52^! Mr. P. R. Lowe — Observations 



2 (^ (J . Grenada. Coll. Brit. Mus. 



4 c? d" & ? ? . Grenadiues. Coll. Brit. Mus. 



4 c? c? & $ ? (2 juv.). Grenada. Coll. P. R. L. 



With snch scanty material to Mork on, it would be rash 

 to sj^eculate on the question as to whether the normally 

 coloured birds now known as C. saccliarina and found in the 

 islands of St. Vincent and Grenada are of one and the same 

 species. The fact that C. saccliarina flourishes in the inter- 

 mediately situated Grenadines seems to point to the con- 

 clusion that they are. It is to be remarked that C. saccliarina 

 exhibits a w ell-marked and constant white wing-spot^ \Yhich 

 is not a Lesser Antillean characteristic, and that the amount 

 of white on the outer webs of the lateral rectrices is so 

 faiut (or so nearly absent) as to conform to the contmental 

 arrangement ; from both of these facts it would appear 

 probable that C. saccliarina represents a comparatively 

 recent invasion from the continent. It seems difficult, 

 therefore, to believe that the two black forms of C. sac- 

 charina found in the islands of St. Vincent and Grenada 

 (C at rat a and C. irel/si respectively) are melanistic phases of 

 two ditiercnt species (cf. Austin Clark, loc. cit.). In point 

 of fact, I am unable to detect any diftereuce between 

 examples of C. saccliarina inhabiting Grenada and those 

 found in the Grenadines. 



I shot four examples of C. saccliarina on Grenada, and 

 the late Dr. Bowdler Sharpe shot another in my presence; 

 but I have never handled a St. Vincent specimen and have 

 only seen one alive. The British Museum collection does 

 not contain a specimen from St. Vincent and only one 

 from Grenada. There is one specimen from St. Vincent 

 in the United States National Museum and one from 

 Grenada. 



There is reason to suppose that the extreme rarity of the 

 normally coloured form on St. A^incent (amounting now to 

 practical extinction) is a matter of comparatively recent 

 date. 



It is so rare, too, on Grenada that Mr. Wells, a Grenada 

 naturalist, '^ who lived nearly all his life on the island,'^ had 



