THE CRUISE OE THE ESPERANZA TO HAITI 



By ALEXANDER WETMORE, 

 Assistant Secretary, Smithsonian. Institution, 



AND 



WATSON M. PERRYGO 



Assistant Scientific Aid, U. S. National Museum 



The Parish-Smithsonian Expedition to Haiti, organized by the late 

 Lee H. Parish, with the financial assistance and cooperation of his 

 father S. W. Parish, left Miami, Florida, in the 80- foot ketch- 

 rigged auxiliary yacht Espcranza, on February 15, 1930. In addition 

 to the two mentioned the party included Mrs. S. W. Parish, who 

 assisted in radio communication, in photography, and in other ways, 

 and Watson M. Perrygo of the staff of taxidermists of the United 

 States National Museum. Lee Parish served as captain and navigator 

 and head of the party, and in addition assisted his father and Perrygo 

 in collecting specimens, being indefatigable in his efforts to promote 

 the success of the work. The work of the expedition was concerned 

 with the collection of zoological material, particularly of birds and 

 reptiles. The Espcranza, thoroughly seaworthy, offered an excep- 

 tional opportunity for work on islands lying off the Haitian coast, and 

 it was to these little-worked areas that the major part of the time in 

 the field was directed. 



The route to Haiti led along the north coast of Cuba with stops 

 for the collection of specimens at Gibara, Port Tanamo, and finally 

 at Baracoa. The first specimen of the expedition was a migrant 

 Maryland yellowthroat obtained as the Espcranza passed near Bimini 

 in the Bahamas. Numerous birds were obtained at Gibara, and in the 

 better watered region about Port Tanamo, with its dense forests, col- 

 lecting continued apace. Cayo Grande de Moa and the Moa and 

 Fabrico River were fruitful spots. Birds abounded, with trogons, 

 parrots, todies, and others of brilliant plumage giving a touch of color 

 to the daily bags of the collectors. 



On March 9 after a delightful trip through waters where imagina- 

 tion might picture the passage of pirate ships and Spanish galleons of 

 earlier days, the Espcranza anchored in the harbor of the quaint tropi- 

 cal town of Baracoa. Bananas and cocoa-beans are the two chief 

 products here and the plantations from which they come are well 

 worth seeing. The party again set sail two nights later by the light 



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