Catalogue of Birds. 93 



suggested to Mr. Julien that a description of the locality, with 

 such notes as he was able to make of the birds found there, 

 would be desirable information to incorporate in a catalogue. 



"With this request he has complied, as will be seen by the 

 annexed letter, in which he gives an account of some of the 

 peculiar features of the island, together with some general 

 remarks concerning the arrival and departure of birds ; also 

 notes on the habits of particular species, which are placed under 

 those to which they refer, and indicated by quotation marks. 



* Sombrero, Jan. 12, 1864. 



*' I have to-day, for the first time, a little leisure to commence the 

 account I promised you of the occasional observations I have made upon 

 the birds visiting this Key. They are necessarily of a merely popular 

 character from my entire ignorance of the science, and I fear that the 

 little time at my disposal will compel me to jot them down as they 

 come into my recollection, without much systematic arrangement. 

 During the first two years of my residence here (Aug. 1860 to Aug. 

 1862), my observations were altogether accidental and I made few 

 notes, but I have paid particular attention to the subject during the 

 past year (1863). 



" The Island of Sombrero is a naked rock, about seven-eighths of a mile 

 long, twenty to forty feet above the level of the sea, and from a few rods 

 to about one-third of a mile in width. It is situated in the open sea 

 (the Islands of St. Martin and Saba being just visible low down on the 

 S. E. horizon), and exposed to the full force of the winds. There is no 

 vegetation whatever on the island over two feet high ; it consists merely 

 of a few patches of ' prickly pear', a little grass, samphire, and other low 

 herbs. In the centre of the widest part of the Key is a shallow layer of 

 sand, all the rest of the surface is the naked rock. In the winter season 

 the salt spray is carried entirely over some parts of the Key by the high 

 winds. 



"From this short description you will understand the insignificance 

 of the locality, and the little likelihood of many species of birds being 

 found here which I have seen or heard of in neighboring islands. On 

 account of the diminutiveness of our Key, however, and the large force 

 of laborers scattered over its surface, I have been able during the past 



