on the Birds of St. Croix. 61 



there hardly occurs there a single representative of those genera 

 which are most typical of the birds of the Antilles as distin- 

 guished from those of either of the neighbouring continents. 



The eastern end of St. Groix is comparatively barren^ as is 

 the windward side of most of the islands of the West Indian 

 archipelago ; and the plantations there have been mostly aban- 

 doned, the country being now overgrown with "^bush^' of a 

 moderate height, consisting chiefly of the " Casha " {Acacia far- 

 nesiana, W.) with interspersed Cacti and Euphorhice. A chain 

 of low hills rises near the sea, which runs with scarcely any in- 

 terruption along the north side to the western end, attaining its 

 greatest elevation in what is called Blue Mountain (in humble 

 imitation, probably, of the lofty peak of that name in Jamaica) . 

 Most of these hills are clothed with the same kind of bush as 

 the east end, with the exception of the Cacti. They slope 

 abruptly to the sea-shore on the north and north-west ; but be- 

 tween them and the south side lie those gently undulating plains 

 for the fertility of which the island is so justly celebrated. These 

 are, for the most part, highly cultivated, that part of the land 

 which is fit for growing the Sugar-cane being divided into regular 

 squares or parallelograms, separated from each other by narrow 

 strips called " ranges," just wide enough to allow of the passage 

 of a cart, which gives the country, when viewed from the hills, 

 the appearance of a vast chess-board. But here and there a tall 

 line of Cocoa-nut {Cocas nucifera, L.), Mountain-cabbage {Areca 

 oleracea, Jacq.), or Thibet Trees {Acacia lebbek, W.) breaks the 

 horizon, while dotted about are the different " works " of the 

 sugar estates, with theii* long rows of buildings, boiling, curing, 

 and megass houses, the mule and cattle pens, and the lofty 

 engine-chimney or windmill, according to the motive power 

 employed. Shaded by towering palms and tamarinds, and 

 embowered amid thickets of oleanders and oranges, stand the 

 hospitable dwellings of the planters and managers, while hard 

 by, almost hidden in a verdant forest of bananas or plantains, 

 lie the more humble houses of the negro village. The southern 

 shore, fringed with the deadly Manchioneel {Hippomane manci- 

 nilla, L.), is extremely flat, and contains a large lagoon surrounded 

 by a dense grove of Mangroves {Rhizophora mangle, L.), under 



