24 



THE OSPKEY. 



When the overseer saw us anibliiij;- off, an 

 hour after sunrise, on Saturthiy niorninj^, he 

 ])ut his touf^uie in his cheek and nodded sif^niti- 

 cantlv, as much as to say: "Soho. if you ^o 

 with the parson today then you'll hav^e to attend 

 chapel tomorrow". Hut he took it good-natur- 

 edly. It was a most enjoyable ride, alonjj;- bj' 

 the shore to Bat Cave, where the Caribs once 

 camped, and left their stone implements of war- 

 fare as tokens of their presence here in the past. 

 Theh we routed and followed for awhile a flock 

 of wild sheep, finally comins^ to a hi};" ceiba tree 

 in the corner of the wall, where the shade was 

 g'rateful and the protection complete. 



Causing- our attendant to take the horses back 

 a bit on the trail, the parson asked me to creep 

 up to the wall and look through a chink, at the 

 same time making no noise. I did as directed, 

 wondering, but still on the alert, for I knew 

 there was method iji his proceedings, and, ap- 

 plying my eye to the chink in the wall, I saw 

 something that caused me to tremble most vio- 

 lently and clutch my gun convulsively. I 

 glanced at my friend, to assure myself that this 

 was no joke; for there, in front of me, not sixty 

 yards distant from the wall, was a fallow "buck 

 complete", as big and proud as any that ever 

 coursed through English park. The wind was 

 from him to us; so he had suspected nothing; in 

 fact, I could not divest myself of the notion that 

 he was a domesticated animal, and I asked the 

 parson with my eyes if I should shoot. He 

 nodded ye.s, and shoot I did, with the result that 

 the spare horse we had brought along, and at 

 sight of which Mr. Hopkins had nearly laughed 

 himself into convulsions, was laden with the 



biggest buck of the season as we returned home- 

 ward that forenoon. 



Venison that night for dinner, together with 

 the omnipresent guinea bird and concomitants 

 of tropic vegetables and fruits, made a feast tit 

 for anybody, the remembrance of which, even 

 at this distant day, causes a thrill of happiness 

 to pervade 1113' frame. And the next day not only 

 did I attend chapel m^'self, but induced the over- 

 seer to go with me, much to the joy of the par- 

 son, who was nearly overcome by the unusual 

 ha])pening. 



Monday morning found me still in pursuit of 

 the wild fowl, but without greater reward than 

 one old bird. In the afternoon, however, Mr. 

 Hopkins took me over to the sea-grape scrub 

 near the buccaneers' tower, and there we loaded 

 ourselves with the rare white-headed pigeons, 

 [Coliiinba leucoccpliala] migratory birds, which 

 came here to feed on the fruit of the sea-grapes. 

 This fruit is about as large as a small purple 

 plum and sweet. The pigeons come from other 

 islands for it and feed upon it voraciously. 



As we returned that evening we crossed one 

 of the old fields where the trees were scattered, 

 and as we rode beneath one of them out darted 

 what I thought was a thunderbolt. 



"Guinea birds"! shouted the overseer. "Get 

 out your gum"! 



I needed no second warning, and when another 

 black projectile shot athwart the sky I fired 

 ahead of it, and three big" birds fell crashing to 

 the ground. That was the end of my shooting 

 in Barbuda, for, though I left there bird and 

 beast in abundance, I had g^one the rounds and 

 was content. 



TWO RARE WARBLERS OBSERVED AT ITHACA, 

 By Louis Agassiz Fuektes, Ithaca, N. Y. 



Early in the morning- of May 1st, I heard an 

 unfamiliar Warbler note in the trees by my 

 window, and, upon investigation, found it to be 

 that of the Cape May Warbler, [Dendroica tig- 

 rina). The bird was a male, and after watching 

 it for an hour or two (it remained near the house 

 all that time) and becoming familiar with its 

 notes and appearance, I procured it. 



On May 7th, I heard another note new to me, 

 and found to my surprise that there was a male 

 Cerulean Warbler. [D. rara) in an elm tree in 

 front of the house. As it was on the Cornell 

 University Campus, and it was Sunday morn- 

 ing, I refrained from shooting the bird, in the 

 hope that it might still be near the next morn- 

 ing. Monday's search, however, failed to reveal 

 it. There was not the slightest doubt that it 

 was a Cerulean, as the bird offered fine views of 

 himself, and, although restless, was verj' tame 

 and unsuspicious. The song was rich and vig- 



orous, suggesting that of the Yellow-rump a 

 little, and might be represented by these sylla- 

 bles: "Chivy, chivy, chivy-claree", the last being 

 very energetic, and uttered with a rising inflec- 

 tion. My friend Gerald H. Thaj'er of Scarbo- 

 rough, N. Y., was also present, and identified 

 the bird positively, as a Cerulean Warbler. 



Later on May 12th, while watching migrating 

 Warblers in the woods near Ithaca, on the 

 shores of Caj^uga Lake, we again heard the 

 curious note, and found its author — the Cerulean 

 — high among the branches by an oak tree. I 

 shot at it, but the distance was too great. The 

 shot failed, and we had lost our second opportu- 

 nity, as the bird flew a long distance, and could 

 not be found again. We had both seen him 

 well, however, through a powerful fieldglass, 

 and were sure of his identity. The most eastern 

 record I have seen for this bird is Lockport, 

 N. Y., about 100 miles west of Ithaca. 



