124 TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO BULLETIN. [XX. 2. 36- 4. 



The loss of the Leotaud collection of birds in the burning of the 

 Victoria Institute in March 1920 will be a great blow to the study of 

 the Island's birds, particularly to local naturalists who wish to 

 identify birds seen in the field. It is to be hoped that steps will be 

 taken soon to start a new collection. This could soon be done with 

 most of the commoner species, but many of the species found by 

 Leotaud may never again be seen in the island, and it will need 

 someone with the enthusiasm and devotion of this naturanst to 

 replace the rarer forms. 



While some birds have doubtless gone never to return, other 

 newcomers may be taking their places and two birds are recorded 

 in this paper, the blue winged parakeet {Psittacula passerina Linn.) 

 and Spix's Ground Dove {Colambina griseola) to which I can find 

 no previous printed record. Both of them are now comparatively 

 common, an.i it is difficuit to believe that Leotaud could have over- 

 looked them unless they were m.uch rarer m his time. 



Many interesting problems of bird life are hinted at in the 

 following pages and there is a fascinating field of study waiting for 

 anyone who can carry on this investigation. The migration of the 

 scissors-tail fly-catcher is remarkable in that it moves at the tim.es 

 of the changes of season in temperate climates, and more or less as 

 birds which migrate from north to south and from heat to cold, in 

 spite of the fact that its range is entirely within the tropics and its 

 movement probably from east to west. 



The roosting places at which these sama birds congregate in 

 thousands each night must be an interesting sight and I have only 

 been able to indicate .roughly the position of two of them. Where 

 are the exact spots, and how many of them are there? 



The question of the two different kinds of eggs in the nest or 

 the Giouiti {Synaliaxis sp.) is still unsolved and v/e do not know if 

 the snake-skin so frequently found among the twigs forming the 

 nest of this bird is carried there by the bird itself or left ihere by 

 by the snake. 



The food of the Waders, which come to the swamps each year! 

 and delight the sportsman's heart, was generally believed to be smalil 

 crabs, snails and other water beasts. An exammation of a numoerj 

 of stomachs in October 1920 showed that in some species, caterpillarsj 

 composed over ninety per cent, of the food. 



Lastly but by no means least, the search for and study of the] 

 nesting places of the Guacharo, some deep in the forest, some in thel 

 cliffs facing the open sea, will provide interest, e ccitement and evenj 

 danger, which might attract those to whom lists of nesting places] 

 and tables of stomach contents have not the same a d al. 



