j&mHB W8® msm Scot ■■••■■•■■ ••'.'•-'■l.f.'i1'. TBBu— Sga RR8I Hi IS ■;:.;: 34 C7 vO BOOK 598 2972 B231 c 1 BARBOUR I BIROS OF CUBA 3 T1S3 001M7MMfl 7 This book may be kept FOURTEEN DAYS A fine of TWO CENTS will be charged for each day the book is kept over time. NOV 2 8 '4G I i ! • □ 2 D O c o s: u < ffi n u u 2 O E- 03 Id 5 J o j 03 S * o IX Q 03 Q J U 2 < flDemotrs of tfoe muttall ©rnttfooloatcal Club No. VI THE BIRDS OF CUBA By THOMAS BARBOUR WITH FOUR PLATES CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS PUBLISHED BY THE CLUB JUNE, 1923 INTRODUCTION It was my original intention to write this work in collaboration with an old friend, Winthrop Sprague Brooks, and we prepared together a card catalogue of the Cuban birds in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, as a preparatory step to recall the material to mind. The scope of the project, however, was changed, and press of work in separate institutions made it impossible for us to do it together. I have, therefore, essayed the task alone, and have concluded not simply to prepare a paper which would describe my Cuban material but rather to attempt a work which may be useful to the increasing number of amateurs of field ornithology who now visit Cuba, for these serious observers find nothing accessible in English which will give them any clue to the birds they may see. It may serve also to answer some questions which I have often been asked by the ever increasing number of English-speaking residents in Cuba and the Isle of Pines. For a charming companionship and a patient tolerance of my erratic ways I owe more to Winthrop Sprague Brooks than I can well express. For many years it has been Brooks' good fortune and mine to visit Cuba frequently, and during the War we were there for long periods of many months' duration. Our duties during this time did not permit of much collecting, but constant travelling afforded many chances for observation. On previous and subsequent journeys we have made extensive collections, all of which are now in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, except such specimens as have been distributed in exchange. It is difficult to describe a varied scenery, especially one that is in great part really tropical, so that it may be reasonably visualized. This is particularly true of a country which possesses the manifold aspects, each in the highest degree peculiar, that combine to form the impression which Cuba makes. No other Latin-American country affords the temporary opportunity to enjoy the wholly foreign way of living that Cuba offers to thousands of Americans. They leave Key West, whence the majority set sail, with a vivid impression of the futility of clapboards and galvanized 4 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB iron either to charm the eye or to offer decent protection from a torrid sun. A few hours of gorgeous painted sea, blue daubed with ivory white, and Havana breaks into view with an almost inconceivable contrast: Castle and forts, some begun long before Jamestown or Plymouth came into being, and a great yellow and white and blue city, low, narrow-streeted and porti- coed, still topped in part with the old red-tiled roofs, Spain's most decora- tive legacy to the Americas. And yet the Cuba of Havana is now hybrid, and modified not for the better, unfortunately. Nevertheless, the old Cuba of Colonial days, of simple hospitality and sincere courtesy, still exists on many a distant ranch and in ancient towns but little changed by several centuries' passing. So it is also with the landscape. The environs of the cities along the northern coast of the central Provinces offer not only the beauty of novelty but the charm of intensive tropical cultivation. The broad groves of royal palms, at once majestic and graceful, invade the very suburbs of the cities and the great red-green stands of mango trees dispense a shade more dense and welcome than do our own maples and beeches. Still all this is not Cuba, and the bird lover from the North is surely disappointed at the few, though wholly satisfactory strangers which he meets. Anis by the roadside, with their languid volplaning flight, Ground Doves, Cuban Grackles, and perhaps an Oriole in a pinon hedgerow, are about all he can expect. If the reader would but charter an old-time guardano, and cross Havana harbor and walk quietly through the almost endless jungle of beach grape and Ipomea stretching far to the eastward of Morro Castle, he would soon strike acquaintance with the Todies, the Gray Kingbirds, Ricord's Hummer and some others — only a few to be sure — of Cuba's choicest offerings to the Northern stranger. Few, however, know that this good fortune is at their beck and call for a real or two. Those who may fare afield to La Providencia or Toledo, sugar plantations easily accessible, may chance upon the winter flocks of the common Cuban Redwing which spend their days trilling metallically in the orange trees about the mill yards. Migrants they may see in swarms, Palm Warblers, Black-throated Blues and Redstarts, until they wonder how all North America can furnish such hordes of birds too seldom seen at home. I must try, however, to convey some impression of what may be seen by the wanderer who, tolerant of mediaeval sanitation and the many petty hardships of primitive country life in the Spanish-American tropics, is willing to go out into the hills and swamps and forest, yearly growing more inaccessible but where primeval conditions may still be found. In the BIRDS OF CUBA 5 fastnesses of the Sierra Maestra, the Zapata Swamp, or in western Pinar del Rio, the Cuban peasantry live a life as simple and unvexed by modern change as may be found in those more old-time sisters of Cuba, the Republics of Central America. The felling of the lowland forest has, of course, been going on since early Colonial times, but the process has been constantly accelerated since Cuba became independent. A steady influx of American capital has meant a constant increase in the number of sugar mills and these have demanded more cleared land on which cane might be grown. During the War the price of sugar rose to a point which led to the clearing of enormous areas of forest land, so much in fact that now very little lowland monte alto (tall woods) remains. There are still great areas of the granitic or serpentine savanna lands which are unfit for agriculture, and these regions bear a characteristic vegetation of the jata and cana palms and support only a small though highly characteristic bird population. The Cuban forest was never the luxuriant foresta real of Central or South America, but it originally covered all the vast areas of rich calcareous soil, and even where the rainfall was somewhat scanty there was a heavy and varied sylvan growth. There is fine forest still on the higher mountain ranges of the Province of Oriente; and as these are steep and as yet inaccessible, they will for some time to come afford a refuge for many species. The sparse and scattered growths of pine have been badly damaged by fires which have spread from pasture lands, burned regularly to provide fresh young grass for grazing stock. These few introductory remarks require no further expansion to make it evident that vast changes have taken place in Cuba in those very parts of the Island where the richest and most varied fauna was to be found. The birds — there were few mammals — have suffered more than other groups; and island species, as is well known, are often prone to dwindle when changed environment comes to pass. The changes have come, the birds are going, and before many years ornithological conditions in Cuba will be comparable to those of Hawaii, though perhaps on a less wholesale scale. Still some forms today are truly rarae aves, and in a few more decades they will be found only in the larger museums. It is now nearly thirty years since Gundlach published his classic 'Ornitologia Cubana,' and it is time that another record should be made of man's stewardship over the Cuban birds. The story is tragic but wholly inevitable, and as there is no organized support for such measures as the establishment of bird sanctuaries, no improvement is to be expected, only the reverse. 6 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB One zoogeographic peculiarity will become more and more obvious to the reader, and this is the fact that for some inexplicable reason a number of sharply defined species and subspecies are found in the eastern Province of Oriente and there only. The exact boundary of these local forms is not as yet accurately defined, and in some cases there may be intergradation with the allied races to the westward, while in others there almost certainly is not. The probable origin of these pairs of contrasted types is difficult to postulate, but the more luxuriant vegetation and somewhat greater heat and rainfall in Oriente, may, in part at least, account for the develop- ment. A detailed study of the exact ranges and their boundary conditions will be very well worth while. In this paper each species is given the consideration its interest seems to merit. Those which show no change of status since Gundlach's time only exceptionally require more than briefest mention. Some taxonomic matters are considered. The order is that of Ridgway's 'Birds of North and Middle America.' Much useful information has been secured from Mr. Todd's 'The Birds of the Isle of Pines,' Annals Carnegie Museum, vol. 10, pp. 146-296, and alleged to have been issued January 31, 1916. HISTORICAL Don Ramon de la Sagra was long director of the Botanical Garden in Havana. Better known as historian and writer upon political economy than as a botanist, nevertheless he was an indefatigable accumulator of material illustrating all of the natural products of Cuba. De la Sagra brought his collections to Paris, planning a great series of monographs to comprise a 'Histoire Physique, Politique et Naturelle de l'lle de Cuba.' This elaborate work finally appeared in parts, both in Spanish and in French, and the volume which interests us, viz., 'Ornithologie,' was entrusted to the competent preparation of M. Alcide Dessalines d'Orbigny. This versatile naturalist not only worked out and described the species represented in de la Sagra's collection, but he added an account of those who had previously written upon Cuban birds, paying just tribute to the immortal 'Historia general y natural de las Indias' of Gonzalo Hernandez de Oviedo y Valdes, the first impression of which appeared in Toledo in 1526. The many others whose writings contributed to a more thorough knowledge of Greater Antillean birds, are adequately dealt with, and as BIRDS OF CUBA 7 the 'Histoire' of de la Sagra is to be found in the larger libraries, there is no reason for repeating here what d'Orbigny summarized to 1840. Ten years later Juan Lembeye, an Havana schoolmaster, published his 'Aves de la Isla de Cuba' (Havana, Imprenta del Tiempo, 1850). This, unfortunately, like so many Latin-American scientific works, is largely a re-wording of d'Orbigny's work, with the addition of notes and descriptions of new forms supplied by Gundlach, and of plates plagiarized from Audubon. Neither is given credit, for notes supplied or plates copied. Gundlach, whose modesty and generosity exceeded his industry, if such were possible, wrote in 1877 (Contribucion de la Ornitologia Cubana, Supl. to Ann. Hav. Acad., through many numbers in 1876-77), not censuring Lembeye but saying that, as he had contributed to perfecting the 'Aves de Cuba' by supplying notes and descriptions, so had he also been in part responsible for some of its errors. Then he proceeds, very painstakingly, to correct this shabby work and to bring it to accuracy. Lembeye's work today is a great bibliographic rarity, but it offers little of interest to the general student. Two foreigners lived in Cuba, who contributed much to advance a knowledge of its zoology. One was William S. MacLeay, an Englishman, resident for some time in Guanabacoa near Havana. His life in Cuba has been well described by Dr. Mario Sanchez (Mem. Soc. Cubana Hist. Nat., 'Felipe Poey, ' ser. 2, vol. 2, p. 73, 1916). The other and far better known sojourner was Johannes Gundlach, a German, one of the most fascinating characters who ever visited America. A fervid, devoted zealot, modest, frugal and industrious, he lived a long, useful, itinerant life of poverty, wandering from time to time to La Fermina where the de Cardenas family always gave him a home. Later on, in Gundlach's old age, the rich planter's clan fell into evil days and was saved from misery by Gundlach who sold his precious collections to help his friends. Ramsden has written a sympathetic biography of the dear old man, based largely on Dr. Carlos de la Torre's personal reminiscences (Ent. News, vol. 26, pp. 241-260, 191 5).1 Gundlach's memory is revered today by every peasant who remembers him, and they are legion. Dr. Henry Bryant visited Cuba in 1864, and while his collection, now in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, shows that he shot and prepared birds with his usual indefatigable zeal, still no report upon this voyage was ever prepared. In 1886 C. B. Cory went to Cuba, met Gundlach, and visited his Gundlach came to Cuba as a young man, in 1839, and died there in 1896. 