much, but remain most of the time quiet upon the surface
of the water. I did not see one on the hanks, and never
saw them dive or apparently catching any fish, though they
are often in company with Boobies and different species of
Terns, all of which are actively employed in fishing. About
half-way from Andros to the Bank I saw, on the 26th April,
a flock of Boobies, Sooty Terns, Noddies, Cabot’s Tern, and
the Dusky Petrel, that covered the surface of the water or
hovered over it for an extent of at least a square mile. Their
number must have been enormous.”
At the Bermudas, where the Dusky Shearwater was
formerly plentiful, and was known by the name of ‘ Cahow ’
as well as £ Pimlico,’ it has, according to Capt. S. G. Reid
(Zool. 1877, p. 491), almost ceased to breed. Capt. Reid
found two nests in 1874, each containing a single young
bird, which he describes as nearly ready to fly, but still retaining
the long nestling-down, slate-coloured on the head
and shoulders, light brown on the underparts; the former
soon rubbed off, hut the latter was more permanent, and
was not got rid of for some days. One of these birds, which
he kept alive for about six weeks, was remarkably tame,
waddling awkwardly after his owner about the house and
garden, feeding on fish and sleeping throughout the day in
the darkest place it could find. So thoroughly nocturnal is
this species that Capt. Reid is aware of only one instance
of its being seen on the wing in Bermudian waters. Mr.
Bartram told him that the statement made by the old historians
of Bermuda as to the capture of the ‘ Cahow ’ at
night is no exaggeration; for, on visiting an island one
night where there were several pairs breeding, he quickly
caught half a dozen of them, the stupid things settling
on his body as he lay on the ground, and allowing themselves
to be taken in his hand.
The Dusky Shearwater appears to have a wide oceanic
range, both in the Atlantic and the Pacific. Mr. Osbert
Salvin has specimens from Montserrat in the West Indies,
New Zealand, and the Galapagos Islands on the west coast of
South America ; examples from Australia are in the British
Museum; and Capt. Cook is said to have met with it on
Christmas Island in lat. 2° N., long. 158° W. In general
appearance it is similar to the Manx Shearwater, but it is
considerably smaller, the bill is much more slender, and
the tint of the upper parts more distinctly black.
The whole length of the bird, as previously mentioned,
is eleven inches; bill to the feathers on the forehead one
inch ; the nail curved and shining black, the other parts
bluish-black; the top and sides of the head, including the
eyes, the neck above, the back, upper tail-coverts, upper
surface of the tail-feathers, and the same parts of all the
wing-feathers ink black ; chin, sides of the head below the
eyes, throat, neck, breast, belly, under wing and tail-coverts
white; on the sides of the neck, at the junction of the dark
and light colour, the feathers are barred slightly; axillary
plumes white; under surfaces of the primaries blackish-
grey; darkest near the shaft of each feather, becoming
lighter in colour over the outer part of each broad inner
web ; under surface of tail-feathers uniform lead-grey; legs,
with the tarsal bones very much compressed, bluish ash-
colour, toes the same, the interdigital membranes pale
yellow when dried; irides brown.
Mr. Harcourt remarks that in the Dusky Shearwater all
the secretions are green, whereas they are yellow in the
Manx Shearwater.
VOL. IV. F