PKOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 49 



being thrust up from the great ocean bed, the water all around it is of 

 great dei)th, and vessels anchoring off Roseau, the i)rinclpal town, often 

 run out sixty fathoms of chain before bringing up. 



"Thus when I speak of the small depth of the bays, I mean the 

 small indentations they make in the general line of the shore. The 

 valleys and low hills of the Caribbean shore are tolerably well culti- 

 vated, principally in sugar-cane; the provision ground of the negroes 

 reaching often to high hill-tops. 



" On the east or Atlantic side, called the ' windward ' side of the island 

 (from the fact that the prevailing wind here is the northeast trade), are 

 a few fine, though isolated, sugar estates, situated where deep bays give 

 opportunity for boats to land. The nature of the east side of the island 

 is more rocky, and the seas more boisterous than the west or Caribbean 

 slope. The almost unceasing trade-wind keeps the Atlantic in a tumult, 

 in striking contrast to the calms of the Caribbean waters. 



"As this island is about midway the group known as the Lesser An- 

 tilles, being in lat. 15o 20' — 15° 45'; long. Gfo 13' — 61° 30', it possesses 

 much in its fauna that will prove of interest ; and doubtless some spe- 

 cies will be found to inhabit it that exist neither north nor south of it; 

 some that are found north but not south, and vice versa. Possessing as 

 it does the highest mountain peak in any island south of Jamaica, and 

 a range of mountains and hills of 2,000 to 3,000 feet in height, the 

 essential character of the fauna is mountainous. In fact, along the 

 coast and in the low valleys, very few birds are obtained more than the 

 ordinary sparrows, hummingbirds, etc. Though not rich in either 

 numbers or species, Dominica contains its best birds in high mountain 

 valleys. Each kind has its characteristic haunt and breeding place, as 

 will be described hereafter, and the majority of them are in the mount- 

 ains and mountain valleys. 



" My tirst collecting ground was at Landat (see Forest and Stream), 

 a mountain vale 1,500 feet above the Caribbean Sea, at the head of the 

 Roseau Valley, which latter made up into the mountains from the sea 

 for nearly five miles. The average temperature of this region was ten 

 degrees lower than at Roseau, 1,500 feet below ; at night a blanket 

 (sometimes two) was necessary. I collected here for a month — the month 

 of March — during which period I visited the famous Boiling Lake, a 

 chain of lakes on the mountains, the near mountain peaks, and thor- 

 oughly explored every accessible ravine and valley within a day's walk. 



"After shipping my collections to the Smithsonian, 1 started for the 

 central 'windward' portion of the island, where reside the last vestiges 

 of the Carib Indians. With them I resided six weeks, in a cabin close 

 by the Atlantic shore. It VAas while there that I procured the Imperial 

 Parrot, and other birds of less note, by making forced marches into the 

 high mountains. 



"I should note here that everything I needed had to be transported 

 Proc. Nat. Mus. 78 4 Jialy 33, 1878. 



