CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF SAN DOMINGO.* 



BY GEORGE K. CHERRIE 



Under instructions to make a collecting trip to San Domingo 

 during the winter of 1894-95, I embarked from New York, Decem- 

 ber 22, on a Clyde boat for the tedious voyage to Santo Domingo 

 City, off which port I arrived January 8, 1895. 



. Steaming slowly into the mouth of the Ozama River we pass 

 close under the historic frowning walls of the old fort built to guard 

 and protect the "new city" and where in 1500 Columbus and his 

 brother Bartholomew ^ere imprisoned. Following the river front 

 and joined to the fort is the old wall of the city almost intact. Then 

 loom up, desolate and forsaken, the gray walls of the one time palace 

 of luxury, the seat of elegance, of oriental ease and refinement, the 

 home of Diego Columbus today overgrown with moss and lichens. 

 Small trees and shrubs have found a foot-hold in the crevices of roof 

 and wall; pigeons find a nesting place and hoards of bats a safe 

 retreat from the light of day. 



Custom inspection of my outfit was rather tedious and annoying 

 but I was finally safely on the island with my belongings. Prepara- 

 tions for the interior journey began. Coffee, sugar, rice and beans 

 constituted the bulk of the provisions. Once outside of the city, there 

 are no roads and everything must be transported by pack animals or on 

 men's backs. I purchased two horses. I secured the services of an 

 old negro as guide and servant. On the morning of the igth of Janu- 

 ary I was off for the hills. My guide walked behind driving the ani- 

 mal loaded with the provisions, cooking utensils, blankets and ham- 

 mock. I rode ahead seated between two small trunks containing 

 light wooden trays for the bird skins with cotton, skinning tools and 

 gun supplies, which were strapped to my own animal. I followed a 

 northwesterly direction, on leaving San Domingo, over the hills and 

 through the little old historic town of San Carlos, just beyond the 

 walls of the capital, and then over a smooth road without hills but 



* I would wish here to express my sincere thanks for many favors received at the hands 

 of Archibald H. Grimke, American Consul in San Domingo, a gentleman who holds America and 

 Americans' interests paramount, who seems to feel he represents a great nation and a great people 

 and sustains the dignity of that people by a manly self-respect and dignity commanding the highest 

 esteem from his own countrymen and from those among whom he is thrown. 



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