Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 365 



presumed to be the parent species is in the same direction. 

 Alike in Icterus bairdi, Amazona caymanensis, Dendrceca 

 vitellina, and Spinclalis salvini, when compared with /. leuco- 

 pteryx, A. cubensis, D. discolor, and S. benedicti, the tendency 

 seems to be towards a brighter, palei*, and more yellow type 

 of coloration. 



A possible explanation may be the remarkable want of 

 dense shade in the island. The woods are usually open, and 

 the general effect at any time of the year is very much that 

 of England in May. The soil, too, is, as a rule, the brightly 

 coloured red kind so often found in limestone country — in 

 the neighbourhood of Torquay, for instance. 



Another explanation might perhaps be found in the fact 

 that in Grand Cayman there are no resident Birds of Prey 

 (except Strix flammea), so that once a bird is fledged and 

 has, as a nestling, escaped the attentions of snakes, lizards, 

 and mocking-birds, it has practically no enemies to fear, and 

 can indulge with impunity in the tendency towards yellow 

 feathers which, under certain circumstances, green and 

 olive coloured birds [e. g. Canaries, Budgerigars) seem to 

 liave. 



Much the same change in colouring is to be seen in the 

 agouti, which, under the name of " rabbit/' was introduced 

 some twenty-five or thirty years ago from Central America, 

 and according to the islanders was then grey. At the present 

 time it is generally pale chestnut or about the colour of the 

 European squirrel. It has multiplied exceedingly in the 

 south and west of Grand Cayman, where, though undoubtedly 

 eatable, it is now looked upon as a pest. 



On the other hand, Mus alexandrinus seems to be always 

 grey and Mus musculus ordinary mouse-colour. But the 

 agouti is by no means as nocturnal in its habits as rats and 

 mice are. Many of the *' coloured '^ islanders have un- 

 expectedly fair hair. I have never seen anywhere else the 

 combination of really golden hair with a cafe-au-lait 

 complexion. Of course, this may be due to quite other 

 causes than those which affect the colouring of the island 

 fauna, but it seems possible that the same reason, whatever 



