332 Mr. P. R. Lowe on Birds collected 



two islands, which are separated by only a shallow channel 

 two or tht^ee hundred yards in width, together stretch for 

 four or more miles in an easterly and westerly direction. 

 The easternmost has always remained uninhabited. The 

 western island is now occupied by the owner and his family. 

 Both islands, except where clearings have been made in 

 the last fifty years, are densely wooded, and until about 

 the year 1840 they had remained completely uninhabited; 

 but in the old buccaneering days they seem to have occa- 

 sionally been visited by the sea-pirates, who used them as 

 a rendezvous for cutting off Spanish vessels returning to 

 Europe. The islands apparently owe their name to the 

 famous Captain Swan. So far as resident and really indi- 

 genous birds are concerned, the islands are, as 1 have indicated, 

 disappointing ; but, considered from a migratory point of 

 view, they would no doubt form an excellent point from 

 which to observe birds in the spring and autumn migrations 

 to and from Central America. I was informed by the owner 

 that at these seasons they were visited by a great influx of 

 birds. 



Similarly to what obtains in the Caymans (180 miles 

 distant). Humming-birds are not represented, and, strangely 

 enough, I did not come across a single representative of the 

 Tyrant family, nor any examples of the genus Coereba. 



CoLUMBA LEUCOCEPHALA Linn. 



This is a common and well-established species. It breeds 

 on both islands, and is not nearly so shy as such Pigeons 

 usually are. On the eastern island it is, in fact, almost 

 coijfiding, and I shot six or seven specimens with a small 

 collecting-gun in less than half an hour. 



Colours of soft parts in the fresh state : — 



Iris white or creamy w hite. 



Circumorlital bare space white on a pinkish background, 

 which here and there shews through the white. 



Base of mandible and maxilla dull crimson-lake, dull 

 crimson, or dark brownisli purple according to age. 



