THE BIRDS OBTAINED ON THE CARIBBEAN ISLANDS 



The Mary Pinchot^ while en route between Key West and Cristobal, 

 Canal Zone, made anchorages at four islands in the Caribbean Sea, 

 affording opportunity to secure natural-history specimens. With a 

 long journey to the objective in the Pacific area in contemplation, 

 stops en route were necessarily brief but yielded valuable results, 

 although necessarily only partial collections were made. The actual 

 time available was further reduced by the necessity for seeking out 

 favorable localities for birds in territory entirely new to the collector. 



Those in authority on all of the islands were kind and considerate 

 and did all they could to tender assistance. Collecting was done on 

 the west end of the island of Grand Cayman from North Cove to 

 Borden on April 16 and April IT. It was regretted that time did 

 not permit a visit to the eastern part of the island, which has greater 

 elevation, more extensive forests, and less population. It is reached 

 from the westward by poorly defined trails, and is difficult to 

 approach from the sea, except under very favorable wind conditions. 

 So far as possible, ground showing varied physical conditions was 

 visited, ranging from the edge of mangrove swamps through rough 

 brush to drier and more open plantations. 



The party arrived at Swan Island (pis. 1 and 2) the morning of 

 April 19, and spent the greater part of the day and the day following 

 there and on Little Swan Island (pi. 1). The latter is a coral up- 

 heaval quite different from the larger island, from which it is 

 separated by a narrow passage. It is probably 60 feet high and 

 very much torn, which makes travel difficult, especially as the 

 crevices are overgrown with cactus and other resistant plants. 

 Travel on the larger island was comparatively easy, since it is level 

 and largely covered by coconut groves and grassy areas. The 

 clumps of thick shrubbery usually were not large enough to cause 

 much trouble. It was interesting to see familiar migrating warblers 

 in rollicking, scattered groups making short, erratic flights from 

 bush to tree, gleaning luckless insects on their way, much as they 

 do later in the year in the northern woods. 



The island of Old Providence (pi. 2), of volcanic origin, with 

 high peaks and long ridges, is very different from and much more pic- 

 turesque than the low-lying islands previously visited. Collecting 

 was done mainly along trails back from the sea and in canyons, 

 which in the rainy period carry good-sized streams, but at this 

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