8 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB museum at La Fermina. On his return he figured Gundlach's remarkable Ivory-billed Woodpecker with the deformed bill. The upper mandible grew monstrously long, following an injury, and Gundlach was told that the unfortunate female was fed regularly by its mate,' after the long and curled bill had grown so that the bird could not secure its own food (cf. Auk, vol. 3, p. 374, 1886). Gundlach nevertheless believed that it was able to break open white ants' nests, and thus feed in spite of its misfortune. Frank M. Chapman had the good fortune to get his first impressions of tropical nature in Cuba, for he visited Trinidad in 1892. He made only a short stay, but gathered a valuable collection which was the basis of a useful report (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 4, pp. 279-330, 1892). After the American Occupation Messrs. William Palmer and James H. Riley visited Cuba in the interest of the United States National Museum. Both collected together in Pinar del Rio Province and in the Isle of Pines, while Palmer later visited Baracoa in Oriente. In 1904 W. R. Zappey visited the Isle of Pines, and incidentally secured a few birds in Cuba. The various workers in that Isle have all been reviewed by Todd in his excellent 'Birds of the Isle of Pines,' already mentioned. ORNITHOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS IN CUBA There are two ornithological collections in Cuba of superlative importance. The first is the Gundlach collection which contains those birds which he reserved for himself after his generous distributions to scientific correspondents. This collection is beautifully mounted, and is kept in permanently sealed cases in a dark room, opened, however, upon request, in the Instituto de Segunda Ensefianza de la Habana on Obispo Street near the Plaza de Armas. That this collection might be kept intact, and that no surreptitious purloinings for purposes of sale might take place, Gundlach specified that these cases be kept forever sealed. The collection is still intact, and there has been no apparent ravaging by insects. It is the property of the Government, having been purchased by the Spanish BIRDS OF CUBA O, Crown when Gundlach needed funds to relieve the distress of his protector's family. The Gundlach collection is essentially complete. Exact localities, however, are usually lacking. Dr. Charles T. Ramsden of Guantanamo possesses a mounted collec- tion and a large collection of modern skins, nearly all of which were beauti- fully prepared by the late Oskar Tollin, who was in Ramsden's employ for many years. The greater part of his material has been got in the Oriental Province, but Ramsden has many birds from other parts of the Island, obtained in exchange. This is the only modern scientific collection in Cuba. There is said also to be another much older collection in private hands in Santiago, which I have not yet visited. This, however, is said not to contain any of the excessive rarities. There are small collections, usually of birds bought abroad but with a few local species, in the other Provincial Institutes at Pinar del Rio, Matanzas, Santa Clara, Camaguey and Santiago. There is a small collec- tion, by no means noteworthy, in the Jesuit Colegio de Belen in Havana, while there are also collections of birds, which contain some of the rarer species, in the cabinets of the Havana Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences and of the National University. One museum remains to be mentioned, and that is the local municipal museum of Cardenas. Here, with almost no State aid and even less private encouragement, Doctor Rojas, the creator of the institution, has accumulated a really remarkable lot of objects representing the political and natural history of Cuba. GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY The casual visitor may possibly have neither the time nor the inclina- tion, and more often no opportunity, for an extensive examination into the physiographic conditions to be seen in Cuba. Nevertheless it is worth while to try to review briefly the views which have been presented by geologists, as a preface to an attempt to outline the several characteristic and sharply differentiated environmental conditions which are sure to be encountered by the traveller. My data have been gleaned largely from IO MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB the writings of Hill (Bull. M. C. Z., vol. 16, pp. 243-288, pis. 1 and 2, 1895), from the report made to General Wood by Hayes, Vaughan and Spencer (1901, pp. 1-117, pis. 7-29, maps, etc.) and from several papers by the Spanish engineer, don Manuel Fernandez de Castro. The best map of Cuba is the large one in two sheets prepared by the United States War Department (War College Division, General Staff, 191 1), and an excellent local geography also is obtainable in Havana: 'La Geografia de la Isla de Cuba,' by Aguayo and de la Torre, which may be bought at La Moderna Poesia, a bookshop at 133 Obispo Street. The early underlying foundation of the Island consists of ancient metamorphic and igneous rocks, mostly serpentines, diorites and schists, which have been exposed by erosion over wide areas (the savannas). Such areas do not reach to the very shores, except about Santiago. These rocks formed an ancient land which was long exposed. De la Torre, in 1910, described Jurassic fossils from western Cuba, confirming Humboldt's and de Castro's statements as to the existence of deposits of Jurassic age in Cuba (reprint from Annales de la Acad. Habana, 1910, pp. 1-33, 21 pis.). These of course were marine deposits, probably laid down in shallow water. This fauna has recently been studied in detail by Miss O'Connell and shown to be Upper Oxfordian, hence belonging low in the Upper Jura. Now recently Barnum Brown has traced an Upper Jurassic shore line, showing that part of the Island, at least, had emerged prior to this period. Besides these early rocks, Cretaceous formations have been observed extensively along the central axis of the Island from Havana to Santa Clara. Fossils (Hippuritids, i.e., Barrettia) of Cretaceous age are abundant in Camaguey. This land mass, already of complex structure, was submerged in early Tertiary times and overlain to a considerable depth by beds of lime- stone of marine derivation. Whether all of the Island was actually sub- merged at the same time, I doubt from faunistic evidence, since some very ancient types still persist unextirpated. Toward the close of the Tertiary the emergence was completed, and during the process folding and warping took place on a very great scale. During Pliocene and Pleistocene time there were various regional movements of uplift which, combined with extensive erosion, have resulted in giving the Island its present conforma- tion. Hill declares that he has found no evidence that Cuba "since its earliest history (the Mesozoic) has had land connection with the United States." In this I incline to agree upon zoographic evidence as well. I am, however, less acquiescent when he adds "that he has no positive evidence BIRDS OF CUBA II that it has been connected with our continent at all, and has only hypothet- ical evidence that the Pre-Tertiary land may have once extended toward the Yucatan peninsula, and that it was only then, if ever, that the Antillean and Cordilleran islands were united." Since Hill's time the fauna, living and extinct, has been much explored, and vertebrate fossils have been found upon Cuba, Haiti and Porto Rico, which indicate a later continental union, and to this view many geologists are now more lenient. In fact Vaughan, a really open-minded person, has quoted Miller saying of the Antillean mammals, especially the hystricine rodents: "They suggest direct descent from such a part of a general South American fauna, probably not less ancient than that of the Miocene, as might have been isolated by a splitting off of the Archipelago from the mainland. Of later influence from the continent there is no trace." To be sure Vaughan has not declared this view definitely supported by the geologic evidence, but he does not on the other hand hold it to be excluded by the geology (cf. 'A Geological Reconnaisance of the Dominican Republic,' Mem. Geol. Surv. of the Dom. Rep., 1921, pp. 1-268, pis. 1-23). I myself have always maintained that there was no question as to the past continental connection, and this view is constantly gaining ground and meeting with less opposition. Let us return now to the limestones, which are of particular interest to the zoologist, for it is to their presence that the marvellous development of land mollusks is due, while these areas also support or have given rise by erosion to the soil which supports or formerly supported the rich and varied forest in which the majority of the autochthonous birds live. The limy rocks form a veneer over the old metamorphic base. Their continuity is broadly interrupted by complete erosion over wide areas along the central axial region, and "only the low portion adjacent to sea-level is covered by later deposits" (Hill, 1. c, p. 251). Limestone also caps the summits of the high ranges, often fantastically eroded into mogotes, or outstanding butte-like remnants of larger masses of the rock. De Castro declares the limy deposits to be of Eocene, Miocene and Pliocene ages, and this view is shared by Hill. The two sorts of highlands in Cuba are sharply different from each other. The eminences called sierras or cuchillas, sharp, ragged and steep, are remnants of the old limestone covering carved by erosion. There is some belief expressed that the Sierra Maestra is of a different series from any of the other ranges. My observations are that it is capped with eroded limestone, diente perro (dog-tooth), very similar in character to the other major uplifts. In sharp distinction to the sierras, either wholly of limestone 12 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB or capped therewith, stand the lomas. Sterile, rounded hills these, they represent inequalities of the ancient metamorphic substratum from which the limestone has been worn away. The traveller will soon notice that ridges and ranges of limestone are in general stretched along the north and south coasts with the exception of relatively undissected remnant-massifs, which are scattered. Thus, as if the Island had been folded longitudinally, the uptilted limestone has been most worn away along the central axial region, leaving the tilted and cut-up remnants near the coasts, and allowing the igneous and metamorphic base to appear as areas of semi-arid savannas which are scattered nearly the whole length of the Island except in the Province of Oriente. In this region the two main local mountain systems are very high and extensive, and their detritus has rendered fertile the rich Cauto Valley and the Guantanamo Basin, leaving but small areas of savanna land, called here saos, about Jobabo and Bayamo, and near Santiago itself. The drainage system of Cuba is extensive, as is characteristic of a land where rain falls torrentially at certain seasons, and which was probably even more humid in the past. The streams usually flow from the central back-bone toward the north and south coasts. Here and there, owing to the permeability of the limestone or caliza, the drainage may be under- ground. Disappearing streams and sink holes are commonly to be observed. Indeed I recall that in the Valley of Luis Lazo the river flows directly under one of the high limestone ranges. This river has a name which is probably of Indian origin, the Cuyaguateje. The natives, however, declare the origin to have been el rio cuyas aguas teje — the river whose waters weave. In such a country, as may readily be believed, lakes and ponds are few. Americans do not usually realize that Cuba is really a large country. The Island lies wholly within the tropics, and is no less than 730 miles long and from 20 to 90 miles wide. The area of the Republic, including the dependencies, such as the Isle of Pines and Cayo Romano, is probably about 44,000 square miles, thus about equaling the State of Pennsylvania in size. It has in addition a complicated coast-line reliably estimated at about 6,800 miles. If a map of Cuba were to be superposed on one of the United States of the same scale, and Cape San Antonio, the western extremity, put down at St. Louis, then the easternmost, Cape Maisi, would just reach Jacksonville, Florida. The following outline, based upon Hayes, Vaughan and Spencer, but somewhat amended, serves to summarize the geologic history of Cuba, and may well close these notes. BIRDS OF CUBA 13 Time Paleozoic? Jurassic Rocks Serpentine and granite Limestone with fossil ammonites Events Intrusion of igneous rocks into sediments now mostly eroded away. High uplift and erosion. Land < possibly connected Florida and northeastern South America. Cretaceous / TT , . * ,. Subsidence, probably Hard, grayish lime- , , T 1 j u * 0 J 1 , • whole Island, but r stone, underlain by arkose ! of the not all at once. Some volcanoes may have been active. Eocene Oligocene (a) Lower (b) Upper Miocene Pliocene? Pleistocene Limestone, glau- conitic sands, etc. Radiolarian earths Subsidence. Active volcanoes, causing interbedding of vol- canic and sedimentary rock. Probably intrusions also. f Deep subsidence of at least por- 1 tions of the Island. Submergence of the whole Island Limestones, calca- excepting occasional peaks reous marls, some 1 and lines of hills along the conglomerate Absent White limestone Elevated coral reefs containing recent species northern and southern por- tions of Santiago Province. Elevation, terracing and folding. Probably some volcanic activ- ity and connection with Yuca- tan and Haiti but not Jamaica. j Doubtfully a subsidence of about I 200 feet. Subsidence of 80 to 100 feet, then about equal elevation; sub- sequent subsidence of 40 to 70 feet. There may have been minor oscillations. 