﻿Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire. 293 



On Aruba I remained 1G days, and about the same time 

 on Bonaire. I visited many places on both these islands, 

 the hills and the plains, the barest and driest places, and the 

 richest and best-wooded parts, and, with the help of my wife, 

 collected birds vigorously all the time. 



The almost continuous sunshine, the beautiful clear atmo- 

 sphere, the salubrious and wonderfully warm temperature, 

 never or seldom rising to an unendurable heat, and the 

 picturesque scenery gave me pleasures which can never be 

 forgotten. 



I wish here to express my sincerest thanks to my friend 

 Freiherr Hans von Berlepsch, in whose museum and com- 

 pany I compared and studied the greater part of my collec- 

 tion on my return. 



The types and the first pick of all my skins are in Mr. 

 Walter Rothschild's Museum at Tring, and most of the du- 

 plicates, containing some co-types, are in Freiherr von 

 Berlepsch' s collection. 



II. Birds of Aruba. 



Aruba is the driest and in most parts the barest of the 

 three islands. There are several good breeding-places for 

 sea-birds. I was on the island from the 21st of June to the 

 5th of July, the season when but few wanderers from the 

 north can be expected, and therefore most of the birds that 

 I collected are residents. The island is, of course, resorted 

 to by several northern birds in winter, and Venezuelan birds 

 are said to visit it often in autumn. 



I am much obliged to several inhabitants of Aruba, and 

 above all to our amiable host, Dr. Coates Cole, the English 

 surgeon of the island. 



Nothing has as yet been written on the birds of Aruba. 

 But Prof. Martin mentions in his book that he saw a 

 Conurus that was different from C. pertinax of Curacao, a 

 large kind of parrot, a Mimus, two Humming-birds, an 

 Icterus, an Ortyx, and a Pelecanus. Besides this, Mr. Gr. 

 N. Lawrence has described a living parrot from Aruba under 

 the name of Chrysotis canifrons, and so long ago as 1658 



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