BIRDS OF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS. 
135 
Andros, Abaco, and Grand Bahama, but did not meet with it else- 
where. He writes : “ I was for a long while unable to explain satis- 
factorily to myself the cause of their absence from Nassau, as in the 
United States they are generally very abundant in the neighborhood 
of the large Southern cities, as Charleston and Savannah, for instance. 
This fact, I now think, is owing to their inability to procure food at 
New Providence. All the animals slaughtered there are literally 
devoured by the blacks; not a morsel, even to the entrails, is thrown 
away as offal, so that the slaughter-houses, which at Savannah are 
their principal feeding-places, do not at Nassau offer them a mouth- 
ful of food. The number of domestic animals also running at large 
on the island is so small, that the carcasses of those dying by disease 
or accident would only afford them an occasional supply ; and the 
native fauna is so meagre that it is unnecessary to take it into con- 
sideration. I passed several days at Grassy Creek, near the south- 
ern extremity of Andros Island. This is one of the places where the 
Black-mouthed Helmet (Cassis Madagascariensis ), of which cameos 
are made, is procured. The shells, after being brought on shore, 
are placed on scaffolds with the mouth downwards, in order that 
after the death of the animal it may fall out of its own weight. 
These scaffolds are constantly attended by the Buzzards, and they 
can frequently be seen tugging at the protruding animal, much to 
the displeasure of the fishermen, as the birds frequently knock down 
the shells, and sometimes drag them into the bushes out of sight. 
The name given to this bird by the inhabitants is ‘John Crow,’ 
the same as in Jamaica, according to Gosse. I examined several 
