34 S.NIITHSONIAN jM ISCELLAXEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 'J2 



EXPLORATIONS IN SANTO DOMINGO 

 Dr. W. L. Abbott continued his investigations at the eastern end 

 of the Island of Haiti, making two visits during the year 1919. His 

 first visit was to the Samana Bay region and to the mountains in the 

 vicinity of Sanchez and Constanza, and covered the interval from 

 February to June. On his second trip (July to October) he stop]ied 

 at Sosua, on the north side of the islar.d. where he made a search 

 for certain birds needed to fill gaps in the material already collected ; 

 thence to the Samana Peninsula, after which he went to the islets 

 Saona and Catalina, ofi" the southeastern corner of Santo Domingo. 

 Before returning to Philadelphia, he spent a few days at Lake F.nri- 

 quillo, where he secured a few water birds of interest. 



The material gathered on these two trips was varied in character, 

 embracing" the several groups of vertebrates, as well as mollusks, 

 insects, and ])lants. with a plentiful series of archeological objects 

 from caves in the Samana district. Of birds alone, he obtained 278 

 study skins. 87 alcoholics and skeletons, and 56 eggs. Four species 

 of birds in this collection re])resented forms not hitherto j^ossessed 

 by the Museum, and three or four other species were not ])reviously 

 known to occur on the island. Probably the most noteworthy objects 

 in the bird collection were four eggs of the Ditlits domiiiicits. known 

 variously as the Sigura. Palm Slave, or Palm Chat, a bird somewhat 

 larger than an luiglish Sparrow, of sombre colors, but structurally 

 different enough from other birds to occupy a family by itself. It 

 is common and noisy, and lives in colonies, and its enormous '' a])art- 

 ment house " nests are sufficiently noticeable to attract the attention 

 of the most casual person. The discovery of the Palm Chat was 

 almost coincident with that of America, for Columbus and his men 

 must have seen these birds and their nests when a landing was made 

 on this island at the end of 1492. Oviedo, the official historian of 

 the Indes, early made its acciuaintance, and devoted a cha])ter to it 

 in his " Hystoria natural y general de las Indias yslas." published 

 in 1535. The Sigura was thus one of the earliest, and at that time 

 one of the best-known birds of the new continent. \'arious authors 

 of later date have described the bird, its habits and nests, but thus 

 far, api)arently no correct description of the eggs has been given, 

 although a French writer, in 1851, reported them to be white and 

 unmarked. 



'i"he eggs sent by Dr. Abbott are authentic, and will be descriljcd 

 in detail elsewhere, but the illustration here gi\en (tig. 35) will 

 convey a general idea of their a])pearance, and it nia\- be remarked 



