CURIOSITIES OF DISTRIBUTION. 163 



seemed to be no obvious reason, as far as vegetative and 

 other conditions were concerned, for their absence ; the 

 flora of Blanquilla presenting remarkable similarities 

 both to the above mentioned islands and to some parts 

 of the coastal belt along the mainland. 



One might have thought that isolation from the main- 

 land had been responsible for the absence of some of these 

 birds ; but if such diminutive creatures as the ruby-and- 

 topaz humming-bird had been able to find their way 

 thither, what was there to prevent these much stronger 

 birds from doing so too ? It may be answered that 

 humming-birds, being such mere feather-weights, would 

 be more liable bo be driven out to sea, willy nilly, 

 by storms ; but, on the other hand, if strong-flying birds 

 like parrots have been able to establish themselves on the 

 island and found conditions suitable, why should not 

 parakeets, to say nothing of the other birds ? 



But if mere isolation or distance has been the cause of 

 the absence of these birds from Blanquiila, it assuredly 

 could not have had any influence in the case of islands like 

 CuragaO; Bonaire and Aruba, which on a clear day are 

 in sight of the mountains on the mainland. Yet on these 

 islands we find no grackles, no cardinals, no wood- 

 bewers, no wood-peckers, and no gnatcatchers ; and this, 

 in spite of the fact that better adapted country for the 

 first four, at least, one could hardly want to see, judging 

 merely from a comparison of the conditions found in 

 Margarita and on the mainland, where we have found these 

 birds exceedingly common. But if this is not enough to 

 accentuate the eccentricities of distribution, we may state 

 that we fo\md grackles on the Hermanos Islands, which 

 are only ten miles from Blanquiila, nearly ninety 

 from the coast, and some forty miles due north of 

 Margarita. That is to say, they are as far from Margarita 

 (where grackles are common) as Curagao is from the main- 

 land. 



It would seem, in fact, as if there was nothing more 

 fortuitous, one might almost call it fickle, than the causes 



