Vol. XXII 

 1Q05 



G. M. Allen, Summer Birds in the Bahamas. 121 



none of the natives had been able to locate the nesting site. Mr. Barbour 

 and the writer spent July 5 and 6 with two guides sailing among the 

 intricate waterways of the "Marls" and were fortunate in finding one 

 flock of 54 birds. They were very shy, however, and would not allow us 

 to approach within gunshot. Most of them seemed to be old birds and 

 they presented a brilliant sight standing in the water against a back- 

 ground of green. This apparently is the most northerly breeding colony 

 on this coast. They are subject to constant persecution by the natives 

 who esteem their flesh as preferable to that of the gaunt chickens of tbe 

 Bahamas. The negroes believe that the birds possess a keen scent and in 

 hunting them, try to approach from the leeward. Others approach from 

 the windward as the birds must rise into the wind and hence come toward 

 the hunter for a distance before swinging off. We purchased a male 

 wing-tipped bird of some boys who had hunted this same flock on the day 

 before our visit. He soon became very tame and greatly amused us with 

 his ludicrous ways. "Filly," as he was dubbed by the crew, would stand 

 all day in his feed-pan that contained a thin mixture of meal and water. 

 We did not discover that he fed much in the daylight hours, but appar- 

 ently he spent a large part of the night dabbling and sputtering in his 

 meal. One of the crew aptly compared the continuous sound produced 

 to that of a little waterfall. If approached or handled he would make 

 feints at biting, at the same time uttering very duck-like quacks, but there 

 seemed to be little power in his mandibles, for his bites were quite harm- 

 less. When angry he had an odd way of lowering his head well below 

 the level of the body, at the same time bending his long neck into a 

 sigmoid curve. We were finally obliged to chloroform the bird, and 

 eventually ate the meat which was not unlike that of a fowl. The fleshy 

 tongue is considered a particular delicacy. 



18. Ajaia ajaia (Linn.). Roseate Spoonbill. — A single Spoonbill 

 was seen July 6, on the Marls of Great Abaco, by Messrs. Barbour 

 and Bryant. 



19. Dichromanassa rufescens (Gmel.). Reddish Egret; "White 

 Arsnicker." — Several times we saw what were undoubtedly examples 

 of this species, but all were in the white phase. In early July we saw a 

 few on the Marls of Great Abaco, and a single bird on July 19 on the 

 tide-water flats of Great Bahama. In all cases they were very wary and 

 flew off long before we could approach within gunshot. 



20. Hydranassa tricolor ruficollis (Gosse). Louisiana Heron ; 

 "Poor Joe." — This was perhaps the commonest heron we observed. 

 A few were usually to be found about the mangrove swamps and one 

 large rookery was visited July 7, on Great Abaco, where a number of 

 young birds were seen about ready to leave their nests. 



21. Butorides bahamensis (Brewster). Bahama Green Heron ; 

 "Bittern " or "Bitlin." — Single birds were seen on most of the larger 

 islands visited, including New Providence. On many of the cays they 

 were also found among the mangroves. Specimens were taken which 



