478 Col. H. \V. Feildeu un 



species of birds ; but there are several reasons which well 

 account for this deficiency, and these may be considered 

 under the headings of its geological structure, its geogra- 

 phical position, and the paucity of swamps and marshes, the 

 almost total destruction of the natural forest- growth, which 

 covered the island when first settled by Europeans in the 

 beginning of the seventeenth century, and the wonderfully 

 high state of cultivation which is the marked feature of the 

 island at the present time. 



Barbados is separated from the other islands of the Lesser 

 Antilles by a great oceanic depression; soundings of from 1000 

 to 1500 fathoms being shown on the Admiralty charts between 

 it and the islands of St. Vincent and St. Lucia, the nearest 

 of the Lesser Antilles, which lie about one hundred miles to 

 the westward. Between Barbados and the island of Tobago, 

 to the southward, which latter has in all probability been 

 connected with the mainland of South America since the 

 introduction of its existing fauna and flora, we find a depth 

 of over 1000 fathoms ; to the eastward of Barbados the floor 

 of the ocean rapidly sinks into the profound depths of the 

 Atlantic. Though Barbados is not separated from the chain 

 of the Lesser Antilles or the mainland of South America by 

 any great expanse of ocean, yet I think the most cursory 

 examination of its geological structure will satisfy the ob- 

 server that it can lay claim to being a truly oceanic island, 

 in the sense of its never having formed part of a continent 

 since the introduction of its present, comparatively speaking, 

 meagre fauna. A singular feature in the geological struc- 

 ture of Barbados is that, although it attains to a height of 

 over 1100 feet, no true volcanic rocks, so far as I am aware, 

 protrude themselves through the exposed strata of the island, 

 which are sedimentary stratified rocks. I do not, of course, 

 include in the sedimentary rocks the coral capping which 

 covers more than six sevenths of the superficial area of Bar-* 

 bados, or about ninety-one thousand acres, whilst the area 

 from which the coral has been denuded by subaerial causes, 

 and where the basement rocks are exposed, occupies only 

 about sixteen thousand acres. This denuded area is known 



