264 MR. P. L. SCLATER ON THE BIRDS OF SANTA LUCIA. [Mar. 21, 



1. The Virgin Islands. — Of these islands we may, I think, as- 

 sume that we have a fair acquaintance with the birds of St. Thomas, 

 the most frequently visited of the group, and the halting-place of 

 the West-Indian Mail-steamers. Mr. Riise, who was long resident 

 here, collected and forwarded to Europe many specimens, some of 

 which were described by myself*, and others are spoken of by 

 Prof. Newton in a letter published in 'The Ibis' for 1860, p. 307. 

 Mr. Riise's series of skins is now, I believe, at Copenhagen. Fre- 

 quent allusions to the birds of St. Thomas are also made by 

 Messrs. Newton in their memoir of the birds of St. Croix, men- 

 tioned below. In the 'Proceedings of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia' for 1860 (p. 374), Mr. Cassin has given 

 an account of a collection of birds made in St. Thomas by Mr. 

 Robert Swift, and presented to the Academy ; twenty-seven species 

 are enumerated. 



Quite at the extreme east of the Virgin Islands, and lying between 

 them and the St. Bartholomew group, is the little islet of Sombrero, 

 " a naked rock about seven eighths of a mile long, twenty to forty 

 feet above the level of the sea, and from a few rods to about one 

 third of a mile in width." Although "there is no vegetation 

 whatever in the island over two feet high," and it would seem a 

 most unlikely place for birds, Mr. A. A. Julien, a correspondent of 

 Mr. Lawrence of New York, succeeded in collecting on it specimens 

 of no less than thirty-five species, the names of which, together with 

 Mr. Julien's notes thereupon, are recorded by Mr. Lawrence in the 

 eighth volume of the 'Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of 

 New York' (p. 92). 



The remaining islands of the Virgin group are, I believe, most 

 strictly entitled to their name so far as ornithology is concerned, for 

 no collector on record has ever polluted their virgin soil. Prof. 

 Newton (Ibis, 1860, p. 307) just alludes to some birds from St. John 

 in the possession of Mr. Riise. 



2. St. Croix. — On the birds of this island we have an excellent 

 article by Messrs. A. and E. Newton, published in the first volume 

 of 'The Ibis 'f. This memoir, being founded on the collections and 

 personal observations of the distinguished authors themselves, and 

 having been worked up after a careful examination of their specimens 

 in England, and with minute attention to preceding authorities, 

 forms by far the most complete account we possess of the ornithology 

 of any one of the Lesser Antilles. It, however, of course requires 

 to be supplemented by additional observations, many points having 

 been necessarily left undetermined ; and it is much to be regretted 

 that no one seems to have since paid the slightest attention to the 

 subject. 



3. Anguilla, St. Martin, and St. Bartholomew. — Of this group 

 of islands St. Bartholomew alone has, as far as I know, been explored 

 ornithologically, and that within a very recent period. In the Royal 

 Swedish Academy's 'Proceedings' for 1869 will be found an excel- 



* Ann. N. H. ser. 3, vol. iv. p. 225; and P. Z. S. 1860, p. 314. 

 t Ibis. 1859. pp. 59, 138, 252, and 365. 



