XXXVIll ITINEBARY. 



few samples of its life, for one bears in mind that even on the coast, 

 which is relatively so much travelled over, it is a fairly frequent 

 experience to obtain, on some one particular occasion, some chance 

 specimen of a species which had not previously been known except 

 from the inner or higher lands, but which it becomes clear is common 

 enough, probably over the colony generally, though it may not be easy 

 to secure. 



As illustrating this point it will be of some interest to describe the 

 distribution of a few of the Roraima species and their allies. On a 

 collecting-trip along the Abary creek, I once shot, at only a few miles 

 distance from the sea, a single specimen of the white-tailed or grey 

 kite {Elanus leucurus), which is now in the Georgetown Museum, and 

 is the only record of the species from the coast, though it is known 

 from Roraima and the great savannahs of the interiof. The flight of 

 the bird is exceedingly rapid ; and the specimen was obtained by a 

 mere chance shot as it pitched between the clumps of trees by the 

 side of the creek, and under the impression that it was a rufous pigeon, 

 which it somewhat resembles in size and in speed of flight^so much so 

 that it is often known as " pigeon-hawk," though this may be because' 

 it preys Jargely on them. The boatmen at once gave it the name of 

 " hawk bass" (that is, master), recognizing it as a common terror to the 

 pigeons and other birds along the creek, though only known to science 

 from the far interior. 



There was once brought to the Georgetown Museum a living specimen 

 of the Guiana coquette (Lophornis pavoninus), which had been caught in 

 the Georgetown livery stables, ensnared in cobwebs. Till then the species 

 had only been known from Roraima and the Merume Mountains. It 

 has since been obtained at Bartika, and there can be no doubt that it 

 must be common in the colony, though it is evidently one not easy to 

 procure. The tufted coquette (Z. ornatus) is only known locally from 

 Roraima and other parts of the far interior highlands, with a range to 

 Trinidad and Venezuela, but one can hardly believe under the circum- 

 stances that it is really so restricted in British Guiana. The rufous- 

 breasted sabre-wing (Ccmipylopterits) also, which had formerly seemed 

 a very typically restricted Roraima species, mostly obtained at a high 

 elevation on the slopes (6000 feet), has later been procured at Bartika, 

 which reveals a quite different range near the coast. 



The Oharadriiformes present some especially striking features. The 

 common Brazilian snipe (Gallinago) and the Cayenne or " Woodcock- 

 Snipe" {Homoptilura) both occur at Roraima; but while the former 

 is one of the commonest birds on the coast, found at tinftes by the 

 hundreds in the swamps and flooded pastures, the other was for long 

 only known in the colony from the high lands of Roraima and Merume. 

 Later a single specimen was obtained on one of my trips by a mere 

 chance shot on the Hooribea sand savannahs behind Georgetown, and 

 still later another on the Itiu-ibisci creek on the coast ; while Wilson's 

 snipe remains a novelty from the Supenaam, also a coast creek. Three 

 other Roraima species (the spur-winged plover, the American golden 

 plover, and the solitary sandpiper) are known from many parts of the 

 interior, and are especially common on the coast, the golden plover, for 

 instance, being met with on the pastures and low savannahs at times in 



