2 A. Bangs, Birds of San Miguel Island. fjai. 



BIRDS OF SAN MIGUEL ISLAND, PANAMA. 



BY OUTRAM BANGS. 



Lying well within the Bay of Panama is a little group of islands 

 known as the Archipelago de las Perlas. By far the largest of these 

 is San Miguel or Ray Island. The others are small and all are so 

 close together that the birds are probably much the same on all. 



San Miguel is distant about twenty miles from the nearest point 

 on the main and about sixty from Panama. It is about fifteen 

 miles long, irregularly oblong in shape, and made up of a series 

 of low hills clothed in luxuriant tropical forest that reaches almost 

 to high water mark. The island has a hot and unhealthy climate, 

 and is inhabited solely by negro pearl divers who are very inde- 

 pendent of the Panama government and run the affairs of the 

 island to suit themselves. 



As nothing was known of the birds and mammals of Archipelago ■ 

 de las Perlas my brother and I decided to let Mr. W. W. Brown, 

 Jr., visit it.^ Accordingly toward the end of April, 1900, Mr. 

 Brown reached San Miguel Island, where he stayed till the mid- 

 dle of May, collecting birds and mammals in the most vigorous 

 manner. 



Birds were scarce on the island, both in actual numbers and in 

 number of species, and Mr. Brown took but forty-two species 

 there. Besides these he saw no species of which he did not 

 get specimens, except some Terns and two kinds of Boobys. The 

 latter were said by the inhabitants to breed on some of the smal- 

 ler islands of the group. 



The birds of San Miguel are for the most part quite like those 

 of the adjacent main. Four species, however, a Tanager, a 

 Woodpecker, a Hummingbird, and a Tyrant bird are well marked 

 island forms, and a few others are slightly different — too slightly 

 to warrant separation — from the mainland stock. From the 



' I have found record of but one bird from there; this is Asturina ruficauda, 

 Pearl Island, Bay of Panama, Capt. Kellett and Lieut. Wood, Cat. Birds in 

 British Mus., Vol. I, p. 205. 



