ALLEN: MAMMALS OF THE WEST INDIES. 219 



seeing the first crate of them brought to St. George's. On Grenada 

 they are now common, not only about the houses and plantations, 

 but even in the forests on the hill-tops of the interior. Mr. John 

 Branch tells me thai they seem now to be less common than they 

 were a few years ago, so that on his estate at Point Saline, at the south 

 end of the island, the ground lizards (Ameiva) that were nearly exter- 

 minated by the mongoose are now reappearing in small numbers. 

 Possibly some sort of adjustment is going on, so that the mongoose 

 is finding its place as part of the fauna in relation to the other animals. 

 Nevertheless in Grenada the mongoose has evidently much reduced 

 the ground lizards, but the damage done to the native birds is less 

 evident. Apparently the mountain ground dove (Geotrygon) has 

 suffered somewhat; and of the pea dove (Engyptila wellsi) I could 

 find no trace during my stay in 1910. The agouti also seems to be 

 nearly extinct in Grenada, due, it is supposed, to the killing of the 

 young by this rapacious beast. Neither Mr. Clark nor I learned of 

 the mongoose being in the Grenadines. 



Mr. Austin H. Clark, who has kindly supplied some notes made by 

 him during a stay in the Windward Islands in 1903, says that the 

 mongoose is abundant on Barbados and St. Vincent, and is present 

 also on Sta. Lucia. It is not uncommon to see as many as six in a 

 morning's walk on Barbados or St. Vincent. 



On Barbados it is a great menace to the raising of domestic fowls, 

 turkeys, and ducks; for the young birds fall an easy prey. The de- 

 crease in the number of feral hares is attributed to the destruction of 

 their young by this animal, as is also the diminution of the ground 

 dove. According to Feilden (1890), the mongoose was introduced 

 in Barbados a few years prior to 1890, to stop the damage done by 

 rats. It seems effectively to have decreased these pests, so that it 

 was uncommon to see much harm to the cane fields. 



On St. Vincent, the mountain ground dove (Geotrygon) has 

 disappeared, and the common ground dove (Columbigallina) and 

 the ani (Crotophaga) have been reduced in numbers, supposedly by 

 the ravages of this animal. Because of the destruction of the ground 

 lizards on St. Vincent, the mole crickets are said to have increased 

 to such an extent as to be a pest to the agriculturist. 



Among the Greater Antilles, the mongoose is now in Jamaica, Cuba, 

 San Domingo, and Porto Rico. From San Domingo I have examined 

 a skin with part of the skull, taken April 26, 1895, at San Domingo 

 City, and kindly loaned me for examination by the Field Museum of 

 Natural History. This is the specimen previously recorded by Dr. 



