10& REPORT — 1875. 



6. Porto Rico. 



Nearly the same story liolds good of this Spanish island, of which our only 

 recent news relates to the Birds, and consists of two papers — one by Mr. E. C. 

 Taylor in ' The Ibis/ for 1864 (126), and the other by the late Dr. Bryant, in the 

 journal above mentioned (127). 



6. The Lesser Antilles. 



As I remarked above, every one of the numerous islands, from Porto Hico 

 down to Trinidad, requires thorough examination. It is indeed strange that no one 

 has yet been found to undertake this interesting task, which might easily be per- 

 formed by excm-sions during the winter months of a few succeeding j^ears. 



As regards the Ornithology of these islands, the subjoined summary of what we 

 really know and do not know is mainly taken from a paper on the Birds of Santa 

 Lucia, which I read before the Zoological Society of London in 1871. 



1. The Virgin Islands. — Of these islands we may, I think, assume 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. Frequent allusions to the birds 

 of St. Thomas are also made by Messrs. Newton in their memoir of the birds of 

 St. Croix, mentioned below. In the ' Proceedings of the Academj' of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia ' for 1860 (128), Mr. Cassin has given an account of a 

 collection of bu-ds made in St. Thomas by Mi-. 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 abo^'e the level of the sea, and from a 

 few rods to about one third of a mile in width." Although "there is no vegeta- 

 tion 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 thu-ty-five species, the 

 names of which, together with Mr. Julieu's notes thereupon, are recorded by Mr. 

 Lawrence in the eighth volume of the ' Annals of the Lyceum of Natm'al History 

 of New York '(129). 



The remaining islands of the Virgin gTOup 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 iu 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 ',t (130 j. This memoir, 

 being foimded on the collections and personal observations of the distinguished 

 authors themselves, and hai-ing been worked up after a careful examination of 

 their specimens in England, aud 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 imdetermined ; 

 and it is much to be regretted that no one seems to have siuce paid the slightest 

 attention to the subject. 



3. AnguiUa, St. Martin, and St. Bartholomew. — Of this gTOup of islands St. 

 Bartholomew aloue 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 excellent article (131), by the veteran ornithologist Prof. 

 Sundevall, on the birds of this island, founded on a collection made by Ur. A. von 

 Goes. The species enumerated are forty-seven iu number. 



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

 t Ibis, 18.59, pp. 59, 1.S8, 252, and .565. 



