144 Mr. P. 11. Lowe on the 



Dominica. If we accept Mr. Ridgway^s new genus Haplo- 

 cichla, its occurrence in Jamaica is ruled out o£ court. 



It is interesting to note that Humming-Birds are not 

 found in the Caymans. Practically every other island which 

 is not a mere rock in the Caribbean basin contains some of 

 these birds. The only exception that I am acquainted with 

 is Swan Island. It is all the more curious since the flora 

 seems perfectly suitable. Orchids are met with in profusion 

 in all three islands, and on Grand Cayman Schomburgkia 

 thomsoniana is peculiar and found nowhere else. 



Finally, we may remark that there appears to be every 

 possibility of very greatly adding to the present number 

 of birds recorded from the Caymans, especially as regards 

 those merely passing through on their way south or north in 

 autumn and spring. 



The (3aymans, Mysteriosa Bank, and Swan Island seem 

 to lie along an old migratory track across the Caribbean 

 Sea, the lines of which are suggested by the sunken sub- 

 marine ridge joining Cuba with Honduras, to which I have 

 previously referred, and also by the sunken land now repre- 

 sented by the Mosquito, Rosalind, Serranilla, and Pedro Banks, 

 which apparently ouce formed a link between Jamaica, 

 Honduras, and Nicaragua. 



During the periods of migration various species of Ducks, 

 besides other birds which we need not mention here, pass 

 regularly over Swan Island and settle there, and during 

 these migratory times the islanders notice a great influx of 

 birds of prey, which apparently come in order to pick off" 

 stragglers. Doubtless the same thing occurs in the Caymans, 

 so that it appears to me that these islands would form a 

 most interesting station for observing the passage of migrants 

 north and south. 



(ii.) Ltsl of the Birds of the Cayman Islands. 



1. CoLUMBA LEUcocEPHALA. (Bald-patc Pigcou.) 

 Columha leucocephala Cory, Auk, vi. p. 32 (1889: Cayman 



Brae) ; Sharpe, Hand-1. B. i. p. 70 (1899). 



Hah. Central and South America ; fairly common in the 



Grand Cayman, and also found in Cayman Brae : resident. 



