THE BIRDS OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS 51 



ornithology and contain several references to Andros. Mr. C. J. 

 Maynard, in 1884, spent some time on Andros and has published a few- 

 notes on its birds and described some new species. 1 Mr. Cory also 

 made an ornithological trip through the Bahamas, during which he 

 visited the eastern coast of Andros. The results of his work are pub- 

 lished in a well-illustrated volume entitled the "Birds of the Bahama 

 Islands." Mr. Ingraham has also visited Andros, but I have been 

 unable to find any notes by him on its avifauna. These, I believe, are 

 the only naturalists w r ho have ever honored Andros with a visit. 



As this island is separated from both Florida and Cuba by nearly 

 the same distance (about one hundred and twenty miles), the writer 

 thought that a collection of its birds might prove interesting. It may, 

 however, be well to state that the object of the visit to Andros was not 

 to make a collection of birds, and that lack of time and assistance pre- 

 vented us from obtaining larger series. Before going to Andros, some 

 time was spent on the island of New Providence, the western end of 

 which is about twenty-five miles from the nearest point of Andros. 

 There a few birds were collected, and these will be referred to in the 

 list that follows. I was accompanied during the trip by Mrs. Northrop, 

 who made notes on the occurrence of the birds, and more particularly 

 on their songs and habits ; and many thanks are due her for aid in the 

 preparation of this paper. 



We reached the northern part of Andros on March 14, 1890, and 

 left the southern end on the 3d of July, during that time sailing almost 

 completely around the island ; exploring the majority of the creeks on 

 both the east and west coasts, and passing through the bights in the 

 central part. But the greater portion of the time was spent in the vari- 

 ous negro settlements that were scattered along the eastern coast, hence 

 we had ample opportunities for observation, and for obtaining what is 

 probably a quite complete collection of the birds of the island. 



Dr. Allen has kindly annotated the list, and thanks are due to 

 him and to his assistant, Mr. Chapman, for aid in determining several 

 of the species. 



The collection includes 286 specimens; and in it are represented 

 12 orders, 27 families, 56 genera, and 74 species. Of these one, that 

 Dr. Allen has done us the honor to name Icterus northropi, is new to 

 science; and Nycticorax nycticorax ncevius is new to the Bahamas, 



1 American Exchange and Mart and Household Journal, Vol. III. 



