7 CO Riley, Birds of Bahama Islands. \jo<x 



tures of the islands, etc., the reader is referred to the Society's 

 Report l of which these notes were originally intended to form a 

 part of the report on birds. 



Owing to lack of time and the poor facilities for work our col- 

 lections were not as large as we could have wished, and my only 

 excuse for presenting such a meager list is that it is from a 

 region of exceptional interest and which yet holds many unsolved 

 problems for future investigation. 



My thanks are due to Dr. George B. Shattuck, Captain Charles 

 Flower. Mate Davis, many members of the expedition, and espe- 

 cially to Mr. S. H. Derickson, who was also collecting birds, for 

 many favors rendered me during the trip. 



i. Colymbus dominicus Linn. St. Domingo Grebe. — Two were seen 

 on a small lake on Rum Cay; one on a small pond on Watlings Island; 

 and several on the salt pans around Clarence Harbor, Long Island. 



2. Puffinus lherminieri Lesson} Antillean Shearwater. — Several 

 shearwaters, presumably of this species, were seen just before entering 

 Nassau harbor. 



3. Oceanites oceanicus (Kuhl) ? Wilson's Petrel. — Small black pet- 

 rels followed the vessel in some numbers from the time we passed out of 

 Chesapeake Bay until after we sighted the Nassau light and on the return 

 voyage, but in smaller numbers, soon after we left Abaco until we sighted 

 the Capes. We watched these birds with considerable interest and ob- 

 served that the feet were carried close together and straight out behind in 

 flight, giving the impression of a longer central tail feather. The wings 

 appeared to have a V-shaped piece taken out of them, where the long 

 primaries meet the secondaries, I presume. In hovering to examine any- 

 thing or to check their flight they drop the feet into the water and appear 

 to be walking on the waves, but this is only for a brief period, as a rule, 

 when they resume their course. Occasionally they were seen to settle on 

 the water but for a short time only. 



4. Phaethon americanus Grant. American Tropic Bird. — Several 

 tropic birds met the vessel the day before we reached Nassau and quite a 

 number came around the vessel after leaving Abaco. They were very 

 bold and one seemed inclined to alight on the rigging. 



v Phalacrocorax vigua mexicanus (Brant). Mexican Cormorant. — 

 A colony of these cormorants was breeding in some tall mangroves in the 

 large salt water lake on Watlings Island. Most of the young were found 



1 The Bahama Islands. Published by the Geographical Society of Balti- 

 more. 1905. George Burbank Shattuck, Ph. D., Editor. Birds, pp. 347- 

 36S. [Cf. Auk, XXII, July, 1905, p. 328.] 



