4 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIOlSrAL, MUSEUM vol.81 



ave Island. The following day a number of live iguanas were ob- 

 tained for the National Zoological Park, and studies were made that 

 might be used subsequently in preparing a habitat group of these 

 interesting animals. The native fishermen were much afraid of these 

 great lizards, but said that they were easily captured by putting rum 

 in hollows in the rocks, where the iguanas would drink it and become 

 helpless. The six obtained were taken by hand, the dangerous 

 attributes of these animals being entirely imaginary. That evening 

 th«^, party sailed for Port au Prince. Miscellaneous collecting con- 

 tinued in that vicinity until the Esperanza set sail for Miami on May 

 24, and Mr. Perrygo left for New York on the steamship Ancon on 

 May 28. 



The exjDedition was highly successful in its objective of making 

 collections on remote islands, and the specimens obtained, particu- 

 larly the series of birds and reptiles, form valuable additions to the 

 Haitian collections of the United States National Museum. 



The success of the work was due largely to the initiative of Lee 

 H. Parish, who was responsible for the organization of the party 

 and whose skill as a navigator and resourcefulness under the difficult 

 conditions of travel in waters remote from ordinary facilities made 

 possible the scientific investigation of a number of little-known locali- 

 ties. Mr. Parish, in addition to these responsible duties, assisted con- 

 stantly in the zoological work, both in collecting and in the prepara- 

 tion of specimens. 



DISCUSSION OF THE AVIFAUNA 



The collection from Haiti included skins of the black-throated 

 green warbler {Dendroica virens virens) and the black- whiskered 

 vireo {Vireo olivaceus harbatula) as first records for Hispaniola. 

 In addition there were two forms new to science, the Navassa ground 

 dove {C olumhigallina passerina navasso.e) and the lie a Vache bull- 

 finch {Loxigilla violacea parishi). With these the total list of birds 

 known for Hispaniola is increased to 219. 



Great interest attaches to the forms of birds that occur on the off- 

 lying islands, as it frequently happens that common species on the 

 larger land mass do not occur on its small dependencies. As indi- 

 cated in the introductory statement of this report, the present expe- 

 dition made special attempt to collect on small offshore islands, and 

 it met with good success in these efforts. The birds recorded from 

 certain of the islands will now be considered in more detail. 



GONAVE ISLAND 



The bird life of Gonave Island has been carefully studied by Dr. 

 W. L. Abbott, with later collections from visits by A. J. Poole and 

 W. M. Perrygo, traveling for the National Museum, so that Wetmore 



