50 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



over the rugged mountain trails, from the town of Eoseau, a journey 

 of a day and night, upon the heads of men and women. 



" In May I returned to Eoseau. In June I passed a week in Landat, 

 finding little difference in the birds, except in the scarcity of the Hum- 

 mingbirds and a few others. I also spent more than a week, in June, 

 at Batalie, a lime plantation midway the west coast, where I found 

 a few birds which I had seen in the mountains more abundant, and one 

 species — the Tropic Bird — breeding in the cliffs. 



" During May and June I was exhausted by a low type of fever, the 

 result of exposure, which greatly retarded my efforts to secure greater 

 numbers of birds. From subsequent observation, however, and enquiry, 

 I am certain that nearly all the resident species have been obtained. 

 The very few not procured will be noticed further on. 



" On the 15th September I returned to Dominica, after a visit to some 

 of the northern islands. Making my way at once to the mountains, I 

 had opportunity to note the changes that the seasons would make in 

 the time which had elapsed since my first visit. The Hummingbirds 

 were in great abundance, the 'Mountain Whistler' nearly silent, and 

 perdu; the Flycatchers same as usual ; Wrens about the same, but more 

 in the deep woods; sparrows, finches, etc., in customary abundance; 

 the 'game birds' — 'Perdix', 'Eamier', and 'Tourterelles' — in abundance. 



" During this visit I succeeded in procuring the only species of Owl 

 known in Dominica. The first was a female, September 18, sitting upon 

 its nest, which contained three eggs freshly laid. The following day 

 brought in the male ; this was the only find of value. 



" Strange to say, my old enemy, fever, visited me again, the first night 

 I spent in the mountains; though I had been exempt from it for two 

 months, and my last visit there had aided in its cure. This discouraging 

 welcome to Dominica (I do not, though, attribute it solely to the climate) 

 prevented me from going out on a projected trip to the mountains beyond 

 for the Parrot; I sent my men but they failed to get the bird. 



"The migratory species had arrived in small numbers— Golden Plover, 

 Sandpiper, etc. — and the water of Eoseau Bay was black in places with 

 large flocks of the * twa-oo', a species of tern. These birds only come 

 before a gale and are harbingers of a storm. September being a hurri- 

 cane month, very few Failing craft of any kind were about; being, 

 especially in the French islands, hauled up, to remain so through 

 October. 



" Much to my regret, I was unable to procure the Parrot, but little 

 larger than our Carolina Parrot, and the ' Diablotin\ The latter was, 

 twenty years ago, in great abundance, breeding in the mountains ; but 

 of late years it has become so scarce as to appear almost mythical. Its 

 disappearance is attributed to the depredations of the 'Manacon', a 

 worthless marsupial animal, introduced into Dominica years ago. Al- 

 though the Diablotin is, probably, identical with the Petrel found in 

 the Blue Mountains of Jamaica (the Prion Caribbcea, as suggested by 



