Natural History. 361 



is held that Taxus more closely recalls Gordaites than any other 

 known plant, there being reason to suppose both are descended 

 from the same primitive stock, and that Cordaianthus thus gives 

 some idea of one of the stages passed through by the female 

 flower of Taxoidese in the course of its evolution towards the 

 reduced and specialized forms of the present da}^. g. r. w. 



IV. Natural History. 



1. The Cahow : Discovery in Bermuda of fossil bones and 

 feathers supposed to belong to the extinct bird called " Cahow " 

 by the early settlers. — In a letter just received from Mr. Louis 

 Mowbray, who is now in charge of the new Marine Biological 

 Station and Aquarium at Bermuda, he tells of his recent very 

 important and interesting discovery of remains of the myste- 

 rious cahow, which the writer, in several former articles,* has 

 considered an extinct bird, unknown to zoologists, while others 

 have tried. to identify it with the shearwater (Puffinus obscurus 

 or Auduboni), which still breeds at Bermuda in small numbers. 



The following is an extract from Mr. Mowbray's letter : — I 

 have found the bones of the Cahow, together with feathers 

 answering identically the description of " russet color and white " 

 [the colors mentioned by the writers of 1612-20]. The bird is 

 closely related to the petrels. The beak is sharp, hooked. The 

 cnemial process of the tarsus is well developed ; more so than in 

 Puffinus obscurus, of which I have also taken several pairs. 

 The bones found certainly* do not belong to the shearwaters. I 

 have found the beak and bones of the shearwater in the same 

 locality and they can easily be separated, one from the other. I 

 found the bones in a cave, some of them buried three inches 

 deep in the calcite of the floor, which will testify as to their age. 

 The feathers are imbedded from -^ to ,|- of an inch under the 

 surface of a large stalactite. By holding the stalactite to the 

 light one can see five or six feathers imbedded, with the shafts 

 of the feathers all pointing one way downward. 



The cave is a new one, found only a few months ago. I had 

 the pleasure of exploring it thoroughly and found many skele- 

 tons. When the different bones are selected, I think almost the 

 whole skeleton can be made up. Measuring the stained portion 

 of the snow-white calcite floor, around the bones, I should say 

 that the bird was about twelve to fourteen inches long, not more. 

 I hope the finding of these remains may interest you 



* The Story of the Cahow, the mysterious extinct bird of the Bermudas. 

 Popular Science Monthly, lx, pp. 28-30, 1901 ; and Zoology of Bermuda, vol. I. 



The Cahow of the Bermudas, an extinct bird. Annals and Mag. Nat. 

 Hist.,ix, pp. 26-31, 1902. 



The Bermuda Islands, vol. i, ed. 2, p. 249, Supplement, p. 572, 1907. 



For the adverse view, H. B. Tristram, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ix, Jan. 

 1902. 



