PUFFINUS AUDUBONI IN THE ISLAND OF

1SS9.I

Lawrence,

Breedingof Puffiiiusaudnhoni,etc.

IQ

AN ACCOUNT OF THE BREEDING HABITvS OF PUFFINUS AUDUBONI IN THE ISLAND OF

GRENADA, WEST INDIES, WITH A NOTE ON ZENAIDA RUBRIPES.

BY GEORGE

N.

LAWRENCE.

I

HAVE

received a letter

from Mr. John G. Wells

in

which

he writes as follows: "I

had

an outing

on

Easter

Monday, and was

fortunate

enough

to procure abird

new

to ourfainia, adescription of

which

I enclose,

and

skins go

by book

post,

which

I trustwill reach

you

safely,

and

that I shall soon have the pleasure of read- ingyour decision on them."

The

birds sentprovedtobe Fufflniis aiidtiboni.

The

following letter from

Mr.

Wells, dated Grenada, April _23, 1S88, gives an account of his finding

and

procvu'ing specimens ofit whilebreed- ing, and also

some

facts connected with its life history.

"Abouteight or tenyearsagonumbersof dried birdsusedtobebrought in tothemarketatGreenvillefor sale; theywereyoungbirdsand veryfat.

The

men who

soldthem saidthey were theyoung of the 'Diablotin,'and were caughtinholes, onasmall island tothe eastward called Mouchoir

Qiiarre. Iendeavored toprocurealiveone but withoutavail, andin fact somanj' improbablestoriesweretold concerningthis bird, that I looked upon the 'Diablotin'as a myth,and concluded that the dried birdswere theyoungofsomespeciesof Gull.

My

interest inthematterhas,however, beenrecently revived.

On

Easter

Monday

last (2nd April, 1S8S) Ipaid a visit to asmall isletcalledLabaye Rock, about a mile off the Port of Greenville, a place where I had been on

many

previous occasions.

On

exploring theRock, ayoungbirdwas discovered in a hole under a stone; itwascovered withdown; in fact itseemed like a ball offat en- closedin down.

One

of theboatmenpronouncedittobeayoung'Diablo- tin'; this,as 3'ou

may

suppose,caused

me

to

make

athoroughsearch,with the happyresultthat 1foundan adultbirdwithayoung one in onehole, and afull-grownfemaleand one^^•g inanotherhole. Thebirdson being broughtoutintothelightappearedtobequite foolish,andbeyonda feeble attemptto bite seemed tomake noefforttoescape. Ikeptthem alive for

somedays; theywouldtake no food duringthe day,remaining perfectly quiet,butatnight theyfed onscraps offish, and at intervals uttered a peculiarcxyresemblingacathowl.

20

^{Lawrence,Breeding-}of

Pu^hhs

atiduboni,eic. [January

"They

^evidentlylaybutonee,gg, asonly one young wasfoundineach hole, and the eggwhich Igotwashighlyincubated; it isof a dullwhite colorand measures 2"

X

i|".

"The name

'Diablotin'in thiscaseis nottobedepended upon, as the fishermen and boatmen about here seem to apply that

name

to any strangesea birdwhich they meet.

"The

birdappears tobea Petrel,perhapsawell-knownspecies,butitis

new

tome,andIbelieve hasnotbeen noted fromthisisland. Isend you by book post the skins of an adult female and the young bird found

inthesamehole."

Dr.

Henry

Bryant found it to be abundant in the

Bahamas.

His

accounts ofitsbreeding

and

of thesizeof the

egg

agree closely withthat given

by Mr.

Wells. Itappearsto be also quite

com- mon

ⁱⁿ

Bennuda, and

severalaccounts of its capture there while breeding, inaybe found in Baird,

Brewer

aiad

Ridgway (Water

Birds of

N.

A., Vol. 11).

The

general coloring of the nestlingsent

by Mr.

Wells isdusky gray, whitish on the

abdomen.

It seems large fora bird in its

downy

stage of plumage, measuring _{9 J} inches in length.

The

adultmeasures in length (fresh) 13^ inches; ⁱⁿ

'Water

Birds of

North

America' itis stated tobe about 11 inches.

These

specimensare inthe National

Museum.

The

'Diablotin'formerly inhabiting the Island of Guadeloupe,

W.

^{I., of}

which

avery full history isgiven

by

P^re Labat, ^{in his}

'Voyage

aux Isles de I'Amerique,' published in 1724, and

com-

prisingseven quarto pages,

was

averydiflerent bird. It has been considered extincttherefor a long time, and I think has not been satisfactorily identifiedwith

any known

species.

P^re Labatgives afull andinteresting accountof its habits,the hunt (chasse) after it

on

the 'Souphriere' of Guadeloupe, with a description ofits size and

plumage

; there isalso aplate ofit.

It appears

by

^his description and the plate, that the entire

plumage was

black; the shapeof thebillintheplate isunlike that of a Petrel, but

much

resembles that of a

Raven,

but it

may

be improperly drawn.

What

the species

was

is a

problem

very desirable tobe solved.

While

breedingthey

were

constantlypursued

by

the natives for food,

when

found intheir holes there

was

no difficulty in their capture, asthey

made

no effortsto escape. It

would seem

as if finally all

were

killed

by

persistent persecution, thus being a parallelcasetothat of the Great

Auk.

1SS9.I LAWKiiNcMC,l-irccdiiigofI'll [Jill IISiiiidiihoui, etc. 21

As

thisold

work

isnotveryacccssil)lct<jstudents, Ihavetii(ni<^ht best to give the translation of a fewextracts from it.

He

says

—

"This

bird is about the size of a pullet^; its

plumage

is black; it

has the

wings

longand strong, the legs rather short, the feet like those of a duck, but furnished with strong and long claws, its billis longof a

good

inch and a half, curved, pointed, extremely hard andstrong^; it has large eyesnear the top of the head,

which

serve

them

admirablywell duringthe night,but are nearly useless in the daytime, as they cannot endure the light nor discern objects, for

when

it issurprised

by

the day outside of its retreat,

itknocksagainst anything with

which

it

comes

in contact and

finally itfalls tothe gi-ound.

"These

birds live

on

fish

which

they procure during the night atsea;

when

through with their fishing, they return tothe

moun-

tain,

where

they take ^{to their}holes like rabbits,

and

until night has

come

again do not returntothe sea.

The

^{flesh is blackish witl.}

alittle scentof fish, otherwiseit is

good and

very nourishing.

"Itbeginsto appear towards the

end

ofSeptember.

They

are then found in pairs ineach hole.

They

remain until the end of

November, when

they disappear."

He

gives a veryfulland particular account of the search after them,

and

says^:

"In

spite of the dangers and inconveniences of thishunting,

my

curiositytempted

me

to

accompany

fivenegroes."

They were

assistedin finding the birds

by

dogs, and each hunter carried a pole sevenor eight feet long with a

hook

at the end.

They

procured about

two hundred

birds; such

numbers

being obtained, easily accountsfor their extermination.

Note on Zenaida

rubripes.

I availmyselfof this opportunityto correct an error

which

oc- curred in the 'Catalogue' of

Grenada

^Birds.* I received from

Mr.

Wells a male of

Zenaida

rubripes after I

had

finished writing the catalogue.

The

account ofits receipt

and

description

was

written on a slip of paperto be inserted in the catalogue in its proper place,but

by

inadvertence it

was

put under

Engyptila

tvellsi^ p. 625, instead ofunder

Zenaida

rubripes. p. 624.

*ProcU.S.Nat.Mus.^Vol.IX,1886,p,625.