402 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



seas were encountered off IMiddle Point, and we got drenched, but 

 made good progress until we rounded Northwest Point, where we 

 found heavy breakers rolling entirely across the mouth of Alfred Sound, 

 making entry impossible, so we put back behind the point and an- 

 chored in a sheltered cove. We landed, and walked overland to the 

 Sound, and up the shore about seven miles to Mr. Boucher's place, 

 leaving our baggage to be brought around by the boat as soon as 

 possible. It arrived the following morning, all safe, with the exception 

 of our supply of plaster, which the water had ruined. The "camp" 

 consisted of several well constructed steel-roofed buildings, situated 

 on a sandy ridge separating a series of large lagoons from the sound, 

 along which they extend for several miles, their mouths having been 

 closed with heavy walls of broken coral rock. About these lagoons 



there was a considerable growth of mangroves, where Bahama Yellow 



* 



Warblers, Bahama Clapper Rails, Bahama Green Herons, and Yellow- 

 crowned Night Herons found congenial haunts. On the sandy 

 beaches, among the low bushes, where the ground was in places under- 

 mined by the holes of gigantic land-crabs, were found Mona Ground 

 Doves and Cape May Warblers, while in the heavier growths Gundlach 

 Mockingbirds and Pearly-eyed Thrashers made their home. Back of 

 the lagoons the mainland is very low and flat for a considerable dis- 

 tance, with a low growth of cactus and shrubbery. On February 5 

 Ave made an excursion to " Calefavor Pond," a large salt water lagoon 

 lying about six or seven miles to the southeast of the head of Alfred 

 Sound, with which it is probably connected during the rainy season. 

 Besides ourselves, the party consisted of Mr. Boucher, Mr. Sargent, 

 and two negroes. We proceeded about three miles in two boats, and 

 then in the lighter boat until we could row no farther, when we dragged 

 it a long way through the shallow water, and finally had to carry it, 

 requiring our combined strength, for about half a mile, but we failed 

 to get it into the pond, as miles of dry flats still intervened, so we 

 were obliged to explore the pond by wading. We had come primarily 

 in search of Flamingoes, but, although we saw plenty of signs, only 

 one individual was actually observed. In the center of the pond, which 

 was a half-mile or more across, was a mangrove island, where a small 

 colony of Roseate Spoonbills was nesting, together with some Reddish 

 Egrets and Yellow-crowned Night Herons. On a subsequent visit 

 a number of Man-o'-war-birds were observed, and one secured, while 

 a few Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plover were noted on the edge 

 •of the lagoon, lower down. 



