A, FE. Verrill—The Bermuda Islands. A417 
Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, they are distant 675 nautical miles, south; 
and 830 miles north from Porto Rico, so that they offer a nearly 
midway resting place for many flocks of migratory birds that ordi- 
narily fly directly from Nova Scotia to the West Indies. These 
migratory birds have doubtless brought the seeds of many plants to 
the islands. 
The visible islands form a somewhat hook-shaped group with the 
concavity on the northern side, facing the great lagoon, and with the 
main axis running nearly northeast and southwest. The form of the 
dry land may be more accurately compared to a partially closed 
Figure 1.—A Bermuda Residence in winter; at Hamilton. 
hand, seen in profile, and with the thumb and nearly approximated 
finger-tips guarding the entrance to Great Sound and Hamilton 
Harbor, the latter lying in the axil of the thumb; and the Navy 
Yard at Ireland Island,* on the tip of the index finger, while the 
wrist is represented by the eastern part of the group. (See map, 
fig. 26.) 
The dry land of the islands amounts to only about 194 square 
miles, or about 12,373 acres. But the extensive submerged reefs 
and the enclosed lagoons and shoals cover an elliptical area of 
about 230 square miles, all of which was once dry land. Most 
*Treland Island can best be reached by asmall ferry boat that runs across 
from Hamilton. 
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Trans. Conn. Acap., Vou. XI. APRIL, 1902. 
