CLARK: LESSER ANTILLEAN BIRDS. 
211 
residence of Mr. Henry Snagg, the principal owner of the island, 
is here, and near it is a little stone chapel in which breeds a colony 
of martins (Progne dominicensis). There is a small collection of 
houses near the shipping bay, mostly of “ wattle and daub.” The 
population of Canouan is stated to be about 400. 
Mayreau, or Mayero, lies a few miles southwest of Canouan. It 
is a small island, with almost no trees except a few manchioneels on 
the beaches, and is bare and windswept. It is mostly given up to 
the cultivation of “ Marie Galante ” cotton, and (in the spring) 
Indian corn. There is a small amount of scrubby growth on a hill 
to the northeast of the town. All the houses on Mayreau are near 
the top of a fairly high hill, about half a mile from the southern 
shore. The walk up to the town from the beach is very tiresome — 
a continuous climb without the slightest shelter from the heat of the 
sun. The chief house of the island, the residence of Miss Jane R. 
St. Hilaire, the principal owner, is pleasantly situated on the summit 
of the hill just mentioned, and commands a splendid vieAV of Union 
Island, Carriacou, and Grenada to the south, and of the northern 
Grenadines and St. Vincent to the north. 
There are a number of small keys about Mayreau, the most 
important being the Tobago Keys or Four Sisters, just to the 
southeast, a group of four small islands all much alike and very 
near together, each a rounded hill with a small bit of Hat land, cov¬ 
ered with scrubby trees, bushes, and cactus, a detestible plant known 
locally as “ nettle ” (but much more to be dreaded than the plant to 
which we give that name), and in the flat places, with “ burr grass.” 
There is a very small sand bar just southwest of these islands, on 
which may usually be seen a few terns (Sterna maxima and S. 
dougalli gracilis) and gulls {Par us atricilla). A large solitary rock 
203 feet high known as Sail Rock rises from the sea several miles to 
the eastward of Mayreau, and is the home of many sea birds. 
South of Mayreau and just halfway between Bequia and Gren¬ 
ada is Union Island, with an area (according to Edwards) of 2150 
acres or about 3.2 square miles. This island is high and rugged, 
particularly in the western half ; but toward the eastern end there 
is a considerable area of flat land at the base of the hills, especially 
on the northern side, where they slope more or less gradually 
toward the sea. There is a gap in the central backbone, through 
which a bridle path passes from one coast to the other, with a mod- 
