2^8 Clark, Birds of Margarita Island. fj^ilv 



ing the great southward range of the Great Auk, statements not 

 corroborated and apparently rather improbable ; nevertheless, in 

 the light of the discovery of the bones of this bird in Florida, 

 they seem to gain considerable claim to respect. 



That the Great Auk was a permanent resident in Florida is 

 very doubtful. We can hardly argue with respect to the shell 

 heaps of Florida, as Hardy has maintained in the case of the New 

 England heaps, that they were built up during the summer, and 

 that hence the bones are those of auks which were captured at 

 that season. On the other hand, Ormond is a thousand miles dis- 

 tant in a straight line from Cape Cod, and eighteen hundred from 

 Newfoundland ; and either of these distances would be a long trip 

 for a wingless bird to make and repeat in half a year, even though 

 his swimming powers were very great. 



We shall probably yet learn that the Great Auk was a perma- 

 nent resident along our coast considerably further south than 

 Cape Cod. For the further elucidation of this subject, search 

 ought to be made in shell heaps all along the coast. Additional 

 information may possibly be obtained from the early writers on 

 the history, civil and natural, of our country. 



THE BIRDS OF MARGARITA ISLAND, VENEZUELA. 



BY AUSTIN H. CLARK. 



The observations, from which this list is compiled, were taken 

 during a stay on the island of a little over three weeks, from July 

 2 to July 25, 1 90 1. Specimens were obtained of all the land birds 

 seen except the two Vultures, the Amazonian Parrot, and the 

 South American Nighthawk. Although the conditions in the 

 main agree with those reported by Capt. Wirt Robinson (Proc. U. 

 S. Nat. Mus., Vol. XVIII, pp. 649-685) still there are some 

 important differences, both in the distribution of species, and in 

 the occurrence of forms not found by him. 



This season (1901) was exceptionally dry, the rains having to 



