94 Catalogue of Birds. 



year to get more or less acquainted with nearly every individual land 

 bird and every species of sea bird that lias chanced to visit us. 



" Our birds may be arranged in three classes : 



" I. Sea birds of the breeding season. 



" II. Birds of the September passage. 



" III. Land birds, stragglers. 



" I. Sea Birds of the Breeding Season. 



" Regularly every year in March large flocks of sea birds arrive here 

 from the south, immediately build their nests, breed, and successively 

 depart again to the southward with their young, during the latter part of 

 May, June, and July. In past years, apparently from time immemorial, 

 this Key has been greatly celebrated for the numbers of the sea birds 

 visiting it in the spring, and the abundance of their eggs. The sloops 

 and small craft of the neighboring islands made periodical visits here at 

 this season, loaded themselves deep with the birds and eggs, and carried 

 them to the St. Thomas market, which is the depot of the surplus pro- 

 ducts of the islands in this part of the West Indies. I have met with 

 several captains of vessels who in past voyages have stopped here to 

 procure supplies of birds and eggs for their crews, and many of the labor- 

 ers now upon the Key have often visited it before for this purpose ; all 

 these assure me of the countless flocks, and the vast numbers of eggs 

 scattered over the surface. 



"The quarrying operations began in 1856, and since that year the 

 numbers of the birds and eggs have been rapidly decreasing. Even on 

 my arrival in 1860, and the following spring, the extremities of the Key 

 on which no quarries were opened, were occupied by flocks whose num- 

 bers, gyrations, and deafening din, formed a strange spectacle as they 

 rose alarmed at each blast. But our negro laborers have ever been so 

 indefatigable in collecting the eggs at their meal hours and even during 

 the night, that I do not believe a single young bird has been hatched 

 since our occupation of the Key. At this season it was not uncommon 

 to see birds, caught on their nests, kept in the houses until each had 

 yielded up its prize. Consequently last season (spring of 1863) only 

 about two dozen eggs in all were found, instead of the thousands of pre- 

 vious years. 



