360 BULLETIN: MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 
A short time after the fire, the Musée L’Herminier was built. In 
1876 Ober visited the island and remarked, (cf. Lawrence, Proc. 
U.S. N. M., 1878, 1, p. 452) :— 
“Few birds are, as yet, in the museum but there are very excellent 
and complete collections of crustacea, etc., and many fine specimens 
of aboriginal implements.” 
I found the bird collection had so increased that it was larger than 
all of the other collections. Three well-mounted specimens of Aestre- 
lata diabolica were included in it. Unfortunately most of the speci- 
mens were without data or records of their receipt. 
I have omitted all reference to the birds noted at St. Croix except 
when they have direct bearing on the Guadeloupean birds. The 
West Indian avian fauna is rapidly being destroyed and for that 
reason it seems advisable to include here a complete record of the 
birds collected rather than to give simply an account of the more 
important studies, such as those relating to Aestrelata haesitata, Cich- 
Uherminia herminieri, and Coereba dominicana. Clark (Proc. Bost. 
soc. nat. hist., 1905, 32, p. 203-312) has already summarized the 
general conditions of bird distribution in the Lesser Antilles. 
TOPOGRAPHY. 
Guadeloupe consists physiographically of two distinct parts:— 
Guadeloupe proper, a rugged mass of voleanic formation and 
Grande Terre, a flat limestone island separated from the former 
by a sluggish tidal water-way, La Riviére Salée. The adjacent 
islands of Désirade and Marie Galante are similar in structure to 
Grande Terre while the small archipelago called Les Saintes is vol- 
eanic like Guadeloupe proper. Guadeloupe and Grande Terre taken 
together are about forty miles in their greatest length and the same 
in their greatest width. 
The whole surface of Guadeloupe is broken up into peaks and is 
cut by deep valleys making walking for any distance very difficult. 
Many of the hills reach to four thousand feet or over. The Soufriére 
for instance, is 4863 feet high. Its summit is wreathed with rain 
clouds throughout most of the year. The slopes on the mountainous 
core of this island exhibit many contrasts. There are at least four 
distinct life-zones:— 
(1) Lowland savannahs. Great areas of grass-and scrub-land skirt 
