54' 



rare Petrel, says (I. c.) that he does not know of their being found in any other island of the 

 Antilles, except on Guadeloupe and Dominica, whither they resort for the purpose of nidifi- 

 cation. He states that they are entirely nocturnal in their habits, and when disturbed and 

 turned out of their hiding-places in the daytime they are completely dazed and fly up against 

 any thing that may be in their way. They feed at night on fish, and during the daytime hide 

 in holes in the mountains like rabbits. When flying about, they utter cries as if calling and 

 replying to each other. 



They appear late in September, and are then found in pairs, each pair in a separate hole. 

 They remain until the end of November, when they disappear until January. On reappearing 

 they inhabit separate holes until March, when two young ones are found in the hole with the 

 female. These little ones are covered with soft down, and are yellow like Goslings ; they are in 

 very good condition, being literally lumps of fat. Late in May they are able to fly ; and one then 

 loses sight of them until the end of September. Their flesh is blackish, and smells somewhat 

 of fish, though it is good and nourishing. The young are esteemed a great delicacy, but are 

 too fat. 



Pere Labat gives (pp. 110, 111) a long account of the mode in which these birds are caught, 



and remarks that they would have been exterminated long previously were it not for the difficulty 



in catching them, as they take refuge in the most inaccessible places. He describes the mountain 



as being honeycombed with the holes made by these birds, and says that they are caught with a 



long stick having a crook at the end. A dog is employed to examine the hole ; and as soon as he 



finds that it is tenanted he commences to scratch : but he must be called off at once ; for if the 



entrance to the hole should be damaged the birds will not use it again. So soon as a hole is 



found to be tenanted the stick is inserted until it touches the bird, which generally takes hold 



of it, and allows itself to be drawn to the entrance ; but as soon as it is brought to daylight 



it will go back, unless prevented by placing the foot at the entrance to the hole, when the bird 



will throw itself on its back to defend itself with beak and claws ; and it may then be caught and 



killed. Should the bird not grasp the stick, it is drawn out by twisting the stick about until one 



gets hold of it with the crook. In one afternoon four negroes who accompanied Pere Labat 



caught 138, a Creole 43, and he himself 17, making a gross total of 198. In vol. ii. p. 443, 



Pere Labat gives a long and most amusing account of a discussion he had with a friend, a 



Protestant, who insisted that this bird could not possibly be reckoned as being " fish " diet, and 



eaten on fast-days, whereas the pere held that, as he was permitted by his clerical superiors to 



eat it on these days, it could not be really any thing else, though his own common sense evidently 



showed him that he had the worst of the argument, in which, however, he could not be prevailed 



upon to admit himself worsted. Lafresnaye, who identifies (/. c.) the Diable or Diablotin of 



Pere Labat with the Procellaria diabolica of l'Herminier, says that there are two distinct 



species — one arriving late in September and nesting in December, and the other differing 



only in size, and not in plumage, being rather smaller, arriving at another season, and nesting 



in the same places, but at a different altitude. The one of these is in Guadeloupe called the 



" Petrel des hauts," and the other " Petrel des bas." 



I do not possess an example of this rare bird, and have only examined the single specimen 

 in the British Museum. The description of the adult bird is copied from Professor Newton's 



6f2 



