40 Natural History Bulletin. 



fectlv pure and healthful, it can be used as freeU" as spring 

 water, and without fear of bad results. 



The ladies of our party were greatly interested in the house- 

 hold arrangements of this '• Robinson Crusoe," who lives 

 alone with his old father on Egg Island. This house, like all 

 others in the Bahamas, was scrupulously neat and clean. 

 Indeed, where there is neither dust nor mud. on account of the 

 island being composed of coral rock and pure white coral 

 sand, it is much easier to be cleanly than otherwise. 



The ornithologists found it hot work penetrating the thick- 

 ets of wiry bushes which cover the greater part of the island. 

 One of the greatest obstacles to collecting in such regions is 

 the ditlicultv of finding a bird after it is shot. A majority of 

 the land birds are small, of course, and falling into the dense 

 thickets perhaps half of them are lost, unless the collector is 

 possessed of both experience and patience. A XGvy good 

 aid in this kind of work is the auxiliary barrel, such as was 

 formerly made by the American Arms Compan}'. of Boston. 

 This barrel tits into the bore of a breech-loader, having an 

 extractor which is worked by the extractor of the gun. ;md 

 carrying a thirty-eight calibre blank cartridge, which is shoved 

 in after a pledget of cotton and a small charge of dust shot. 

 Equipped with this ingenious device, the writer has collected 

 with gratifving results in the thickest jungles of tropical 

 America, where small birds could be shot at a distance of four 

 or live yards without material damage, and almost invariably 

 found after being dropped. 



Messrs. E. G. Decker and Webb Ballord. who undertook 

 the ornithological collecting for the expedition, put in a good 

 day's work, securing a fair representation of the avifauna of 

 the island, their collection embracing the following species: 



Sterna ancestJictus Scop., bridled tern: Sterna douoalli 

 Montag^., roseate tern: Anoii<. stol/diis Linn., noddv tern: 

 Trint^ri mi nut Ufa Vieill., least sandpiper; y^gialitis u/'Isonia 

 rnfinucha Ridg.. rufous-naped plover; ^lEi^'ialitis >cin/pal- 

 iiiata Bonap., semipalmate plover; CoIiiinl)ii(aIIina pasicnna 

 Linn., ground dove; MyiarcJms Iiicaysicnsis Bryant, Bahama 



