8 INTRODUCTION. 
we 
Wallace, in his “ Distribution of Animals*,” states that no less than six species 
of parrots were said to have been formerly found in Guadeloupe and Martinique ; 
but at the present time not a single species of that family is known to inhabit 
either of those islands. 
Ledru, in his “ Voyage aux iles Teneriffe, La Trinite, St. Thomas,” etc., 
published in Paris in r8rot, mentions several birds which are now unknown, among 
them a green pigeon from St. Thomas. 
A species of Ps¢/facus is included in a manuscript lst of Guadeloupe birds 
compiled by Dr. L’Herminier about the year 1844. This list was first published by 
Mr. George N. Lawrence in the proceedings of the United States National 
Museum for 1878. 
There are at the present time 293 known species and subspecies of birds 
which are peculiar to the West Indies, comprising 107 genera. Of these the 
Bahamas possess 25 peculiar species and subspecies of 18 genera, the Greater 
Antilles, including the Caymans, Virgin Islands and St. Croix, have 149 species 
and races peculiar to them belonging to So genera, and the Lesser Antilles, com- 
prising all the islands from Sombrero south to Grenada and Barbados, have 53 
peculiar species and subspecies of 27 genera. 
There are 38 genera peculiar to the West Indies, of these one is peculiar to 
the Bahamas, 24 peculiar to the Greater Antilles, and eight to the Lesser Antilles. 
* Wallace, “ Distribution of Animals,” vol. 2, p. 67, 1876. New York. 
t Ledru, “ Voyage aux iles Teneriffe, La Trinité, Saint Thomas, Saint Croix et Porto Ricco,” vol. 2, p.39. Paris, 1810. 
