:::;::::SE WAVES OF THE SEA Is-""" 



birds, Mockingbirds, and Redwings were in lesser num- 

 bers. Ground Doves scurried about, and a single 

 American Pipit walked ahead of us along the gravelly 

 paths. Several vireos and other small birds passed too 

 quickly for identification. Two Orioles, with the black 

 throats of their second year's plumage, were dusted 

 thickly with yellow pollen, making them of a beautiful 

 golden green colour. These birds were remarkably tame 

 and allowed us to come within four or five feet of them. 

 Skinks and other small lizards were everywhere, and 

 the brush-piles rustled with their scurrying. Twice 

 in succession I saw a small green lizard attacked and 

 driven out of sight by a large violet-winged ichneumon 



fly- 



Forced to be satisfied with these meagre notes of 

 Cuban life, we hastily returned to the steamer and 

 soon afterward weighed anchor. Half an hour before 

 we left the harbour, tiny bats began to fly swiftly 

 past us, with a remarkable, unbat-like directness of 

 flight. Within twenty minutes, hundreds passed by, 

 — coming, perhaps, from some desolate coral cave 

 alono- the coast and headino- straio-ht inland. Through- 

 out our first night on the Gulf, and all the next day, 

 rolled by a heavy ground-swell, our vessel steamed due 

 west. 



Although birds were unaccountably absent during 

 this portion of our trip, their place was taken by 

 winged creatures of the sea — our first Flying-Fish » 



«4 9 -^ 



