144 
Mr. P. R. Lowe on the 
Dominica. If we accept Mr. Ridgway's new genus Haplo- 
cichla , its occurrence in Jamaica is ruled out of court. 
It is interesting to note that Humming-Birds are not 
found in the Caymans. Practically every other island which 
is not a mere rock in the Caribbean basin contains some of 
these birds. The only exception that I am acquainted with 
is Swan Island. It is all the more curious since the flora 
seems perfectly suitable. Orchids are met with in profusion 
in all three islands, and on Grand Cayman Schomburgkia 
thomsoniana is peculiar and found nowhere else. 
Finally, we may remark that there appears to be every 
possibility of very greatly adding to the present number 
of birds recorded from the Caymans, especially as regards 
those merely passing through on their way south or north in 
autumn and spring. 
The Caymans, Mysteriosa Bank, and Swan Island seem 
to lie along an old migratory track across the Caribbean 
Sea, the lines of which are suggested by the sunken sub¬ 
marine ridge joining Cuba with Honduras, to which I have 
previously referred, and also by the sunken land now repre¬ 
sented by the Mosquito, Rosalind, Serranilla, and Pedro Banks, 
which apparently once formed a link between Jamaica, 
Honduras, and Nicaragua. 
During the periods of migration various species of Ducks, 
besides other birds which we need not mention here, pass 
regularly over Swan Island and settle there, and during 
these migratory times the islanders notice a great influx of 
birds of prey, which apparently come in order to pick off 
stragglers. Doubtless the same thing occurs in the Caymans, 
so that it appears to me that these islands would form a 
most interesting station for observing the passage of migrants 
north and south. 
(ii.) List of the Birds of the Cayman Islands. 
1. Columba leucocephala. (Bald-pate Pigeon.) 
Columba leucocephala Cory, Auk, vi. p. 32 (1889: Cayman 
Brae) ; Sharpe, Hand-1. B. i. p. 70 (1899). 
Hab. Central and South America; fairly common in the 
Grand Cayman, and also found in Cayman Brae : resident. 
