62 Messrs. A. and E. Newton^s Observations 



the arching root-branches of which burrow Land-crabs innume- 

 rable. The north-west corner of the Island is very beautiful, and 

 contains the greatest number of forest-trees to be found in the 

 place, though many of them are natives of distant lands. Along 

 the sides of the ravines with which it is intersected, are to be seen 

 in its glory that most stately and magnificent of the palms the 

 Mountain Cabbage, the Mammee {Mammea americana, L.), and 

 the Mango [Mangifera indica, L.), contrasting their deep emerald 

 leaves with the grey foliage of the Mahogany; the many different 

 species of Ficus, with their curious roots sprouting from their 

 trunks and branches ; the broad-leaved Bread-fruit (Artocarpus 

 incisa, L.) ; the graceful Turpentine {Bursera gummifera, Jacq.), 

 in appearance recalling the Birch of northern latitudes ; while 

 along the margins of the streams that run among the hills are 

 the so-called "gardens,^' whose chief characteristic is the luxuriant 

 Bananas and Plantains {Musa) waving their wide leaves split 

 into ribands by the wind, and shaped like Chinese banners. 

 Above all, that most striking feature of the West Indian forest, 

 the gigantic Silk-cotton tree {Eriodendron anfractuosum, D. C.) 

 extends its grotesquely shapen limbs, affording a friendly harbour 

 to numberless tufts of Bromeliacece, garlanded with festoons of 

 trailing " vines," and often presenting the curious spectacle of a 

 tree subject at the same time to the influence of all four seasons*. 

 But our object is now the birds of St. Croix ; aiid we are loth 

 to occupy the attention of our readers with too many prefatory 

 remarks. Let it suffice to say, that we believe that the orni- 

 thology of this Island has never previously been investigated, 

 and that we are now far from thinking that the following is any- 

 thing like a perfect list of the birds which occur there. The 

 fact must especially be taken into consideration, that our obser- 

 vations extended over many of the same months in both years, 

 and that neither of us had much opportunity of examining what 

 additions were made to its Avi-fauna by autumnal migrants and 

 winter residents. It is particularly likely that the numbers 

 of Sylvicolince. and Scolopacidce are much understated. When 

 any object was to be gained by specifying which of us was the 

 observer of a fact, we have been careful to word that portion 



* See Gosse's ' Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaiea,' pp. 278 and 4.99. 