14 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB Since I already have indicated the general division of the Island into limestone and metamorphic rock areas, and as in the discussion of many- species further reference is made to the well-defined faunal differences to be seen in the resulting environments, it may be well to consider in more detail the different forms in which these major divisions present themselves. The Limestone Ranges As one stands at the Country Club in Marianao, a few* miles west of Havana, he may see near the horizon to the westward a steep sharp eminence, perhaps five hundred feet high. This is the little Sierra de Anafe, seen end-on. Now, although geologically speaking the narrow limestone ranges may be divided into several series, according to their age and altitude, still from the ecologic point of view they may well be grouped together. This little range, easily visited, yet little known, offers in miniature the conditions which one may find elsewhere on a vaster scale. The steep, sharp slopes are clothed with thick, thorny undergrowth and taller, ragged trees, sheltering Todies, Lizard Cuckoos and Black Finches. The rock, often exposed as bare, white cliffs, is everywhere near the surface. The summit in this case is a more or less flat plateau, cut by small streams into ravines, and into tiny hoyos, where in spite of wood-cutting a few Trogons may still be seen. These round hoyos, or sinks, with an area on the bottom of from a few feet to ten acres, and with sides, in some of the ranges, a thousand feet in depth, are a peculiar feature of Cuban mountains. Steep-sided and usually round, they often represent caves whose roofs have fallen in, allowing of fast solution and erosion. In other cases they may have some other sort of origin. In these hoyos the best tobacco in the whole wide world is grown, and if more certain proof of excellence is asked for, then why else would the Hoyo Pelenque have been cultivated for over a hundred years, when it is surrounded by cliffs which must be ascended or descended by more than seventy separate ladders, and when the oxen which plough the hoyo floor have to be carried in as calves and kept there their whole lives long. To be sure, the climber may listen to the Solitaire as he toils, no mean recompense for his labor. The top of the plateau is dog-tooth, or diente perro, the apt Spanish name for the limestone as it stands eroded into fantastic little pinnacles and knife blades, which ring out like glass under foot and which constantly N.O.C. Memoir v: I Plate II 1 Hills of Limestone near Sumidero. Pinar del Rio Province 2 Foothills of limestone near San Carlos de Luis Lazo, Pinar del Rio Province BIRDS OF CUBA 1 5 menace the corpulent explorer. The diente perro supports a surprising vegetation, considering its unpromising appearance, for it holds humus in its myriad shallow depressions and the roots of larger trees usually find little tunnels through which to extend. The seboruco formation on the aeolian limestone of the coast is likewise cut into diente perro. The Sierra de Anafe may be reached by trolley, and ascended from Caimito del Guayabal or Guanajay. The road passes through typical areas of rich cane land formed from the products of limestone erosion, with soil often stained a rich red or a deep black. Here cultivation is everywhere and the forest gone; a few ceibas are left with useful groves of royal palms and clumps of planted fruit trees, star apples, sops and mangos. The plains afford a rich and splendid panorama from the ridge. West of Havana, a few hours by rail brings one to the Sierra de los Organos, or farther still after ten or twelve hours of leisurely travel one comes to railhead at Guane whence the Sierra de Guaniguanico can be reached by cart or horseback. Indeed now Ford motor cars ply from Pinar del Rio City to the valleys of Vinales and Luis Lazo, so that typical high limestone ranges can be easily reached by the aggressive visitor. On these higher ridges the slender palma de la sierra raises its feathery crown on a stem as slender and true as the fairest wine-glass. The green-barked, bottle-trunked ceibon sticks from the cliffs, with a shabby crop of branches and with the trunk always looking as if it were moulded in green soap. Up in these hills there is no high forest, but a vegetation as bizarre, as fantastic, and as wholly satisfying to one who seeks a novel scene, as far vaster altitudes in Mexico or Costa Rica often fail to give. In the Organ Mountains are the hot springs of San Diego, and here an ancient inn offers reasonable cleanliness and memorable food and drink. At all these places, in March and April, the Solitaire may usually be heard, and the resident Warblers, Vireos, Flycatchers and Icterids abound, with some of the rarer forms as well. Eastward from Havana, within the Province, and southward toward Batabano there are many little limestone hills, and near Matanzas the famous Pan, visible far at sea, is a prominent mark. In Santa Clara there is a great massif, not a range, of limestone hills rising to about three thousand feet in El Potrerillo near Trinidad, and extending to near Cumanayagua and Manicaragua. In the Province of Camaguey there are flat limestone plains, as in the other Provinces too, and only one small sierra, de Cubitas, north of the City. The easternmost Province is almost wholly hills, and these are mostly limestone, at least on the upper slopes. l6 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB The Savannas and Lomas The railway to Pinar del Rio passes through great rolling plains or flat vales, with a poor variety of woody plants except along the cut-down river- beds, but with an abundant growth of bottle palms or barrigonas. Wire grass and bottle palms cover the flat savannas, and west of Pinar del Rio, where the schists are lifted up into high rounded hills, there are extensive open groves of pines. These reach westward through the Acostas hills and afford a last refuge to the rare little Pine Crows, and still support a good many Cranes as well. Bird life is sparse — the Pine Warblers, a few Woodpeckers, Meadowlarks and little else. East of Havana, however, for instance about Madruga, the savannas support a more varied flora. Many fan palms of several species are mixed with tall palmettos, while acacias and guava bushes, mostly escapes from cultivation, now occur far and wide. Over such savannas Palm Swifts may always be seen. Farther eastward, about Jobabo, the saos are thickly forested with tall spindly palmettos and some bush (manigua), for here in Oriente the greater rainfall makes even these sterile wastes somewhat more available for plant growth. In the highlands of Mayari there are other high pine areas. The Lowland Forest The lowland forest in earlier times grew both on the flat limestone plains and on the red-and-black soil which is calcareous detritus stained with mineral salts or humus. Once widespread, now it is nearly all cut off. In a few places, as on the eastern shore of the Ensenada de Cochinos, the forest grows on the sparsely covered aeolian limestone rock of the coast, the diente perro appearing here and there on the forest floor. One wonders here how such sparse soil, howsoever rich, could have supported woods, BIRDS OF CUBA IJ of which a few real forest giants remain and from which scattered sticks of rarest cabinet timber have been cut and hauled out for years. This removal of these trees does not greatly affect the character of the forest, for in the tropics trees grow in infinite variety, the various individuals of each species widely scattered and not in pure stands as with us. See the fine description in Walter Wilcox's 'Among the Mahogany Forests of Cuba' (Nat. Geogr. Mag., vol. 19, pp. 485-498, pis. and text figs., 1908). Unfortunately this type of forest on rock was not very widespread; for while areas here and there may show enough soil to make clearing for cane planting possible, still, in general, such areas are more likely to be kept to supply charcoal and railway ties after the big mahogany has been cut out. This at least is a slower process of destruction. The other lowland forest grew on the rich soil washed from the carved and eroded limy rocks, out over the valleys and plains of the northern and southern coastal regions and of many central districts as well. This land is of fabulous fertility. The Trinidad Valley includes areas which have been under cane probably almost continuously for well over a hundred years. Near Guanajay I saw the beginnings of borings for oil. The top soil was nearly seventy feet deep, and earth from this level put into a seed-bed supported a growth just as luxuriant as soil taken from near the surface. The forest on such lands as these was largely cut in early Colonial days, and now not much remains, none on the deep heavy soil and but little where even a thin covering of earth overlies the cascajo, as the flat smooth limy deposits, just underground, are called. One must not, however, suppose that these great areas of cane are quite unbroken. The ceibas remain, and so do the groves, often of thousands, of royal palms. Deserted manor sites, and even spots where once stood some tiny peasant's hut, are marked by great umbrageous mango trees and other cultivated species useful for food or affording a welcome shade. Little mogotes or bits of seboruco, where the reef-rock, slightly uplifted and exposed, makes a few acres impossible to cultivate, afford scattered opportunities for wild plants to persist, and these features give variety to almost every view. And more- over, there are but few places where some one or more of the highland ranges may not be seen on the horizon, so that the scenery is rarely common- place or wholly monotonous. About the larger towns and cities, where there are many small dairy farms and truck gardens, the orchard growth may be almost continuous and may appear at first sight to be a natural forest somewhat cut over and cleared of undergrowth. l8 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB The Lakes and Swamps Further on, in speaking of the Ruddy and Masked Ducks and the Glossy Ibis, I describe rather fully Lake Ariguanabo and the Zapata Swamp. The former is the largest lake in a country where subterranean drainage is so extensive that lakes are few and small. There are in western Cuba a good many little ponds, an acre or two in extent, and as these are usually not entirely permanent they show open water. The permanent lakes are wholly covered with water lettuce, water hyacinths and floating islands of willows and custard apples. The lake surface appears then as a green plain with scattered clumps of trees. A high wind, however, will move the islands about, and even crowd up and blow ashore enough of the floating plants to leave a large area of open water which may persist for weeks or longer before it is gradually reinvaded by the