PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL' MUSEUM. 655 



downward witli tbeir beaks as they passed, making a sdund like that 

 l)ioduced by an arrow shot into water. They invariably rose after 

 catching the fish, and, tossing- it np, dexteronsly adjusted it before 

 swallowing it. I daily saw them associated wirh black vultures soaring 

 at a great height over the ca(;tus thickets west of Porlainar. 



Family AX ATI] )^1^:. 



9. DENDROCYGNA, sp. 

 TREE DrCK. 



In the lagoou at the southeast extremity of the island, I saw a Hock 

 of a half dozen tree dncks, bnt I was nnable to approach within range. 

 They tiew off toward the mainland. 



Family AEDEID.E. 



10. GARZETTA CANDIDISSIMA (Gmelin). 



SNOWY HERON. 



The native name for all species of herons is "garza." 

 In the lagoon to the east of Porlainar, I saw herons of several kinds, 

 but obtained only this and the following. I saw other snowy herons 

 along the stagnant ]k)o1s in the bed of the stream running down from 

 El Yalle. 



11. BUTORIDES ROBINSONI, new species. 



MAKGARITAN GREEN HERON. 



Althongh I saw several ])airs of these herons among the dead man- 

 groves along the shores of the lagoon, I shot bnt one si)ecimen, as I 

 thought it was the same as our B. virescens. 



[Typc.—^lale adult, Ko. 151635, IT.S.N.M.; IVIargarita, July 7, 1895; 

 Wirt Kobiuson; collector's No. 416. Cap and lengthened occipital 

 leathers glossy bottle green, some of the feathers washed with slate; 

 si<les and back of neck slaty drab, tinged with fawn color, deeper on 

 back of neck; ear-coverts same, mixed with cinnamon; throat buffy 

 white, with a row of black spots on each side of the median line; sides 

 of throat and cheeks edged with pale cinnamon; fore neck on median 

 line (narrowly) buffy white, heavily streaked with cinnamon and darker 

 brown, and washed with fawn color; back, rump, upper tail-coverts, 

 tail (upper surface), and scapular plumes, mostly glossy light bottle 

 green, strongly washed with i>ale slate, some of the feathers entirely 

 without greenish tinge; the sca])ular plumes with pale linear shaft 

 streaks; primaries and secondaries slaty gray; tertiaries glossy light 

 bottle green; most of the tertiaries andfirstprimary narrowly edged on 

 outer webs with whitish; wing-coverts glossy light bottle green, and 

 (except primary coverts) more or less broadly bordered with buff, 



