158 Mr. E. C. Taylor on the Birds of the West Indies. 



and, except in the case of Humming-birds {Trochilidce), in indi- 

 viduals also. I may here mention that by the term Windward 

 Islands I mean the whole chain of islands, formerly called the 

 Lesser Antilles, lying between Trinidad and the group of small 

 islands called the Virgin Islands. Bird-collecting in these 

 islands is rather uphill work, as birds ai'e rather scarce, and it 

 is impossible (at least I found it so) to obtain any assistance 

 either in shooting or skinning them. Porto Rico is better sup- 

 phed with birds than the Windward Islands, but is, of course, 

 not to be compared with Trinidad. 



Before giving a list of the birds I succeeding in procuring 

 in these localities, I will briefly describe the route of the Royal 

 Mail Steam-packets from Trinidad, through the Windward 

 Islands, to St. Thomas and Porto Rico, making a few remarks 

 on each island en passant. Tobago I did not see, so I con- 

 tent myself with saying that its capital is Scarborough, on 

 the windward coast of the island; but the steamer calls at 

 Courland Bay, on the opposite or leeward coast. After leaving 

 Port of Spain, Trinidad, and steaming through one of the lovely 

 channels of the Boca del Drago, a run of about nine hours 

 brings us to Granada, which has the great advantage, shared by 

 but few of the British West Indian Islands, of possessing a good 

 though not large harbour, on which stands the town of St. 

 George, the capital of the island, where the steamer calls. For- 

 merly, when the niggers were slaves and obliged to work, Gra- 

 nada was one of the most important and productive of these 

 islands ; but now, with the exception of St. Lucia and Dominica, 

 it is the most poverty-stricken. Most of the estates are aban- 

 doned, and a great part of the island has gone back to bush. 

 Granada differs from the other islands of the group in not pos- 

 sessing one of those lofty, conical, semi-extinct volcanos which, 

 in these parts, are called souffrieres. It is a lovely green island, 

 extremely rugged and mountainous, but nowhere attaining a 

 very high elevation. It is considered very healthy, and has a 

 specialite for fruit and turtles. As the steamer stops here to 

 coal on its way up to Trinidad, I was able to spend the 

 whole day on shore — an opportunity of which I gladly availed 

 myself. This was my first day ashore in the West Indies. 



