1894
Feb. 28
Guadeloupe
We reached Guadeloupe sometime during the night
but lay off the mouth of the harbor until daybreak.
When I came on deck the steamer was running
up a narrow bay with a low, wooded shore
on the right and cloud-capped mountains (one
of them is a smoking volcano) on the left.
  The town is rather large, flat, with paved
sidewalks and storm gutters in all of which clear
water is running. There are some beautiful gardens,
and a good many fine shade trees, chiefly
sand box [delete] trees [/delete] and mahogany trees. The people
are nearly all negroes and there are few among
them who speak or understand a single word
of English, [delete] the [/delete] French being the universal language
here.

  As we walked up a broad street shaded by a
double row of gigantic sand box trees I heard
a sweet, plaintive bird song wholly new to me
and really the first bird music that I have thus
far listened to. It resembled most the song of
Dendroica dominica having the same dreamy, "far
away" quality but it was even sweeter and more
expressive. Without the slightest hesitation or reservation
I should rate it as the most musical song
that I have ever heard from a Dendroica - for
a Dendroica the bird proved to be. I had a
good view of one from beneath and saw it sing.
The under parts were of a pale yellow as in
the [female] of our D. aestiva. I saw no markings of
any kind, although the bird was scarce 20 ft.