222



Sydney Porter—Bermudan Notes



trot and as one gets nearer they scurry out of the way with a peculiar

undulating flight. It is then that one sees the bright chestnut flights

which are ordinarily hidden from view. An aviculturist whom I met

on the islands told me that owing to the abundance of cats these

delightful little birds are being greatly reduced in numbers. These

Doves, in common with all the other birds on the islands, are protected

but I think something should be done to reduce the number of cats

which prey on the native birds.


This little Dove is the only endemic bird which can be classed as a

true species as it differs from the other Ground Doves in being much

duller in colour and lacking the scallop-like markings which the nearly

related Ground Doves of the West Indies possess. This bird is double

brooded like most of the Bermudan birds and builds a very slight nest

at a moderate height in the cedar trees.


In keeping with most of the West Indian islands, Bermuda possessed,

before the advent of Man to its shores, a peculiar Petrel which appears

to have nested in great numbers in holes burrowed in the shallow soil

on most of the islands. In common with the “ Diablo tin ” ( Pterodroma

hasitata) of Dominica, Martinique, and Guadaloupe, this bird was

slaughtered in huge numbers for human consumption and like the

former bird soon became apparently extinct. This bird was known on

the islands as the “ Cahow ” from its cry. Several early writers on

the history of Bermuda mention it and give fairly accurate descriptions

of it. Many years ago a Mr. Mowbray, whom I had the pleasure of

meeting, discovered at a depth of about 20 feet below the surface some

semi-fossilized skeletons of two of these birds, obviously adult and

young, possibly a bird which was sheltering its almost adult young when

there was a fall of the soft coral sand in its nesting-hole which buried

both birds. I saw both these skeletons at Mr. Mowbray’s house. The

same gentleman had the distinction of discovering an adult bird of

this supposedly extinct race : he found the bird sheltering under a

crevice in the rocks after a storm of exceptional severity. This bird

is now the type specimen of the species and is in an American Museum.


The first birds seen as we approached Bermuda were the Yellow¬

billed Tropic Birds ( Phcethon Upturns catesbyi). There were large

numbers of these birds flying round the coral rocks, where they were



