W A [E, Donna Isabella the Second, by the Grace of God and the Constitution of the Kingdom, queen of the Spains, having accepted the functions ofjudge arbitrator . . ., [find] that the Government of the Low Countries claims: That on the old maps there appears a sandbank which joins the island of Aves with that of Saba, a Dutch possession, indicating that at one time they were one territory.... That as proven by witnesses, neighbors from Saba and St. Eustatius, possessions of the Low Countries, the inhabitants of these islands had and have the custom of going to fish for turtles and gather birds' eggs at the island of Aves. . . [On the other hand,] the Venezuelan Government maintains: That there is no such sandbank... That all the islands of the Caribbean Sea ... were discovered by the Spaniards, and when the country became a Republic covering the old Capitania General de Caracas, it succeeded Spain in all its rights to the island in question.... And that, furthermore, Venezuela is the important territory closer to the island of Aves... It is our opinion, as well as that of our Council of Ministers, after hearing the decision of our Council of State, sitting in full quorum, that the ownership of the island corresponds to the Republic of Venezuela... "Given in our Palace of Madrid, on June thirtieth eighteen hundred and sixty-five."' In this dramatic way ended a long litigation with the Netherlands, and Venezuela became sovereign over the Isla de Aves, a tiny Caribbean island that only a handful of Venezuelans had or have ever visited.2 But no less interesting than the history of the ownership of Aves is its evolution. If we can believe the old maps and the comments of the few visitors, the island is getting alarmingly smaller-threatening, in fact, to disappear! It was this problem that attracted the attention of Mr. William H. Phelps, well-known Venezuelan ornithologist. On February 20, I954, Mr.