68 THE NATURALIST IN BBEMUDA. 



wanted the crimson on the throat. This vernal visitation 

 was probably caused by a revolving gale which passed the 

 Bermudas on the night of the 31st of , March. H.M.S. 

 " Wellesley," which arrived in the Bermudas on that day 

 from the West Indies, was reported to have met with a 

 great many woodpeckers on the voyage, many of which 

 were captured by the seamen. They were described as 

 having crimson heads and yeUow under plumage. 



Mr. Gosse found this woodpecker in the island of Jamaica, 

 during the months of December, January, and February only, 

 from which he concluded that it was migratory. It is a 

 summer resident in Prince Edward Island. 



Yellow-billed Cuckoo {Goceyzus Americanus). The 

 extraordinary flight of cuckoos to which Major Wedderburn 

 aUudes, was observed immediately after a strong gale from 

 the south-west, accompanied by torrents of rain, which con- 

 tinued throughout the night. Nine specimens of this cuckoo 

 were sent to me by different individuals on the following 

 day. Thousands, "absolutely thousands," of these birds 

 were observed among the cedar trees on various parts of the 

 south shore, from the Commissioner's House, in Ireland 

 Island, to Somerset, Port Eoyal, Walsingham, St. David's, 

 and Cooper's Islands, and as far north as St. Catherine's 

 Fort. In the course of two or three days not a straggler 

 remained. 



From this it would appear that the yellbw-billed cuckoo, 

 which "Wilson describes as being shy and solitary, is gre- 

 garious at the period of its autumnal migration, and that it 

 crosses the ocean on its southern flight. 



Baen Swallow {Hinmdo rustica). I can with safety 

 affirm that from October, 1840, to the 12th of September, 



