MONOGRAPH OF THE PETRELS. 



that the bird he had known in the Bermudas, and there called the " Cahow," by the 

 fishermen, was the same as that described by the older writers, and was undoubtedly a 

 Shearwater. 



Adult male. General colour above sooty-brown, the wing-coverts like the back ; 

 primary-coverts and quills a little darker than the back, but shaded with sooty- 

 brown, the inner webs of the quills being much paler brown ; tail-feathers blackish- 

 brown ; head sooty-brown like the back, including the upper half of the lores ; 

 lower half of the lores and sides of face white, as also the upper and lower eyelids ; ear- 

 coverts dusky-brown, mottled with streaks of white, with an indistinct line of white 

 behind the eye, extending above the ear-coverts ; cheeks and under-surface of body 

 pure white, the upper breast with a patch of ashy-brown on each side ; an irregular 

 mottling of ashy or dusky-brown feathers along the sides of the neck, where the white 

 under-surface joins the brown colour of the upper-surface ; on each side of the lower 

 flanks, above the thighs, a patch of sooty-brown feathers ; under tail-coverts sooty- 

 brown, the central coverts white, with the outer webs sooty-brown, or freckled with the 

 latter colour ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white ; the lateral coverts round the 

 edge of the wing mottled with light brown, broken up on the carpal bend of the wing, 

 and not forming a distinct band ; quills dusky-brown below, lighter and more ashy- 

 brown on the inner web ; " bill lead-colour (Cory), dull horn-colour, the mandible paler 

 (P. R. Lowe) ; inner surface of tarsus opalescent, as also the webs and middle and 

 inner toe " (P. R. Lowe). Total length about 12 inches ; culmen, 1.15 ; wing, 7.9 ; tail, 

 3.4 ; tarsus, 1.6 ; middle toe and claw, 1.8. 



Adult female. Similar to the male. Total length about 12 inches ; culmen, 1.1 ; 

 wing, 8.0 ; tail, 3.3 ; tarsus, 1.65 ; middle toe and claw, 1.9. 



The descriptions of the male and female are taken from specimens obtained by 

 Mr. C. J. Maynard on Andros Island in the Bahamas ; the male at Washerwoman Key 

 on the 7th of May, and the female at Green Key on the 21st of April. Both are in the 

 Gerritt Miller Collection in the British Museum. The close resemblance of the species 

 to P. obscurus renders a figure unnecessary. 



132 