spreading plants. The lakes vary greatly in area, too, from the dry to the rainy season. In the great Cienaga the superficial growth of vegetation over the oozy mass below is sometimes strong enough to bear a man, but the going is unsafe. Much of the surface of this swamp is composed of enormous floating areas of bulrushes or saw-grass, and these are quite impenetrable. There is a swampy area just south of Cardenas, which in Gundlach's time supported a typical Cienaga flora and fauna, but which today has been greatly decreased by drainage. Although I believe that a few of the true Swamp Redwings were still to be observed there in 1917, since then I have heard that the swamp has been almost drained away. To sum up then, the visitor who motors from Havana to either Pinar del Rio or Matanzas, may expect to see Grebes, Jaganas and Gallinules in the small pasture ponds by the roadside. In orchards and farmyards Blackbirds, Grackles, Cuban Orioles, Centurus Woodpeckers, Ground Doves and perhaps a Blue Thrush, may reasonably be hoped for. Grassquits are common by the roadside, in thickets, and Anis, Cuban Meadowlarks and Cuban Mourning Doves in open pastures. Palm Swifts are seen flying overhead while passing wide savannas where Zenaida Doves, Cuban Mockingbirds and Quail should be watched for. Short walks to hillside jungles may reveal Lizard Cuckoos, Todies, a possible Trogon, the native Warblers and Vireos, Black Finches and Green Woodpeckers. However, as an examination of the notes on each species will show, many BIRDS OF CUBA 19 of the birds are shy and restricted in distribution, and can be seen only by making special and well directed effort. Hosts of migrants may be observed everywhere. It will also be a comfort to many visitors to learn that there are no poisonous snakes in Cuba, although insect pests, especially the red- bugs and ticks, will probably surprise many pedestrians by their local abundance, and beyond doubt will discourage the majority after one good noonday walk in the thick scrub. CLIMATE Many books of a popular nature have been written for the Northern traveller, so but little need be said under this caption. It should be emphasized, however, that official temperatures taken under the protected conditions prescribed, give no idea of the heat which the explorer encounters. January, February and March are charming. The sky is clear, the sun hot, the shade cool, and the nights delightful. Every few weeks a norther freshens the air over the Island, and sometimes brings the temperature down to 550 or 6o° F., which seems fearfully frigid. For windows are wide and glass is rare outside of Havana. From April to December the heat is very great, and while the oft-repeated remark is heard, that it is never as hot as in New York in summer, still this is only partly true. It seldom goes over 920 at noon, indoors, but it approaches this figure very closely every day, and at night there is no very marked change. In the open country and in the street really high temperatures may be found. This is mentioned simply in the interest of accuracy, not because the heat is unhealthful, or especially unpleasant to any one who loves the tropics. It is quite the reverse. The Spaniards built their cities too crowded, and their narrow streets, while easily shaded with awnings above, admit no draughts of air. Their houses, on the contrary, they built far and away better than English, French, or Dutch. The high stud, — rooms of thirty feet are not rare, — the thick walls, the large high windows and doors, make perfect tropical houses, and the wonder is that only recently have they been copied. The Island as a whole is now extraordinarily healthful. Yellow fever is gone; hook-worm has but small hold; filariasis is much rarer than else- where in the West Indies; but malaria is ever a problem. In portions of 20 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB central Cuba and the lowlands of Oriente there are still many foci of severe malarial infection, often of the most pernicious aestivo-autumnal type. Therefore all the usual precautions should be observed, especially about plantations and farms recently cleared. Generally speaking, the savanna lands are free from malaria except where infected mosquitos may be blown in for short distances, probably rarely more than a mile or two at most. In this paper I have assumed that the bird lover in Cuba will recognize readily the American migrants and those resident species which are identical, or nearly so, with North American species, such for instance as may be studied readily with Chapman's 'Handbook of the Birds of Eastern North America.' For the others, when possible, a few brief recognition marks are given, which should serve to identify the species in the field. The Cuban names of birds given are those in common present use among the country people, who often are good observers. The English names are, so far as possible, those used by foreign residents, who rarely are good observers. I have made no attempt to coin vulgar names where none are in ordinary use, except in a few cases where such names are obvious. It is impossible to thank all of my hospitable friends, both Cuban and American, for help and advice, but a few must surely be mentioned. First and foremost, Carlos de la Torre, Rector of the National University and an Honorary Doctor of Harvard, has been a warm friend for many years. The Dean of Latin-American zoologists, erudite, patient and endowed with a memory beyond belief, his first-hand knowledge of every branch of Cuban zoology has always been put to my aid. Sefior don Francisco Morales at the Cienaga, Dr. Charles T. Ramsden at Guantanamo, Mr. Shaler Williams at Guayabal, Mr. Walter Wilcox at the Ensenada de Cochinos and Mr. Edwin Atkins and his family at Soledad, have all been most hospitable. Professors A. Mestre and Jose Cadenas have frequently aided me, Dr. Victor Rodriguez has been often a most agreeable and helpful companion, and Mr. R. M. Grey of the Atkins-Harvard Botanical Station, as well as Mr. Hughes and many others at Soledad, have shown me many, many favors. Officials, officers of the Rural Guard and a host of others have often been generously useful, and all these have sincerest thanks. My thanks are due and are given in full measure, pressed down and running over, to my friends Outram Bangs and Charles F. Batchelder. BIRDS OF CUBA 21 The former has guided me through the intricate maze of transitory change in the ornithological nomenclature, fashionable for the moment; the other has labored to render my verbiage into human speech. Glover M. Allen and James Lee Peters also have often given me much advice and assistance. I want also to express a hope and make an admission. If my friend C. T. Ramsden would only write up his lifelong experience with the birds of the savanna of Santiago and the Guantanamo basin, no more valuable record of Cuban bird life could ever be expected and I should be the first to confess myself presumptuous to have attempted this present piece of work except in so far as it applied to species which being western in their distribution have not come into Ramsden's ken. May he undertake it at once. I, myself, now feel the force of "fools rush in where angels fear to tread." ANNOTATED LIST OF THE BIRDS OF CUBA i. Colymbus dominicus dominicus Linne. Antillean Grebe; Saramagullon Chico. A Grebe similar in appearance to the Northern Pied-billed Grebe, but decidedly smaller. Cuba, being largely a limestone country with underground drainage, has very few lakes and ponds. Places suitable for nesting Grebes are not often seen. This bird is decidedly uncommon, probably not more so today than formerly. I have seen it in small ponds generally in Pinar del Rio, and less often elsewhere. 2. Podilymbus podiceps (Linne). Pied-billed Grebe; Saramagullon. Todd is beyond doubt correct in merging Bangs' race, antillarum, with the parent species. The Pied-billed Grebe is a somewhat rare bird, but more often seen than the preceding. In Lake Ariguanabo and Lake Bacuranao there are always a few pairs, as well as in the lakes of the great Cienaga de Zapata. Elsewhere there are only scattered birds in the little ponds. The Grebes 24 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB do not seem to adapt themselves to the 'bonnet beds' and dense fields of water hyacinth and lettuce, the way the Masked and Ruddy Ducks have done. They apparently prefer open water. While I was at Lake Ariguanabo with Lord William Percy in January, 1920, we saw several downy young. Gundlach called attention to the fact that Grebes in Cuba nest at very various times. 3. Oceanites oceanicus (Kuhl). Wilson's Petrel; Pampero. Gundlach saw some Petrels, which he fed in the wake of a schooner, with cut bits of dolphin (Coryphaena). He fails, however, to say how near the Cuban coast these birds really were. I never have seen any Petrels on my very many journeys about the coast or between Key West and Havana. So far I have looked in vain for the Black-capped Petrel, observed by several naturalists recently in waters not far from the Florida Strait. 4. Puffinus lherminieri lherminieri Lesson. Audubon's Shearwater; Pampero. There is no evidence that Audubon's Shearwater breeds about the Cuban coast, as it does in the Bahamas. It is often seen off shore, and frequently has been found inland after hurricanes. 5. Phaethon lepturus catesbyi Brandt. Tropic Bird; Rabijunco. In 191 3 I visited Cabo Cruz, and found the breeding colony of this species which Gundlach recorded, still in existence. It appears to be the only one in Cuba. In the spring of 1922, while sailing past the Farallones de Maisi, I observed a single pair flying toward the shore. BIRDS OF CUBA 25 6. Sula leucogastra leucogastra (Boddaert). Booby; Pajaro Bobo. A few Boobies nested formerly, according to Gundlach, on Cayo Mono Grande. I have seen none about Cardenas recently. There is, however, a large nesting colony on Cayo Piedras, in the Ensenada de Cochinos, where Brooks and I secured several specimens on our visit to Caleta Rosario on the Ensenada. 7. Sula sula sula (Linne). White Booby; Pajaro Bobo. I have but seldom seen White Boobies off the Cuban coast. Gundlach apparently saw them too often to cause much comment. He never secured specimens except once after a cyclone, when some were blown inland to Camarioca. 8. Phalacrocorax auritus floridanus (Audubon). Florida Cormorant; Corua. This is the Cormorant that sits on every buoy about the Cuban coast. It is the most characteristic water bird seen on coasting trips among the cays or from Batabano to Nueva Gerona in the Isle of Pines. The nests are almost always in the mangroves, in colonies, and eggs have been found from June into September. 26 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 9. Phalacrocorax vigua mexicanus (Brandt). Fresh-water Cormorant; Corua. This Cormorant appears somewhat smaller than the Florida Cormorant, but the principal differences are evident only upon direct comparison. It is much more uncommon than the other, and is more generally found in fresh-water lakes or in deep brackish estuaries, where, however, it is far from rare. In March, 191 5, Mr. J. L. Peters shot a fine series in the Laguna de Centeno, near Nipe Bay. Gundlach killed but three isolated individuals during his many years of diligent collecting. It is very rare in the Isle of Pines. I have seen small flocks on the lower Rio Hanabana, so tame that they could be photographed from the shore. 10. Anhinga anhinga (Linne). Water-turkey; Snake-bird; Marbella. The Snake-bird is much less common than might be expected. Perhaps the fact that for some strange reason their flesh is esteemed, has helped bring this about. Even as in Florida, they are not partial to mangroves, and they are seen in isolated pairs along the still waters of streams and rivers and more abundantly about the very few large lakes. 11. Fregata magnificens Mathews. Frigate-bird; Rabihorcado. There are several Man-o-War bushes reported about Cuba. One is in the cays of the Doce Leguas Archipelago. I have seen Frigate-birds either roosting or nesting on a small cay off Cayo Romano, which, however, I did not visit. Ramsden speaks of several nests being found December 23, 1910, in a large mangrove tree at Puerto Escondido a few miles east of Guantanamo Bay (Auk, vol. 28, p. 254, 191 1). BIRDS OF CUBA 27 Frigate-birds are of course seen everywhere about the shores of the whole Island. Several individuals tamely visit Havana harbor almost daily. They are sometimes seen crossing the Island high in the air — fleeing bad weather, Gundlach thought. As a matter of fact, they undoubtedly can see both coasts from the great heights at which they often sail. 12. Pelecanus erythrorhynchus Gmelin. White Pelican. I often have seen the fine White Pelican in the Gundlach collection, preserved in the Institute of Secondary Education in Obispo Street, Havana. I know of no other record. 