204 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
Barbados on his way to Jamaica, and includes some notes on the 
avifauna of the island in his narrative of the voyage and in his 
account of the natural history of Jamaica, making particular men¬ 
tion of sea birds, which he probably only met with off the coast 
(many species are abundant within sight of Barbados) inferring, 
from their abundance in the vicinity, that they inhabited the island. 
He also gives wild geese as visitors to the island (presumably in 
winter) although none of the other writers on the Lesser Antilles 
includes them, and there is but one record, a Brant shot in 1876. 
Hughes ( 1750 ) gives the first really good adcount of the birds of 
Barbados, his list being compiled from observations taken on the 
island during a residence in the northern part while rector of St. 
Lucy’s parish. His descriptions (which are in many cases accom¬ 
panied by measurements) are as a rule good enough to admit of 
satisfactory identification. It is a noteworthy fact that his notice of 
the breeding of Puffinus Iherminieri in St. Lucy’s, although appar¬ 
ently overlooked since his time, was proved to be correct through 
the researches of Col. II. W. Feilden almost 140 years later; and 
the truth of his assertions regarding Vireosylva calidris barbadense 
(giving it as an inhabitant of the Scotland district) I was enabled to 
confirm 154 years after his date of writing. Sir Robert H. Schom- 
burgk (’ 48 ) included a list of the birds in his history of the island, 
which, although not so carefully prepared as that of Hughes, contains 
some interesting features, being the first list adopting the binomial 
system of nomenclature, and recording the first capture of a Ruff 
( Pavoncellapugnctx) on the American side of the Atlantic. Be¬ 
tween 1848 and 1889 there were many short notices published 
dealing with certain of the birds of the island, and in the latter 
year Col. Feilden prepared an article on the ornithology of Bar¬ 
bados, containing the results of his observations and a summary of 
previous lists, prefaced by a description of the geology and faunal 
characteristics of the island. This is the best account that has 
appeared dealing with the avifauna of any one of the Lesser 
Antilles. 
St. Vincent .— There have been three lists published on the 
birds of St. Vincent, besides a few notices on certain species inhab¬ 
iting that island. The first general catalogue is that of Lawrence, 
which includes the field notes of Ober. taken while collecting in 
' O 
St. Vincent; the second, which is in some ways superior, is by 
