igo NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BERMUDAS. 



the 5th instant was sitting closely upon twelve. The nest 

 was at the foot of a cedar tree, concealed by sage bushes, 

 and was composed of dead grass and vegetable debris, 

 lined with grey down. Seeing the Duck feeding at the 

 kitchen door, I took the opportunity of demolishing her 

 nest, having previously ascertained that the eggs contained 

 no embryo. The eggs were of one uniform size and colour, 

 as described on a former occasion. 



A native coloured man, named " Nat Keel," resident on 

 the verge of the rolling " sand banks " of Paget's Parish, 

 called on me a few days ago, and told me he captured the 

 Scarlet Tanager which Mr. Marriott sent to me on the 

 19th of April last. He first observed it among the peach 

 trees which grow in front of his small wooden house, and 

 caught it in a trap of horsehair nooses set for Cat-birds on 

 the rim of a tub of water. After keeping it in confine- 

 ment for about three days it died. He saw no other 

 Scarlet Tanager at the time, nor did he ever previously 

 observe the bird in the islands. This man, " Nat Keel," 

 has so thoroughly the features, lank hair, and full black 

 eye of the Mic Mac Indians of North America, and is, 

 moreover, so perfectly distinct from the different races of 

 African and Asiatic blood prevalent in the Bermudas, that 

 I think there can be little doubt of his Indian origin. 

 Robertson says, in his " History of America," that many 

 Indians of the Mic Mac tribe were captured by the settlers 

 of James's River, in the early settlement of that portion 

 of the coast. These were sold and exported as slaves, 

 many being sent to the Bermudas.. Mr. W. B. Smith, the 

 present Receiver-General of the Colony, tells me that in 

 his boyhood he has often heard his father speak of certain 

 families being descendants of Nprth American Indians, 