13. Pelecanus fuscus Linne. Brown Pelican; Alcatraz. Found generally about the cays of the Cuban coast and shores where there are sandy beaches. A few years ago Pelicans fished regularly in Havana harbor and off the Malecon; latterly they have been less regular visitants. They are most abundant oft" the north coasts of Matanzas, Santa Clara and Camaguey Provinces, probably because their principal breeding ground is Cayo Mono Grande, near Cardenas. They do not seem to be subject tomuch present persecution, and probablyare decreasing little, if at all, in numbers. 14. Ardea herodias repens Bangs and Zappey. Great Blue and Great White Heron; Garcilote or Garcilote Blanco. There is, it must be admitted, still some uncertainty as to whether Ardea herodias adoxa Oberholser is simply the blue phase of Bangs' race, 28 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB or whether it is distinct. The probability, on purely biological grounds, is that the two names should be merged. Nevertheless, whether by chance or for some definite reason, the Great White Herons seem to outnumber the Great Blues about the coast cays, while the reverse condition is generally true of inland fresh waters. Today the Great Blue Heron is decidedly more rare than during Gundlach's time. It is, however, still common in the Zapata Swamp, but very shy. White birds have been observed in the Swamp, and of course Great Blues are often seen along the coast where the shores are muddy and fringed with mangroves. The white birds are more abundant among the cays off the coast between Caibarien and Punta de Judas than almost anywhere else. 15. Egretta alba egretta (Gmelin). American Egret; Garzon. While a few Greater Egrets were seen in 191 5 near the Estero de Juan Hernandez on the south coast of Camaguey, and also in the Cienaga on several recent visits, nevertheless the bird is tremendously reduced in numbers and plume-hunting is still carried on in retired localities. There is no sentiment against the use of plumage on millinery in Cuba, and plumes, not only from Cuba but from Central America and from northern South America, find a ready sale in Havana. 16. Egretta thula thula (Molina). Snowy Egret; Garza Blanca. This beautiful bird is now extremely rare. Mr. J. L. Peters collected one (M. C. Z., no. 67,190), at Nipe Bay in March, 191 5. It is still occasion- ally to be seen about the cays of the coast, but is now almost never observed in the fresh-water swamps. BIRDS OF CUBA 29 17. Dichromanassa rufescens (Gmclin). Reddish Egret; Garza. Not uncommon about the mangroves of the coast and adjacent archi- pelagos, nor is it greatly reduced from its former status. It was observed abundantly about the west-shore marls of the Ensenada de Cochinos in 191 5. It is very variable in color. 18. Hydranassa tricolor ruficollis (Gosse). Louisiana Egret; Garza. This is still a very abundant species in all suitable localities. 19. Florida caerulea (Linne). Little Blue Heron; Garza. The most common of all the Cuban Herons. Abundant about all waterways, ponds and swamps, as well as about the muddy coast. Little Blue Herons are, as Gundlach first pointed out, sometimes to be seen in the fields in search of lizards and insects. 20. Butorides virescens maculatus (Boddaert). Green Heron; Aguaita Caiman. Oberholser's work (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 42, pp. 529-577, 191 2) on the West Indian Green Herons, in which they are separated into no less than eight ill-defined forms, surely has served no useful purpose. Todd (Birds of the Isle of Pines, pp. 182-185) has offered some comments 30 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB upon this work, and has also made reference to the Swan Island 'race.' The most reasonable plan is to consider that West Indian birds together may be recognized as a race, for which, as Riley first proposed (Smiths. Misc. Coll., vol. 47, p. 278, 1904), the name maculatus of Boddaert, is available. Should the Cuban bird be separable, which it almost certainly is not, then Lembeye's name brunnescens is applicable to the subspecies. For this is not a separate valid species, in spite of the arguments advanced by Todd. Its habits, notes, etc., are not dissimilar from the common Green Heron's, and on February 27, 191 5, J. L. Peters killed what he felt sure was a mated pair and found the two types of coloration typically represented. The ' 'brunnescens' phase is also shown by a fine adult (M. C. Z., no. 72,982) from the Madeira Hammock, Florida, in the Howe-Shattuck collection, while a young bird from Quintana Roo, Mexico, (M. C. Z., no. 60,679) is almost similarly typical of this handsome aberration. Thus it is evident that it may appear sporadically outside of Cuba. In Cuba it is similarly sporadic in occurrence, but less uncommon. Ramsden has listed the records (Auk, vol. 28, p. 367, 191 1). It is wholly probable that if by chance two individuals of the 'brunnescens' type should mate, the young might all exhibit this type of coloration, while possibly it acts as a Mendelian recessive in mixed matings. In Cuba Green Herons are found under the same sort of conditions as with us here in New England, but some birds during drought — and perhaps occasional individuals at all times — visit upland pastures where they hunt lizards and large insects. 21. Nycticorax nycticorax naevius (Boddaert). Black-crowned Night Heron; Guanaba. I never have found the Black-crowned Night Heron a common bird, although I have seen a few individuals on each of four visits to the Zapata Swamp. It is much less abundant than the following form. 22. Nyctanassa violacea jamaicensis (Gmelin). West Indian Yellow-crowned Night Heron; Guanaba. This Night Heron is widespread and abundant. Both it and the preceding species are very much more shy in Cuba than in Florida, and BIRDS OF CUBA 3 I it is not unlikely that the fact that the Cuban guajiros (peasants) consider them excellent eating may account for this. Nevertheless, for some reason or other, the birds are shy in the safest and most unfrequented localities. 23. Ixobrychus exilis exilis (Gmelin). Least Bittern. While hunting Rails in the Cienaga de Zapata and about Lake Ariguanabo I often have flushed Least Bitterns, which appear to be not uncommon in suitable situations. They are known to breed in Cuba, and there is a question as to whether all the birds observed are not really residents, although no distinctive characters have ever been found. 24. Botaurus lentiginosus (Montagu). Bittern; Guanaba. During the winter months Bitterns are often flushed from reed beds and saw-grass. They retire northward in late April. By the people they are confused with the two species of Night Heron. 25. Ajaia ajaja (Linne). Spoonbill; Sevilla. Now a very rare bird. I know of no rookery in Cuban territory. Single birds occasionally are seen in company with White Ibises and the smaller Herons along the less frequented coast regions, where there are mud-flats. There are thus a few about San Juan de los Perros and Punta de Judas, about Cayo Romano, Cayo Coco and the esteros of the south coast. I observed a few small bands among the marly salt-ponds and mangrove sloughs of the wild and low-lying western shore of Cochinos Bay, the least-visited corner of the entire Republic. There are still a few about Nipe Bay. 32 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB The Spoonbills are very shy and much reduced in numbers as compared with Gundlach's time, and as they cannot hope for sympathetic protection, or for enforced protection even if laws are passed, they are surely doomed. 26. Eudocimus albus (Linne). White Ibis; Coco Blanco. White Ibises were reported by Gundlach to exist in incredible bands in many parts of the country. Now they are much reduced, although in no immediate danger of extinction. I have seen bands of no mean size along the wild northern coast of Pinar del Rio, about Palo Alto and elsewhere along the south coast of Camaguey, in the Zapata Swamp and among the cays of the north coast. They are, however, much rarer in Cuba than in Florida, and many days will pass while one is constantly moving about suitable localities when only an occasional singleton will be seen. Its flesh is considered very delicate, which it really is. 27. Plegadis falcinellus falcinellus (Linne). Glossy Ibis; Coco Prieto. For several years I made annual trips to a plantation called San Francisco, near Sarabanda, Gundlach's old headquarters for exploring the Zapata Swamp. The proprietor, don Francisco Morales, offered me most courteous hospitality, and daily his horses carried me down along the course of the Rio Hanabana to where this river flowed out into the great Swamp. The morass itself is bordered by a wide area of open country with scattered clumps of palms and hardwood 'cayos,' the word here being equivalent to the Floridian hammock. This border zone slopes gently toward the Swamp and is wider or narrower as the rains cause the whole Cienaga to rise or lower. The inner marshes of the Cienaga in general consist of an enormous deposit of silt, held partially in suspension and N. C. 0. Memoir VI Plate III * H .-*» Three stages in turning virgin forest into cane fields, Cienaga de Zapata BIRDS OF CUBA 33 resting on a firm, shallow, limestone basin or substratum. Among them are a few open lakes, but generally the ooze supports a sort of half-floating vegetation of grass and reeds, with clumps of willows, and many of the pools are so choked with aquatic vegetation that they show no open water at all. This enormous territory offers tempting soil and is in imminent danger of being completely drained. It has been reduced in size already by drainage. When cane is planted in the Cienaga, the last chapter will be written in the Cuban history of the Glossy Ibis and other splendid birds. Day after day I rested late in the afternoon under some trees which allowed uninterrupted vision far out over the open marsh, and watched for the bands of Ibises which fed regularly along the drier shores, where in fact cattle also wandered to eat the succulent hyacinths stranded along the marge. Nor man nor beast dared venture far out on the tembladera, for this skim of vegetation rippled and sagged, and to break through spelt oblivion. The Ibises came regularly from the southwestern horizon in wavering lines, perhaps three or four hundred in all. They alit upon the tembladera and began to work shoreward. Their method of progression was always the same — the birds behind hopping up, flapping a half dozen aletazos (wing-beats), and then alighting just in front of the foremost of the walking band. This was constantly repeated as the birds ran along, probing the deep vegetation for snails and insects. They were really shy, and it was only after uncomfortable hiding and interminable waiting that a few specimens were secured. Usually the bands would jump into the air as one bird, and wheel about, when their line of progress in feeding brought them dangerously near a clump of trees. I believe this is the only band, or at least part of the only colony, in Cuba. Gundlach only once saw a flock, also in the Cienaga, and saw a young bird in a lake near Cardenas and once got one from the Havana market. It has been recorded also only once from the Province of Oriente (Ramsden, Auk, vol. 30, p. 368, 1913.) I have not been to San Francisco de Morales since 191 5, and that year clearing the forest about the edge of the open country had begun (see Plate III). This forest, then the home of bands of Parrots and one of the last resorts of the rarer Ground Pigeons, is probably now wholly felled. The Plegades, however, probably nest in some small 'cayo' far out in the Cienaga, out of sight of land, so to speak; and until the Swamp is drained they probably are safe from extermination. In fact their band probably will survive longer than the tiny remnant of the birds which formerly were seen in Florida. When I was a boy, bands of Glossy Ibis passed daily up and down over Lake Washington and along the upper St. John's River. Today the bird has wholly disappeared from this entire territory. 34 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 28. Mycteria americana Linne. Wood Ibis; Cayama. Gundlach has recorded the Wood Ibis from about Cardenas and from the Cienaga, where he writes that it lives in the extremest inner 'cayos' and visits the edge of the Swamp only with the coming of the rains. I have seen a few individuals about the lake called Punta Gorda near the mouth of the Rio Hanabana, and a few about the lakes in the saw-grass east from Caleta Rosario on the eastern shore of Cochinos Bay. They are very shy, and they will not be reduced in numbers until the Swamp is drained, — or until the natives learn really to aim a rifle. 