — In volume iv. of the '^ Birds ^' (Fauna of British 
India, p. 278) Dr. Blanford states that he considers it almost 
certain that Jerdon and Blvth mistook the '' Knots ^^ which 
they obtained at Madras and in Calcutta for Tringa canutus, 
whereas they were really T. crassirostris. I therefore beg 
leave to draw the attention of your readers to the fact 
that I have to-day (January 16th) obtained in our Bazaar 
an undoubted Knot alive, the first that I have seen here. 
1 may also add that the specimens 1592 A & B of BlytVs 
* Catalogue ' are still in existence, and are T, canutus, as 
he said. It is evident, therefore, that this species visits the 
Indian Empire as well as T. crassirostris, though it is, of 
course, an irregular visitor, like so many others of our 
wild-fowl. 
For instance, Baer^s Pochard (Fuligula baeri), which I 
have known to be occasionally common, has been scarce 
here for some years now ; while, on the other hand, the 
Bronze-cap Teal [Eunetta falcata), formerly very scarce, has 
been arriving regularly for the last few years. This winter I 
have already obtained four specimens of the last-named Duck^ 
although the season is an excessively bad one for water-fowl 
of all kinds. I have recorded many previous occurrences of 
