266 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



"It is very rugged, the interior of tlie island "being one mountain 

 cliain with its offsets, and there is a less area of fertile land than in St. 

 Vincent. The valleys that make up from the coast, and the levels lying 

 between the hills and some portions of the coast, however, are very fer- 

 tile. It is not a promising island for ornithological research, though at 

 fii'st glance it would seem to be able to afford rich reward. 



" The moiuitains in the interior are volcanic; there are several extinct 

 craters, in the largest of which is an attractive lake, 2,000 feet above the 

 sea; it is 2^ miles in circumference and has an average depth of 14 

 feet. St. Georges, the only i»ort of any size, lies on the southwestern 

 coast, and is highly picturesque in location, but not so attractive in the 

 eyes of an ornithologist as it might be ; the surrounding hiUs are rocky, 

 and those not rocky are cultivated, so that they are inhabited by very 

 few birds. 



"Across the bay from the town, on the borders of the 'lagoon,' which 

 is fringed with mangroves, may be found a few water birds, and in the 

 sloping pastures at the foot of the high hills a small variety of the smaller 

 birds. 



" The southern point. Point Saline, is an excellent place for the migra- 

 tory birds : plover, duck, etc., which visit this island in quantities, and 

 some points on the eastern coast are equally good. 



"I spent two weeks m and near St. Georges and St. Davids, and two 

 weeks in the mountains and on the eastern coast. 



"As this island is so near the South American continent, being but 

 100 miles from Trinidad and 70 miles from Tobago, I expected to find 

 some forms of animal life different from th(5se in the northern islands 

 among the resident species. But with the exception of now and then a 

 straggler being blown to these shores, there is no species (if we may ex- 

 cept two) that would indicate proximity to a great tropical countrj'. 



" Some species common in the northern islands, from Guadeloupe to 

 St. Vincent, have disappeared, and in one or two cases their places taken 

 by others ; notably is this the case in the instance of Eidam])is jugularis 

 beiQg replaced by Glaucls Mrsutiis. 



" There is no parrot as in St. Vincent, and the two species of thrush, 

 locally known as the ' grives ' — Margarops dcnsirostris and M. montanus — 

 do not exist here. Other minor differences occur, which will be apparent 

 ui>on examining the catalogue. 



" The most interesting fact regarding the higher order of animal life, 

 is the existence here of an armadillo, once common in all the Lesser An- 

 tilles, but now extinct in all the northern islands. 



"A species of monkey also lives in the deep forests of the mountains; 

 a skin of one has been sent to the Museum. 



" The most interesting portion is undoubtedly that of the mountains 

 immediately adjacent to the mountain lake; but, if it were possible for 

 a naturalist to spend an entire year ia the island, doubtless the more 

 southern portion would reward him better in species : for the season of 