29. Phoenicopterus ruber Linne. Flamingo: Flamenco. There are still several colonies of Flamingoes about the Cuban coast. There are a few in Nipe Bay, a larger number about the shores of Cayo Romano, Cayo Coco and the Isle of Turiguano. There are colonies scattered along the south coast from the Zapata Peninsula to the mouth of the Rio Cauto, but they are extinct, I believe, in the Isle of Pines. Everywhere they are occasionally killed for food. 30. Mergus serrator Linne. Red-breasted Merganser. Gundlach records a single specimen, bought in the Havana market. It is now mounted in the Gundlach collection in the Havana Institute. BIRDS OF CUBA 35 31. Lophodytes cucullatus (Linne). Pheasant Duck; Hooded Merganser. A rare winter resident. It appears occasionally in the markets of the larger cities, especially Havana and Matanzas. I have seen it once on the lower Rio Hanabana in 191 5. 32. Anas boschas boschas Linne. Mallard; Pato Ingles. We know of the Mallard in the literature only from Gundlach's record of a flock which appeared near Cardenas in 1850. The professional duck hunters of Mariel and Lake Ariguanabo, however, all know the species as the Pato Ingles, and it probably appears sporadically from time to time. 33. Anas carolinensis Gmelin. Green- winged Teal; Pato de la Florida. A few are killed in the autumn as they pass Cuba on migration. 34. Anas strepera Linne. Gadwall. Gundlach once received a single specimen, sent to the Havana market for sale and purchased for him by a friend. 36 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 35. Anas americana Gmelin. Widgeon; Pato Lebanco. The Widgeon arrives in Cuba regularly every winter, and I have seen small bands on various occasions on Lake Ariguanabo and Lake Punta Gorda in the Cienaga. It often is shot in the estuaries about Mariel, Bahia Honda and Cabanas, west of Havana. 36. Anas discors Linne. Blue-winged Teal; Pato de la Florida. The most abundant migrant Duck. It arrives in Cuba in early September and appears there often in great hosts, coming at evening to the fresh-water ponds. The day probably is spent about the inaccessible mangrove swamps of the coast. None are known to stay and nest. 37. Anas cyanoptera Vieillot. Cinnamon Teal. Recorded once from Cuba by V. J. Rodriguez, when in January, 1917, a single bird was shot at Lake Ariguanabo and sent to Havana for sale. The mounted specimen is now preserved in the Poey Museum of the National University, Havana (Mem. Soc. Cubana Hist. Nat., 'Felipe Poey,' vol. II, p. 223, 1917). 38. Spatula clypeata (Linne). Spoonbill Duck; Cuchareta. A few Spoonbill Ducks arrive in Cuba every autumn, and retire northward in April. They usually are associated with bands of Blue- BIRDS OF CUBA 37 winged Teal, and they have the same habit of appearing in the lakes at dusk and of taking refuge either at sea or in the mangrove swamps of the coast during the day. 39. Dafila acuta tzitzihoa (Vieillot). Pintail; Pescuezilargo. A fair few appear every winter, not in large flocks but, as Gundlach says, "in families." Their habits are similar to those of the Spoonbill Duck in many respects, but they often spend more of their time in the mangrove lagoons. 40. Paecilonitta bahamensis bahamensis (Linne). Bahama Pintail. Gundlach once killed a male in a lake near Sagua la Grande. It would not be surprising if further exploration showed that the Bahama Duck appeared from time to time along the little-known north coast of the Oriental Province. 41. Aix sponsa (Linne). Wood Duck; Huyuyu. The Wood Duck is resident in Cuba, but no differences can be detected in Cuban specimens; they appear absolutely typical. It is equally abundant in summer and winter, and few, if any, migrants arrive. The Ducks nest in broken palm trunks, either standing or fallen, and in other stumps or hollow trees as well. Although in general they are partial to shady streams and narrow, sluggish rivers, we shot several specimens when I was collecting at Lake Ariguanabo with Lord William Percy in 1920. The Wood Duck is so esteemed for its excellent flesh that it is in real danger of extermination, and today it is very far from being a common bird, less abundant even than ten years ago. 38 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 42. Nyroca valisineria (Wilson). Canvas-back. Gundlach reports that in 1842 and 1850, a few Canvas-backs appeared in Lake Ariguanabo. I never have seen one in Cuba. 43. Nyroca affinis (Eyton). Little Bluebill; Cabezon. A winter visitor to the larger, open lakes. On almost every visit to Lake Ariguanabo I have seen large flocks cutting about at sundown 44. Nyroca collaris (Donovan). Ring-necked Duck. The Ring-necked Duck appears almost every year in numbers about equal to those of the Little Bluebill, according to Gundlach. As a matter of fact, I believe that the species are often confused by the local gun- ners and that this one is very decidedly the rarer of the two. It certainly appears nowadays much less often in the Havana market, which I often have visited daily to examine the 'game' exposed for sale. 45. Charitonetta albeola (Linne). BUFFLEHEAD. A rare accidental visitor. Gundlach once got one in the Havana market. BIRDS OF CUBA 39 46. Erismatura jamaicensis (Gmelin). Ruddy; Pato Espinoso. The Ruddy Duck breeds regularly in Lake Ariguanabo, and, so far as I know, at this station only. It is, however, far from improbable that there are other small colonies breeding in the lakes of the Cienaga, such as the Laguna del Tesoro. The Ruddies and Masked Ducks act very peculiarly in Cuba, and have adopted customs which are admirably protective in this peculiar environment. They ordinarily swim about, entirely submerged or with only the beak out of water. When they rest on the surface it is almost always among the melanguetas, the great upstand- ing lotus-like bonnet leaves, which afford effective shelter. They never — or almost never — fly, and are very rarely seen resting or swimming in open water, for there are little open areas in this great garden of floating plants which mask the fact that this is really a lake, — large and deep, — in spite of the little water that is visible. The pot-hunting guajiros who live about the lake have an uncanny skill in shooting the birds. They push about in tiny pirogues with a long bamboo pole, as silently and as fast as possible. They thus surprise the Ducks resting among the bonnets, and the birds of course dive and swim away. The only visible sign is a slight agitation of the bonnet leaves — almost imperceptible except to the well-trained eye. The hunter shoots just ahead of this motion, and usually gets the Duck. There are many turtles in Ariguanabo; they shake the bonnet stalks just a bit more vigorously than do the Ducks — and I suppose that turtles are occasionally shot at. 47. Nomonyx dominicus (Linne). Masked Duck; Pato Agostero. -j What I have said about the Ruddy Duck applies equally to the Masked Duck. The name, Agostero, is derived from the reputed nesting in August and its becoming apparently more abundant at that time. It is rather less common in the big lake than the preceding species, but it occurs throughout the Island. Scattered pairs or very small colonies may be found in any pond large enough to support beds of saw-grass, bulrushes 40 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB and aquatic plants, in which the birds may hide. During the dry season at Lake Bacuranao, not far east of Havana, they are hunted with dogs which are taught to catch the birds, loath to leave their haunts even when low water strands the floating vegetation which gives, such excellent refuge when well afloat. I remember one afternoon in April, 191 5, the train bound for Guane stopped for repairs not far from Consolacion del Sur, and the long delay allowed me adequate opportunity to watch a pair of Agosteros swimming about in a tiny pond in a nearby pasture, which was certainly less than an acre in extent. Never before or since have I seen Masked Ducks so confiding, and since that time I never passed that little pond on many journeys to and fro without hope of a repetition of this unique opportunity, but so far no second chance has been vouchsafed. I have seen Masked Ducks very occasionally in the ponds in the Cienaga, but all of the large series which we have in the Museum of Comparative Zoology was got from the two lakes Ariguanabo and Bacuranao. It is very unfortunate that it is about these two localities that the mongoose now fairly swarms. Introduced from Jamaica to Havana many years ago, it never has spread through Cuba with that rapidity which was so noteworthy elsewhere in the Antilles. The mongoose is no swimmer, but it creeps about the floating islands of willows and plays havoc with many Ducks' nests. Masked Ducks when sent to market are highly prized, but of course only a few find their way to the stalls of the game-sellers each year. The closed season on game, in Havana and Matanzas Provinces especially, is well enforced, the Rural Guards being entirely efficient in these populous portions of the Island. During our visit to the Lake in 1920 Lord William Percy, my companion, made extensive notes, covering about all the local information obtainable, from which he has kindly extracted the following: "According to local information, the Masked Ducks are much less secretive in late summer and autumn when the Lake is higher and provides less cover from view; in such conditions we were told that the Masked Ducks flew a good deal of their own accord, especially early and late in the day, and experience elsewhere with these birds did not suggest that they were difficult to flush, though they rarely flew farther than the nearest patch of cover. On the other hand local hunters agreed that, while the Masked Ducks took to wing quite frequently, the Ruddy Ducks never did so under any circumstances. This, if true, is remarkable, but it is possible that the Cuban race, being entirely stationary, may have developed a more skulking habit than that of the migratory race in Canada and the United States. (It certainly is a fact that the Erismaturas of the high Andean lakes are so unwilling to fly as to give an impression of incapacity BIRDS OF CUBA 41 to do so, for during several consecutive months of constant association with them I never saw one on the wing, though efforts were frequently made to induce them to fly.) "In Cuba the Ruddy Ducks were in full, new breeding dress on th e thirtieth of January, 1921, and were actually breeding on that date, whereas the male Masked Ducks were in full moult and young birds were obtained which appeared to be from four to five months old. We were told that this bird bred in August and was locally known as 'Agostero' for that reason. "The call of the male Masked Duck is very distinctive, ' kirri-kirroo, kirri kirroo, kirroo, kirroo, kirroo,' and the bird has a curious habit of responding like a cock Pheasant to such noises as the banging of a punt- pole on the water or an explosion in the distance. The female makes a short hissing noise, repeated several times. "No first-hand information was collected with regard to these birds' nesting habits, but a local hunter pointed out several nests which he said were those of Masked Ducks. According to him, the nests were always placed amongst short, round rushes, and contained from five to six eggs but never any down at all." 48. Dendrocygna arborea (Linne). Tree Duck; Yaguasa. Tree Ducks may be told by their rather long legs and neck and some- what goose-like appearance. Gathering the eggs of the Yaguasa is regularly practised in Cuba. The Tree Ducks nest, off and on, all summer, and build in many situations. The nest often is placed in a bunch of bromelias or airplants, curujeyes they are called in Cuba, or on a big limb covered with Spanish moss or in hollow stumps. The eggs sell for twenty cents each, and fanciers far and wide over the Island hatch them under domestic poultry and raise the Ducks for pets. In yard or patio they serve a useful purpose, for they break up fights among the domestic fowls and whistle at the approach of strangers. The cutting of the lowland forest has already very greatly reduced the number of Tree Ducks, and they are today gone from many localities where but a few years ago they were very abundant. There is only one 42 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB small band left at Ariguanabo. They pass the day in the great maciales, or bulrush beds, and fly forth at night to feed on the palmichi, the racemose fruit of the royal palms. About the Cienaga, and in retired situations of the less densely populated coastal regions, they still are abundant, retreating to the inner fastnesses of some swamp by day but at night sallying out to visit the palm groves in the cultivated plantations. The characteristic monosyllabic whistle is very agreeable and is mimicked by the native hunters to decoy the birds. The flesh is excellent, it is one of the most delicious of all game birds. However, it is one of the birds to which the market certainly should be closed, although of late years but very few are received. 