THE BIRDS OF HAITI AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 33 



Negres in the southern peninsula, where, in company with Dr. C. H. 

 Arndt, a considerable area was covered from Aquin on the south 

 coast to the great fresh water lake known as the Etang Miragoane on 

 the north. (Pis. 7 and 8.) Much of Haiti is dry and arid, but the 

 vegetation in the better watered region at Fonds-des-Negres appears 

 more as is anticipated in visits to subtropical regions. Guinea hens 

 running wild in abundance, native coots {Fulica caribaea) with 

 smooth, glistening white plates on the forehead, gray or green liz- 

 ards 12 inches in length clinging motionless on the tree trunks, and 

 for some unknown reason held in the deepest fear by the Haitian 

 laborers, were a few of the many attractive features of this locality. 

 There was opportunity here to investigate the communal nests of the 

 palm-chat whose flocks construct at the top of some royal palm a 

 permanent home of sticks at times six or seven feet in diameter. 

 (PL 23.) 



On returning from the southern peninsula, Wetmore in company 

 with Dr. E. L. Ekman, the botanist, and Doctor Arndt set out the 

 morning of April 8 from Petionville for the great mountain ridge of 

 La Selle. The road, at first broad and open, wound steadily up the 

 slopes of the hills bordering the Cul-de-Sac plain toward Kenscoif 

 and Furcy to altitudes where the air was cool and pleasant at which 

 there appeared the familiar weeds of temperate climates, left as evi- 

 dence of the agriculture of the period of French colonization. The 

 first evening camp was made on the Riviere Jacquisy in the valley 

 below Furcy. On the second day when they approached the pre- 

 cipitous escarpment of La Selle the pack animals were unable to 

 progress with their loads of camp and collecting equipment over the 

 steep, rocky trails, and it was necessary to engage cheerful Haitian 

 women as porters, finally reaching the summit of the ridge at 2,250 

 meters above the sea. (PI. 6.) At camp 300 meters below the sum- 

 mit, near the head of the Riviere Chotard were forests of pine with 

 the ground covered with bracken, or with a turf in which white 

 clover and strawberries blossomed. (Pis. 9 and 10.) The higher 

 peaks and the slopes of many ravines were covered with rain-forest 

 jungle in which trees and shrubs grew densely, interlaced with the 

 entangling, wirelike strands of a creeping bamboo. Parrots, vocifer- 

 ous crows, and pigeons were abundant in the pinelands, while in the 

 jungles were found solitaires, a beautiful chestnut-sided robin, Hap- 

 lodchla swalesi not previously known to science, and many other 

 birds. (PL 22.) In early morning it was pleasant to rest in the 

 warm sun on the edge of the 450 meter precipice that marked the 

 face of Morne La Visite, one of the higher points above camp, while 

 through the still air from the jungle depths came the clear, flutelike 

 notes of the musicien, the appropriate Haitian name of the solitaire, 



