40 Natural History Bulletin. 



fectly pure and healthful, it can be used as freely as spring 

 water, and without fear of bad results. 



The ladies of our party were greatly interested in the house- 

 hold arrangements of this '• Robinson Crusoe," who lives 

 alone with his old father on Egg Island. This house, like all 

 others in the Bahamas, was scrupulously neat and clean. 

 Indeed, where there is neither dust nor mud, on account of the 

 island being composed of coral rock and pure white coral 

 sand, it is much easier to be cleanly than otherwise. 



The ornithologists found it hot work penetrating the thick- 

 ets of wiry bushes which cover the greater part of the island. 

 One of the greatest obstacles to collecting in such regions is 

 the dithculty of finding a bird after it is shot. A majority of 

 the land birds are small, of course, and falling into the dense 

 thickets perhaps half of them are lost, unless the collector is 

 possessed of both experience and patience. A very good 

 aid in this kind of work is the auxiliary barrel, such as was 

 formerly made by the American Arms Company, of Boston. 

 This barrel fits into the bore of a breech-loader, having an 

 extractor which is worked bv the extractor of the gun, and 

 carrying a thirty-eight calibre blank cartridge, which is shoved 

 in after a pledget of cotton and a small charge of dust shot. 

 Equipped with this ingenious device, the writer has collected 

 with gratifying results in the thickest jungles of tropical 

 America, where small birds could be shot at a distance of four 

 or five yards without material damage, and almost invariably 

 found after being dropped. 



Messrs. E. G. Decker and Webb Ballord, who undertook 

 the ornithological collecting for the expedition, put in a good 

 day's work, securing a fair representation of the avifauna of 

 the island, their collection embracing the following species: 



Sterna ancesthctiis Scop., bridled tern; Stcnia doiioalli 

 Montag., roseate tern; Anoiis stolidus Linn., noddy tern; 

 Tringa mi nut ilia Vieill., least sandpiper; ^'Egialitis zjihonia 

 riifinucha Ridg.. rufous-naped plover; ^"Egialitis seniipal- 

 inata Bonap., semipalmate plover; Coliinilyigallina passer ina 

 Linn., ground dove; Afyiarchtis lucaysicnsis Bryant, Bahama 



