HAITIAN CONTRASTS AND BEGINNINGS 



recently, there has been very Httle thorough 

 investigation of the fauna of this island. Dr. 

 Eckmann., who is here at present, has made a 

 remarkable collection of plants. He has just 

 returned from a 9,000 foot mountain with one 

 hundred and fifty specimens, of which thirty -five 

 are new to science. Dr. Noble has had good luck 

 with reptiles, and Watson has collected butterflies. 

 But since Cory, forty -two years ago, wrote of the 

 birds, there have been no observations of their 

 life histories and I am sure that thorough search 

 would reveal more than one new species. ' There 

 is not a single list of Haitian fresh-water or marine 

 fish, so, although only five days from New York, 

 in this respect the island is a virgin field. 



Then there are the new ruins which have just 

 been located by airplane; the strange Aztec-like 

 clay heads of Cabrite, and the fossil-filled caves of 

 Saint Michel, in which the barest beginnings of 

 excavations have been made. My part thus far 

 has been to check up all these interesting fields, 

 to locate the best reefs, and the most convenient 

 means of transportation and living. 



Two hours of peering through a water bucket, 

 only a mile from Port-au-Prince, revealed an under- 

 sea world peopled by the tiniest of fish and by 

 giant sharks. I saw heads of coral as large as auto- 

 mobiles, and sea-fans waving gracefully sometimes 

 many feet in height. Soon scores of scientists and 



' Curiously enough, since this was written, Dr. Wetmore has confirmed 

 my prophecy with H aplocichla swalesi, a splendid new mountain thrush. 



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