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vista Kay, Ragged Island, on the mangroves ; and at Long Rock, 

 near Exuma, on the stunted bushes. I do not think they ever 

 select a large kay for their breeding place. The eggs are laid by 

 the middle of May, and the young leave the nest about the 1st of 

 July; previous to which, great numbers are killed by the negroes. 

 It is a shy bird when not breeding, even in the most uninhabited 

 localities. Its food consists entirely of berries and fruits. It is 

 called simply Pigeon. 



Zenaida amabilis. The Zenaida Dove, though more seldom 

 seen than the former species, is still by no means rare. It never 

 collects in flocks, not breeding in communities, like the C. leuco- 

 cephala. In its habits it is intermediate between the Z. Caroli- 

 neasis and the C. passerina. It feeds and passes the principal 

 part of its time on the ground, and wdien flushed, flies off in a 

 straight line, very much as the common quail. The crops of those 

 killed by me were filled with small seeds, about the size of a mus- 

 tard seed, apparently all of the same kind. All the nests I saw 

 were made in holes in the rocks, and consisted, as is always the 

 case in this family, of but a few sticks. I do not know whether 

 it migrates farther south during the winter or not ; it was cer- 

 tainly much more abundant in May than at any previous time. 



Gham(Epelia passerina. Abundant everywhere, even on the 

 smaller kays. It is, next to the banana bird, the most universally 

 distributed. 



Ortyx Virginianus. Common at Nassau, where it has been 

 introduced from the United States, within the memory of indi- 

 viduals now Hving. It resembles, in every respect, the southern 

 specimen of this bird from the United States. 



Ardea egretta. A few seen. 



Ardea candidissima. More abundant than the A. egretta. 



Ardea herodias. Abundant. 



Ardea coeridea. The most common species of heron. From 

 the rocky nature of the kays, and the general absence of marsh 

 grounds, I had been led to suppose that birds of this family would 

 be rare ; but this was by no means the case. 



Ardea virescens. Abundant ; building in the same manner as 

 in the United States. Eggs laid by the 1st of May. 



Nycticorax violaceus. Very abundant everywhere. Nests made 

 by April 20th ; eggs laid by May 1st. In some places there were 



