The Oologist. 



Vol. XXVI. No. 5. Albion, N. Y. May 15, 1909. 



Whole No. 262 



JOHN FARWELL FERRY 



Returns From Expedition to Coast of 

 Venezuela for the Field Museum. 



At least one new species of bird life, 

 innumerable interesting and rarespeii- 

 mens and several new problems as to 

 bird distribution are some of the re- 

 sults of a trip just completed by John 

 Farwell Ferry of the Field Museum of 

 Natural History among the islands ly- 

 ing off the coast of Venezuela. Mr. 

 Ferry arrived in Chicago yesterday 

 with ten cases containing 850 birds, 

 a barrel of reptiles and fish and sev- 

 eral trunks of curious specimens. 



The trip just completed fills a gap 

 which has always e.xisted between the 

 Dutch West Indies and the Island of 

 Margarita and gives the museum the 

 only complete one as well as one of 

 the largest collection of West Indian 

 bird life in e.xistence. Much new in- 

 formation has been gained and the 

 ranges of several species of birds 

 heretofore believed to be confined to 

 the Lesser Antilles have been ex- 

 tended. 



Aside from the scientific significance 

 of the expedition there is a Robinson 

 Crusoe interest attaching to the four 

 months of travel under tropic skies 

 among coral reefs or volcanic, rock- 

 bound islands. Mr. Ferry left Chicago 

 on December 15 and sailed from New 

 York the following Sunday. .Just at 

 that time the Venezuelan situation was 

 most fevered, and he did not know 

 whether he would be allowed to carry 

 on his scientific exi)edition. 



A hopeful sign, however, was the 



fact that a number of political refugees 

 were on the same vessel returning to 

 their country, among them was Geb- 

 eral Rclando, Castro's aroh enemy. Ar- 

 rived at Curacao, the noted exile was 

 received with the maddest enthusiasm 

 by the populace and President Gomez 

 greeted him demonstratively at the 

 wharf. 



At Caracas, after some little diffi- 

 culty, Mr. Ferry obtained permission 

 to travel with firearms and returned to 

 Curacao in order to procure a schoon- 

 er and a crew. There he found that 

 few of the sailors knew even where 

 the islands were located, since they 

 are never visited except by a few ad- 

 venturous fishermen. After many dis- 

 coui-agements the explorer found an 

 intelligent captain and a schooner 

 suited for his purposes. 



Again there was delay owing to po- 

 litical complications, but finally the 

 schooner set her prow out into the wa- 

 ters of the southern Atlantic toward 

 the reeky, cactus-grown wastes where 

 men rarely venture. 



Many of the islands were found to 

 be but coral reefs, flat and sandy, with 

 no vegetation but cactus and perhaps 

 bit a single species of birds On oth- 

 ers the only living things were count- 

 less small black lizards, as thick as 

 ants. On one of the islands a sort of 

 animated gargoyle was met, a most 

 rei)ulsive black reptile with horns, fins 

 and scaly claws. 



Ki;r thirty days the little craft trav- 

 ersed the lonely wastes of the ocean, 

 often becalmed beneath the intense 

 Klare of the southern sky, often niak- 



