A SEASHORE ONE MILE UP 



period, or a little before, that the West Indies 

 were much more extensive, and connected with 

 either South or Central America, more probably 

 the latter. During this time, strange prehistoric 

 animals roamed freely over Haiti, leaving as proofs 

 today their skeletons in the caves of St. Michel 

 and other places. 



The final elevation of Haitian mountains, begun 

 twenty millenniums ago, is still going on with ex- 

 ceeding slowness, and the occurrence of frequent 

 earthquakes show that Mother Earth is far from 

 satisfied with the present subterranean conditions. 



While my work was primarily under-sea and with 

 fish, yet my atavistic ornithological impulses are 

 as strong as ever, and I knew that nothing could 

 curb my interest in Haiti and its fauna as a whole. 



I was very anxious to visit the caves at St. 

 Michel which had yielded fossil bones of birds and 

 animals of great interest. So in mid-April I 

 started with one of the aviator marines from the 

 flying field in Port-au-Prince. Added to the joy 

 of flying over this rugged island was the fact that 

 I did not have to pilot, and so for once could give 

 my whole attention to observation. 



We climbed to a mile and then streaked 

 straight across Cul-de-Sac to a pass in the moun- 

 tains, over three successive ranges, and across the 

 snaky Artibonite River to St. Michel. 



The landing field at St. Michel was such chiefly 

 in name, and we fully expected to find that the 

 natives had casually ploughed up some portion of 



99 



