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FIELD NOTES ON SOME BAHAMA BIRDS.


By J. Lewis Bonhote, M.A.


Part I.


On returning from a journey in distant regions one is

expected, if one is anything of an Ornithologist, to write about

the birds one has seen ; and more especially is this the case when

the object of the journey has been the study and collecting of

natural history objects. I feel, therefore, that I should be wanting

in my duty to the Society did I not endeavour to give a short

account of some of the birds seen and procured.


The Bahamas are a group of islands and isolated rocks of

coralline formation, lying S.S.E. of Florida, from which they

are separated by the Gulf Stream ; the resident avifauna is, in

consequence, rather scanty, the greater part of the birds being

migrants from the United States with a small minority from

South America and the West Indies proper.


The country may be divided into four classes, each of

which contains its own characteristic birds, and I shall propose

to deal with each in turn ; they are as follows :—


1. The thick bush known locally as “ coppet,” consisting

of a dense mass of trees and bushes of an average height of some

20 feet, and forming, on most islands, the greater part of the

vegetation. Certain portions of the coppet are swampy, and in

such places the bush gives way to long rank grass interspersed

with clumps of palmetto, and in the wetter places with a con¬

siderable growth of mangroves.


2. The “ Pine Barrens ” are practically large stretches of

bare rock with a very slight sprinkling of soil on which the pine

tree alone flourishes. The pines grow to a good height, and the

ground below is fairly clear, although, owing to the unevenness

of the rock, quick walking is out of the question. Here and

there are clumps of bushes round which most of the birds seem

to congregate.


3. The open swamps or lagoons are great plains of mud

and rock, which, raised but a few inches above sea level and

intersected by broad and shallow lagoons, stretch out on all sides

as far as the eye can reach. Practically the only vegetation on

these bare tracks is the universal mangrove, which in most places

grows only to a height of two or three feet, but in the centre of

the lagoons large clumps form islands and reach a height of 15 to

20 feet.



