No. 10.— The Resident Birds of Guadeloupe. 



By G. K. Noble. 



Introduction. 



During the summer and early fall of 1914 I visited, in the interest 

 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Guadeloupe in the French 

 West Indies. 



On the way and for the first few days while on Guadeloupe I was 

 fortunate in having the company of Mr. F. R. Wulsin. We had 

 several opportunities to make short ornithological excursions on some 

 of the islands to the north of Guadeloupe. On the homeward voyage 

 the ship was detained at St. Croix and several days were spent there 

 in the field. 



I remained on Guadeloupe from June 22nd to September 12th. 

 In order to cover all the main regions of Guadeloupe and Grande 

 Terre I spent four days or more in each of the following localities: — 

 Pointe a Pitre, Goyave, Basse Terre, Ste. Claude, the Soufriere, Vieux 

 Habitants, Cluny, Ste. Rose, Soffire, and St. Francois. My interest 

 was chiefly in the land-birds and I was fortunate in finding all of the 

 existing resident species. 



Guadeloupe possesses a local museum, the Musee L'Herminier, 

 in the town of Pointe a Pitre. Dr. F. L'Herminier was undoubtedly 

 the greatest naturalist who ever lived on Guadeloupe; a student of 

 the famous Blainville, he applied the best methods of his time to the 

 study of Antillean bird life. Unfortunately in the great Pointe a Pitre 

 fire of 1844, all his work on Guadeloupe birds was swept away. Lafres- 

 naye (Rev. zool., 1844, p. 168) in describing some of L'Herminier's 

 specimens comments briefly on this disaster: — 



"Quoique nous eussions deja ces trois especes, cjue nous devions a 

 I'obligeance de M. L'Herminier, avant I'affreuse catastrophe de la 

 Pointe-a-Pitre, nous ne les avions pas publiees parce qu'il nous avait 

 confie son projet de publier une Faune ornithologique de la Guade- 

 loupe. Depuis lors, il nous y a autorise, tout en nous apprenant que 

 loin de renoncer a son projet, et malgre la perte immense pour lui de 

 tons ses oiseaux, soit montes, soit dans I'alcool, de tous ses livres et de 

 toutes ses notes, il s'occupe avec une nouvelle ardeur de le mettre a 

 execution." 



