BONES OF BIRDS COLLECTED BY THEODOOR DE BOOY 

 FROM KITCHEN MIDDEN DEPOSITS IN THE ISLANDS 

 OF ST. THOMxVS AND ST. CROIX. 



By Alexander Wetmore. 

 Of the Biological Survey, United States Department of Agriculture. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The presence of avian remains in the ancient refuse heaps that 

 mark aboriginal camp or village sites is always of interest to ornithol- 

 ogists. Such fragments may represent species still extant, or, more 

 seldom, may reveal forms less fortunate in the struggle for existence, 

 that have been exterminated, leaving these parts of skeletons, dis- 

 articulated or broken, as the only indications of their former ex- 

 istence. 



Recently the vs^riter has had the privilege of examining a collection 

 of bird bones secured by Mr. Theodoor de Booy for the Museum of the 

 American Indian, Heye Foundation, from kitchen middens on St. 

 Thomas and St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. The remains from St. 

 Thomas consist of fifty-one bones or parts of bones taken from a 

 midden at Ma gen's Bay on the north coast of the island during 

 December, 1910. These fragments were found below a diluvial sur- 

 face deposit that was from 1 to 2 feet thick. The material examined 

 from the island of St. Croix, 22 fragments in all, was taken dur- 

 ing January, 1917, from a midden on the north coast of the island 

 on the western bank of Salt River near its mouth. For a more com- 

 plete account of the sites where this material was collected, and the 

 conditions under which it was secured, the reader is referred to the 

 preceding paper in this volume by Mr. Gerrit S. Miller, jr.^ 



Mr. De Booy believes that there is certain evidence that the natives 

 of the Virgin Islands had communication with Porto Rico and Santo 

 Domingo, so that it is possible that bones found in these middens may 

 in part have originated elsewhere. In spite of this element of un- 

 certainty concerning the origin of these specimens, notes on this ma- 

 terial are of value, as it may be considered doubtful that individuals 

 of the native species represented have been transported for any great 

 distance. Thirteen species of birds, including one described here as 



iProc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 54, 1918, p. 507. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 54— No. 2245. 

 3343— 19— Proc.N.M.vol.54 34 • 513 



