278 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



"The Blackbird {Quiscalus luminosus) is very abundant. The Cuckoo 

 manioc {Coccyzus minor) is also found here, as well as the Certhiola sp.^y 

 the small Sparrow [Phonipara hicolor), the Mocking-bird {Mimus gilvus)^ 

 the Green Heron [Butorides virescens), and the Chicken Hawk {Buteopenn- 

 sylvanicus). In one of the islands, Unibn, the Cockrico {Ortalida rufi- 

 Cauda) has been successfully introduced, and some attempts have been 

 made with the American Quail {Ortijx vinjinianus). Some of the islands 

 are in j)rivate hands, and have been stocked with deer and goats, which, 

 having become thoroughly wild, afitbrd excellent hunting. 



"The sea birds frequent the small islands, tuid the outlying rocks of 

 the larger, in myriads, where they breed. 



"The Little Crested Humming-bird of Grenada and St. Vincent is also 

 found in the Grenadines." 



New York, December 10, 1878. 



ON THE BBEEDHVO KABITS OF THE SEA-CATFISH (ABIOP8IS 



iniL,B£BTI?). 



By PROF. N. T. HJPTO]\. 



Vanderbilt University, 

 Nashville, Tenn., Fehruary 19, 1877. 

 Prof. Spenoer F. Baird : 



About the middle of July, 1868, while on a visit to Mobile, Ala., I ac- 

 companied a party of friends on a fishing excursion to Fish Eiver, a 

 small stream on the eastern side of Mobile Bay, some 25 miles below 

 the city. This river near its mouth widens out, forming Berwicks Bay, 

 a sheet of water about three miles wide by four in length. This Ber- 

 wicks Bay is a favorite fishing-ground, being the resort, especially after 

 a storm in the Gulf, of immense schools of mullet. A great variety of 

 other fish, such as the croaker, trout, redfish, &c., abound in this bay. 



Captain Wemyss, who owned a large saw-mill on the bank of the 

 river, and whose hospitality we were enjoying, kindly proposed to show 

 US the different kinds of fish which frequent these waters, and to this 

 end furnished a large seine and the necessary force to draw it. 



AVhile examining the fish my attention was called to several cat, each 

 about 10 inches in length, which seemed to have a wonderful develop- 

 •ment of the throat. On examination, the enlargement was found to be 

 caused by small catfish and eggs which were carried in the mouth. From 

 the mouth of one I took out eleven small fish, each about an uich in 

 length, and from another eight or nine eggs the size of a smaU marble, 

 the eyes of the embryonic cat showing distinctly through the thin mem- 

 brane enveloping the egg. 



On inquiry made of several old fishermen in the neighborhood, and of 

 a large number elsewhere, I have failed to find one who knew anything 