49. Dendrocygna viduata (Linne). Black-masked Tree Duck. A very rare accidental visitor. Gundlach recorded four secured in the market at Santiago de Cuba, but gave no date. He also believed that once one was killed in the Zapata Swamp. 50. Chen hyperboreus nivalis (Forster). Greater Snow Goose; Guanana. Formerly an abundant winter visitor, arriving in October and staying until spring in the Zapata Swamp. Gundlach notes that the newly arrived birds are usually not very shy, and that year after year they pass to and fro over the same route from roost to feeding ground. A famous local hunter at Aguada de Pasajeros, Francisco Llorente by name, has told me, on many occasions on different visits, that Geese were fast growing very rare. During very many visits I have seen only three or four small family bands in flight over the Swamp. BIRDS OF CUBA 43 51. Chen caerulescens (Linne). Blue Goose; Guanana Prieta. I never have seen a Blue Goose in Cuba, but Gundlach records that a very few occasionally arrive in the autumn and return north in April. He observed a good many with the glasses, but killed, himself, only the one immature specimen now in the Institute in Havana. 52. Anser albifrons gambeli Hartlaub. White-fronted Goose. A rare but regular winter visitor to the Zapata Swamp. In Gundlach's time a few were received at the Havana market from other places. I have seen only one family, in March, 1916, near the mouth of the Rio Hanabana. 53. Cathartes aura aura (Linne). Turkey Buzzard; Aura or Aura Tinosa. The Turkey Buzzard occurs throughout the Island in countless numbers. It is so abundant, so tame and so well known, that it seems entirely unnecessary to dilate upon its habits. [Coragyps urubu urubu (Vieillot). Black Vulture. C. B. Cory recorded (Auk, vol. 8, p. 294, 1891) the Black Vulture as one of a list of species seen during a trip to Cuba in March and April of 1891. Gundlach never observed one, so far as his published notes show, nor have I ever seen or heard of one. Since Cory made no special mention of the species, he, beyond doubt, had no idea of the improb- ability of his record, and it may well be disregarded.] 44 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 54. Polyborus cheriway auduboni Cassin. Audubon's Caracara; Mexican Buzzard; Caraira. The Caraira is probably as abundant now as it ever was. Living in scattered pairs, and preferring open grazing lands to forest, it has a greater range than formerly. The sugar plantations perforce maintain large cattle ranches, as all cane still is hauled from the field to mill or railway by bulls. Thousands of head of cattle are raised for the Havana market, as well. The Cubans call the Caracara the King of the Buzzards {Rey de las Auras), because when a beast dies it is first to arrive and usually feeds alone. As a matter of fact its powerful beak and an undoubted preference for fresh meat, account adequately for this habit. The Buzzard is not powerful, and prefers, and can tear up easily, only meat which is softened by decay. I have several times seen Carairas chase large birds. Gundlach once saw one chase, tire out and kill a White Ibis. In dry weather they frequent pools, and feed voraciously upon the dead and dying fish. The flight is crow-like, direct, fast and with heavy noisy flappings. Gundlach notes that when frightened or irritated it gives a high-pitched shriek, but I believe that observation was made from Gundlach's famous pet which he raised from the nest and kept for fifteen years. The Caracara habitually rests perching, usually in the very top of a high tree or on some steep hillock. Often in the morning, or before sundown, it throws back its head until it almost touches its shoulders and gives its high, cackling cry which gave rise to the Brazilian name of Caracara, the Cuban Caraira, and the less apt Argentine name of Carancho. The nest, which I have seen but once, near Palo Alto, was among parasitic plants in a high tree. Gundlach says this is the usual site, but that palms sometimes are chosen. As with so many Cuban birds, the nesting season varies, and eggs have been found in November, December and March. My specimens from Cuba and the Isle of Pines differ in no wise from mainland examples collected from Florida to Panama. 55. Circus cyaneus hudsonius (Linne). Marsh Hawk. A common and widespread winter resident, the great majority seen always being young birds. It never has been known to nest. BIRDS OF CUBA 45 56. Accipiter gundlachii Lawrence. One of the rarest Hawks in the world. In Gundlach's time, he said, "Not rare in the woods but uncommon about cleared lands." He added that adults in full plumage were rarely seen, and that he had but once found the nest, in the Zapata Swamp, with young ready to fly. It is reported very harmful to poultry and of the swiftest flight. I know of no specimens having been collected for many years. Ramsden, a lifelong collector in the Guantanamo basin, had, in 191 5, in his collection only one old, inherited, mounted bird. I have seen Hawks on one or two occasions which I felt might be this species — several times near Cojimar — but I never have been near enough to chance a shot or to make a positive identification. This was a Hawk of the lowland forest, and it probably is well advanced on the road to complete extinction. 57. Accipiter fringilloides Vigors. This little Hawk is less rare than the preceding, and it has been taken within a few years upon Pico Turquino, near Yara, by R. H. Beck, during the Brewster-Sanford Expedition, while in search for nesting Petrels upon that mountain. I never have killed it, although I have seen it flying several times. The type was taken by MacLeay who lived near Guanabacoa. (For an account of his life in Cuba, see Mario Sanchez, Mem. Soc. Cubana Hist. Nat., 'Felipe Poey, ' vol. 2, p. 73, 1916.) Gundlach mentions killing a number of specimens, and among other localities he speaks of San Diego de los Bafios and Bayamo, both very familiar to me from various visits which, however, have never provided the opportunity to garner one of these much desired treasures. 58. Accipiter velox (Wilson). Sharp-shinned Hawk. Gundlach once killed two young Sharp-shinned Hawks at a coffee plantation in the Sierra de Yateras. He believed they had been hatched near by. He speaks of adults as being rare, but gives a description of 46 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB adult as well as juvenal plumage based on specimens. I have seen nothing of this bird on the Island. There is a chance that this is a case of mistaken identity, and that the very closely allied Accipiter fringilloides was the species that Gundlach really had. 59. Buteo borealis umbrinus Bangs. Florida Red-tailed Hawk; Gavilan del Monte. One of my first sights of Red-tailed Hawks was when in the Lomas de los Acostas, far in western Cuba, the peasant women called from ridge to ridge in the high open savanna hills the news that the Gavilanes del Monte were about. Other women then far and wide would come out from their tiny highland huts and call to their fowls the well-known warning. Red-tailed Hawks may be seen flying high in the air over any of the wilder parts of the Island, but they are especially common about the high lomas, the dry, sparsely grown granitic hills of Pinar del Rio. Here they have better chance to observe their prey than about the forested sierras. Birds from Cuba belong to the subspecies which is characteristic of Florida, and are indistinguishable from this form. 60. Buteo platypterus platypterus (Vieillot). Broad-winged Hawk. The Cuban Broad-winged Hawk is, according to Kirke Swann, not to be distinguished from mainland birds. On this account Burns's sub- specific name of cubanensis may be considered as invalid. This Hawk is far less rare than the Red-tailed, and more widely distributed. It is, however, disappearing with deforestation and is certain soon to be very rare. It is characteristic of the edges of the forests, and of quiet wood lanes, and is rarely seen near houses or plantations. It feeds usually on small birds, according to Gundlach, but Ramsden has recorded it catching minnows which were massed together in shallow pools after long drought (Auk, vol. 28, p. 485, 191 1). BIRDS OF CUBA 47 61. Urubitinga gundlachi (Cabanis). Cuban Crab Hawk; Batista. The Crab Hawks appear in the distance like very large Everglade Kites. In the field their color and method of flight are surprisingly alike — except that when flying high and wheeling these Hawks scale with motionless wings like the large Buteos. The Batista is one of the finest of Cuban birds. It flies impressively high in air, circling and whistling constantly its musical three-note call which has given rise to the native onomatopoeic name. The Crab Hawks are nowhere abundant, a pair here and another pair way yonder, in regions where there are heavy and extensive mangrove forests which shelter the great white crabs on which the Batistas feed. The Ensenada de Cochinos, the cays off the north coast of Camaguey and the west coast of the Isle of Pines, are the regions where Crab Hawks may most easily be observed. If there are any about, the crabs, all opened in characteristic fashion, will be found in the mangrove swamps. The Hawk pounces on the crab, gathers the legs and claws of each side in one of its feet, and reaching down removes the carapace by hooking the bill under its front edge. While hunting at dawn and early eve the birds fly low and are not shy at all, but at midday they circle hour after hour far in the blue. It is then that their whistling call can be heard for many miles. Gundlach has described the nest and eggs, and so also has Bangs (Auk, vol. 22, p. 307, 1905). 62. Chondrohierax wilsoni Cassin. Gavilan Caguarero. This Snail Kite is confined to that part of the Oriental region which supports the beautiful arboreal Helix picta, or caguayo, on which it feeds. I have seen its feeding places but once, and I owe the specimens now before me to my friend Charles T. Ramsden, who kindly collected them for me. His competent activity about extreme eastern Cuba has for years constrained me to explore other regions where no such vigorous local enthusiast was wont to work. Thus I have been brought in but little contact with this bird. Ramsden says it is very local, but — its haunts once found — it is easily secured on account of its stupid and confiding habits. 48 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 63. Rostrhamus sociabilis plumbeus Ridgway. Everglade Kite; Caracolero or Gavilan Caracolero. The Everglade Kite is common in the Cienaga where Ampullarias abound. It also is usually to be seen about Lake Ariguanabo, and was reported by Gundlach from ponds in the Cauto Valley. My old companion, Fermin Cervera, a former Spanish soldier now resident in Cuba, wrote me that on May 12, 191 5, he shot four "snail hawks," and on the same day found two nests, each containing their eggs. Those of one nest were almost ready to hatch, those of the other recently laid. Both nests were in a willow (Clavellina) tree in the middle of Lake Ariguanabo and were about a yard and a half above the water-level. The nests were well made of twigs and grasses. The eggs are now in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and are the first recorded for this bird from Cuba, for Gundlach never found it breeding. It comes and goes in a most inexplicable manner, and often on visits to Ariguanabo I have not seen a bird. Its flight is singularly like a Marsh Hawk's, only more flapping and labored. As is well known, its sole food consists of Ampullarias, snails which from dusk to dawn often swim with the foot expanded, hanging from the surface film of the water. The bird feeds at morn and eve, and has its regular stations where the snails are skilfully shucked unbroken, and where the heaps of shells accumulate and last many years. The Kites inevi- tably are growing rarer in Cuba, as in Florida, for draining goes on apace. 