14 BULLETIN 15 5, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



the country nearby. He mentions Bizoton, Mon Repos, and Roche 

 Blanche, and says that on June 10 he embarked for Cap-Ha'itien, 

 viewing en route Gonaives, Mole St. Nicolas, and Tortue Island, 

 arriving at the Cap June 14. From here he visited Milot and the 

 Citadelle. After leaving Cap-Haitien he came to Les Cayes leaving 

 there on " 30 mai " (apparently should be June 30). His only men- 

 tion of birds is general and it is not definitely said that he made 

 collections in ornithology. 



John Hearne was another traveling naturalist of this period who 

 visited Haiti, though knowledge of his activities there is scanty. In 

 a letter dated February 15, 1834, at Port-au-Prince, he wrote to the 

 Zoological Society of London regarding a pair of goats sent to the 

 gardens of that organization, and mentions several birds, including 

 the musicien, or solitaire. On July 16, 1834, in a second communica- 

 tion from Port-au-Prince he announced the sending of " an alligator 

 from the river Artibonite," and some doves, including the ground- 

 dove and the Key West quail-dove (Oreopeleia chrysia). John 

 Gould in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1837 

 (published 1838) (p. 127) describes an immature specimen of the 

 glossy ibis (Plegadis f. falcinellus) collected by Hearne in Haiti as 

 Ibis erythrorliyncha under the impression that it represented a new 

 species. 



One of the earliest naturalists to make an extensive collection of 

 birds was Auguste Salle, who according to Crosse, 7 came to Santo 

 Domingo City June 8, 1849, and made this his base for excursions 

 during the ensuing two years, in the course of which he covered the 

 greater part of the Dominican Republic. From Bani Salle pene- 

 trated to Maniel and Azua, and on a subsequent journey continued 

 through Azua to San Juan, Neiba, and Lake Enriquillo to Cerro de 

 Sal and Barahona. On a subsequent journey he reached Cotui, La 

 Vega, Moca, Santiago, Ponton in the valley of the Yaqui, near the 

 Haitian frontier, and Puerto Plata. Another expedition included 

 Sabana Grande, Seibo, Higuey, Macao, Cap Espada and Cap En- 

 gano. He passed considerable time at San Cristobal, in the hills 

 seven or eight leagues west of Santo Domingo City. He was search- 

 ing especially, at the instance of Hugh Cuming, for a land shell 

 Helix gigantea, of which for a long time he found only a few dead 

 examples. Finally on the eve of his departure, when he was almost 

 in despair, he discovered that this creature was nocturnal, and sally- 

 ing forth with torches in a downpour of rain that threatened to 

 extinguish his lights, found the shell common in regions where he 

 had searched carefully for it by day, and collected a fine series. He 



7 Crosse, H., Faune Malacologique Terrestre et Fluviatile de l'Isle de Saint Domingue, 

 Paris, 1891, pp. 7-27. 



