Vol. XXII 

 1905 



G. M. Allen, Summer Birds in the Bahamas. 1 j r 



just back of the shore. Among the thick growth of bushes are 

 to be found Honey Creepers, Thick-billed Vireos, Yellowthroats, 

 and the Bahama Mockingbird. Numbers of White-headed 

 Pigeons breed on some of the cays, while Bahaman Red-wings, 

 and Gray Kingbirds inhabit the edges of the thickets and the 

 mangrove swamps. 



On the large islands, the pine woods afford a home for Blake's 

 and Hairy Woodpeckers, Pine Warblers, Bahaman Warblers, and 

 other species. Some birds are of common occurrence in nearly 

 all situations ; for example, the Gray Kingbird, the two Hum- 

 mingbirds (in the northern islands), and Honey Creepers. 



The resident avifauna of the Bahama Islands is of considerable 

 interest. Mr. Chapman, in his important paper on the origin of 

 this fauna, has distinguished four classes of resident species: (i) 

 those representing forms of general distribution, (2) those which 

 occur as island forms of continental species, (3) those of purely 

 West Indian origin, (4) represented by the Bahaman Swallow, a 

 genus peculiar to the group. He points out that although the 

 northernmost islands of the Bahama group are over one hundred 

 miles farther north than the southern point of Florida, and are 

 separated from that peninsula by only 60 miles of water, yet there 

 is almost no tendency on the part of the Bahaman species to cross 

 to the continent, and this notwithstanding that the 'prevailing 

 winds are favorable for such flights. One reason for the failure 

 of these island species to occur elsewhere is doubtless that many 

 of them are thicket frequenters and hence would rarely be blown 

 from their normal habitat. The uniform presence of many West 

 Indian species throughout the islands, even to the most northern 

 of the group, is a striking feature, and serves to emphasize the 

 distinctness of this fauna from that of the adjacent mainland. 



Several of the species of birds common to the Bahamas as a 

 whole, show a tendency to become differentiated into local races 

 on some of the groups. Thus certain of the birds of the north- 

 ern Bahamas differ from the corresponding varieties of New 

 Providence and its immediately neighboring islands, so as to be 

 recognizable as distinct subspecies, but with one possible exception, 

 such birds do not differ subspecifically on the different islands of 

 this group. Thus the Hairy Woodpecker of Great Bahama, Little 