64. Elanoides forficatus forficatus (Linne). Swallow-tailed Kite. A very irregular visitor which I never have seen in Cuba. The following records are given by Gundlach. "Many years ago" several seen flying over a lake near Cardenas; "later" a skin made by a friend who shot one from a flock of about fifty seen near Bahia Honda; "observed" at Cienaga de Zapata. He then adds three more definite dates: In 1856, when a band appeared near the outskirts of Havana; five years later (1861), when one was killed near Havana; again in five years (1866), when another was killed east of Guanabacoa. BIRDS OF CUBA 49 65. Falco peregrinus anatum Bonaparte. Duck Hawk; Halcon.1 Recorded by Gundlach as an annual winter visitor from the United States. He writes that it tarries about the shores of lakes and swamps, ready to dash forth after Ducks, Coot or Gallinules. He also makes special mention of its change of speed in flight. I never have seen a single Duck Hawk in Cuba, and I conclude that now it must be very rare. 66. Falco columbarius columbarius Linne. Pigeon Hawk; Halconcito.1 The Pigeon Hawk is rare in Cuba and Gundlach doubted whether this typically migrant bird ever remained to breed, although Gosse had observed the nest in Jamaica — doubtless a very exceptional case. What then was my surprise on April 27, 191 5, when my friend Cervera brought me a pair shot while nest-building in the Botanical Gardens just outside the city of Havana. These birds are now in the Museum of Comparative Zoology (nos. 67,408 and 67,409). They differ in no wise from other Pigeon Hawks. 67. Falco sparverioides Vigors. Cuban Sparrow Hawk; Cernicalo. The Cernicalo is very common everywhere. The light and rufous phases of plumage have caused much confusion. They, however, signify but little. I have a large series before me and it may be of interest to list the birds. 1 These two names are used only by bird students; the guajiros call most Hawks Gavilan. 540o) differ as much from each other in color of both the upper and under parts as do any two examples either in Todd's or in my own series. 108 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 203. Vireo griseus griseus (Boddaert). A rare straggler, only twice collected by Gundlach. 204. Lanivireo flavifrons (Vieillot). Yellow-throated Vireo. Once killed near Cardenas, by Gundlach, as it passed through on migration. On March 26, 191 5, Brooks shot a female (M. C. Z., no. 67,635) in the Caballos Mountains of the Isle of Pines, the first record for that island. 205. Lanivireo solitarius solitarius (Wilson). Blue-headed Vireo. Killed once by Gundlach, on the shore of a lake near Cardenas in March, 1844. 206. Vireosylva calidris barbatula (Cabanis). Black-whiskered Vireo; Bien-te-veo. The little Black-whiskered Vireos arrive each spring in Cuba, the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas, as early sometimes as the end of February, but more often in March. They leave again in late August or early September. They come from the south, but curiously enough the bird is not known to have been taken in Jamaica, where a closely allied form is likewise a summer resident. The English Creole name of 'Whip-tom- kelly' is a fair imitation of the bird's song, which in Spanish appears as 'Bien-te-veo,' while a Brazilian ally sounds 'Jao-corta-pao' to the local ear. A slender, grayish Vireo with a conspicuous black streak on each side of the head. It is easily identified. BIRDS OF CUBA IO9 207. Vireosylva olivacea (Linne). Red-eyed Vireo. There is a single example in the Gundlach collection, taken in the Botanical Gardens near Havana in April, but the year is not on record. 208. Bombycilla cedrorum Vieillot. Cedarbird. Not unfrequently seen while on migration. I have seen them in April feeding in the trees along the Prado in Havana. Gundlach had seen a few in the autumn but more in late April or early May. His records are for Cienfuegos, Alquizar, Matanzas and Havana, and one very late record, May 22, for the Castle of San Severino near Matanzas. They frequent casuarinas and the laurel de la India, a gigantic figtree which produces myriads of tiny fruits. 209. Progne cryptoleuca Baird. Cuban Martin. The Cuban Martins arrive in the cities in large numbers, and from late February to late August they swarm about their chosen belfries. Santo Domingo church tower in Havana is a great favorite. Saledad in Camaguey, the old church in the plaza at Santa Clara, the Ayuntamiento at Matanzas, the parroquia at Guane, the eaves of an old apothecary shop at Sumidero, are all favored haunts. It readily will be seen that these are not advantageous collecting-grounds. We got four one morning at Sumidero; they fell on the sidewalk and much uncomplimentary comment resulted. One I shot flying over woods at Palo Alto, from a few pairs that seemed to be preparing to nest in a great dead ceiba. The people are fond of the birds, and have transferred to this species the familiar legend IIO MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB of the Crossbill. The crosses which surmount all Latin churches are constantly preferred perches. Cryptoleuca is very similar in flight and appearance to our Purple Martin, but in the hand the white bases of the interscapular feathers are conspicuous. 210. Petrochelidon lunifrons lunifrons (Say). Cliff Swallow. A single Cliff Swallow was killed by Ramsden at Guantanamo November II, 191 1. It was one of a flock which were hawking about with Barn Swallows. There is no other Cuban record (see Auk, vol. 29, p. 396, 1912). 211. Petrochelidon fulva cavicola Barbour and Brooks. Cuban Cave Swallow; Golondrina.1 Mr. Brooks and I have shown (Proc. New Engl. Zool. Club, vol 6, I9I7? P- 52) that Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba are each inhabited by an easily distinguishable race of Cave Swallow. In Cuba they arrive in late February and gather in large flocks about the caves in which they nest. Occasionally abandoned buildings are occupied, or even the recesses of a deep veranda, but caves, sometimes open but equally often deep and dark, are the usual breeding-places chosen. A favorite spot is where the river disappears into a limestone cavern right in the town of San Antonio de los Banos. This was an impossible place to shoot, but Brooks and I found that, when we crept into the cave at night and then flashed an electric torch, the birds came in swarms clinging to our hats and clothes, as phototropic as moths. We soon had plenty, chosen by hand. A nesting-place near Bolondron is in a deep, steep, almost perpendicular, tubular cave mouth, which at first looked like a haunt for bats but nothing else. The old wooden hotel at Herradura had a few nesting under the eaves, and swarms inhabit the great caverns under Morro Castle, perched at the mouth of the bottle harbor of Santiago de 1 All Swallows without exception are called Golondrina. BIRDS OF CUBA III Cuba. The nest is of mud, mixed with grasses and feathers, and is not so enclosed as with our Cliff Swallows. These Swallows, flying mostly at dawn and eve, generally remind one in habits of Collocalias. They look like Cliff Swallows, but lack the forehead marking. 212. Riparia riparia riparia (Linne). Bank Swallow. Very rare. Gundlach collected two from a band flying over a lake near Cardenas in April, 1845. 213. Hirundo rustica erythrogaster Boddaert. Barn Swallow; Golondrina. In late August or early September flocks of Barn Swallows pass over Cuba, staying but a few hours or a few days at most. They repass in late April or early May. I have seen them flying back and forth over cane fields and savannas, swarming on the telegraph wires and sometimes very plentiful about the open saw-grass of the Cienaga, crowds one evening filling the air and next morning not one to be seen. 214. Iridoprocne bicolor (Vieillot). Tree Swallow. Tree Swallows pass through Cuba on the spring and autumn migra- tions in enormous numbers, and not a few remain through the winter. I shot several on February 6 and 8, 191 3, in the Cienaga, and had many chances to get others. W. Cameron Forbes shot one at Nipe Bay on March 8, 1914. A favorite haunt is about the sugar warehouses and factories where for obvious reasons flies abound. 112 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 215. Callichelidon cyaneoviridis (Bryant). Bahama Swallow. The first Cuban record was when Forbes, shooting at Nipe Bay, for the Museum of Comparative Zoology, killed two Bahama Swallows on March 8, 1914. The species was reported to be abundant at that time. It had never previously been taken outside the Bahama Islands. As I have pointed out under the Cuban Mockingbird, it looks as if there were a little Bahaman colony settled on the Cuban coast at this point. 216. Mniotilta varia (Linne). Black-and-white Creeper.1 Common in woods and thickets. A few arrive in August, and by September they are very abundant, especially in the overgrown jungles about the Cienaga. 217. Limnothlypis swainsonii (Audubon). Swainson's Warbler. Gundlach records one Swainson's Warbler from Cojimar, and recently (January 18, 1914) Ramsden has collected a male near Guantanamo (Auk, vol. 31, p. 253, 1914). 1 All of the various Warblers and sometimes other small birds as well are called by the general term of Bijirita. BIRDS OF CUBA 113 218. Helmitheros vermivorus (Gmelin). Worm-eating Warbler. The Worm-eating Warbler is rather common, and is one of the species that visit Cuba every winter and associate during their sojourn with the native species of Teretistris. It climbs about vines and among the hanging, dead palm leaves, in little traveling companies. It is reported very rare in Oriente. 219. Protonotaria citrea (Boddaert). Prothonotary Warbler. Observed by Gundlach a few times, always in April. A very rare and irregular vagrant. 220. Vermivora bachmanii (Audubon). Bachman's Warbler. Gundlach writes, "During the first years of my residence in Cuba I lived on a coffee plantation near the Rio Canimar (near Matanzas), and later near Cardenas and at various places. I have killed several pairs of this species in majagua trees, into whose flowers they stick their bill for small insects and nectar. Since the cutting down of the majaguales1 I have seen no more of the birds." 1 The termination al signifies ' a place full of. ' Thus majagua, a certain malvaceous tree, — majagual, a grove of majagua trees; Platano, a banana — platanal, a banana plantation. 114 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 221. Vermivora chrysoptera (Linne). Golden-winged Warbler. Gundlach killed only two Golden-winged Warblers — near Cardenas in April. 222. Vermivora peregrina (Wilson). Tennessee Warbler. A few Tennessee Warblers were once observed and collected near Cojimar by Gundlach, who described both the male and the female plumage but made no further comments. 223. Compsothlypis americana pusilla (Wilson). Parula Warbler. Parula Warblers visit Cuba annually, and haunt the highest woods. The series Mr. Peters obtained from woodlands near Preston in Oriente belongs to this race. As with most of the other Warblers, they come in August or early September and leave in April. 224. Dendroica petechia gundlachi Baird. Cuban Mangrove Warbler; Canario de los Manglares. The Mangrove Canary, as the Cuban Yellow Warbler is called, is abundant wherever there are heavy high mangroves about the coast. I have found it abundant in eastern and western Cuba, and on the Isle of Pines as well. Gundlach reports it nesting in March. I incline to believe that BIRDS OF CUBA II May is more usual; and then the nest of grass, small feathers and woolly down, is placed in a fork on some horizontal mangrove limb. The whole life of the species is passed in the mangrove forests. 225. Dendroica tigrina (Gmelin). Cape May Warbler. A few arrive from time to time during the autumn, but in February they become really common; they stay until May. They are great flower feeders and haunt aloes and the majagua tree when it is in bloom. Many may be seen about the sisal plantations near Matanzas and in gardens where agaves blossom. 226. Dendroica magnolia (Wilson). Magnolia Warbler. An accidental vagrant for which Gundlach has but two records. 227. Dendroica caerulescens caerulescens (Gmelin). Black-throated Blue Warbler. The Black-throated Blue Warbler is excessively common, early to arrive and late to leave. It is one of the tamest and most confiding species, and one to be found in all sorts of situations. Early pleasant days in Cuba spent at Edwin Atkins' plantation, Soledad, near Cienfuegos, brought a great surprise, for I found it not uncommon to have these little Warblers enter my room through the great ever open windows and flit from couch to chair. This happened often, notably at Guabairo, not far from Soledad. So inquisitive and confiding are they, that one can hardly recognize the rather retiring dweller in woodland solitude which we know in the North. Il6 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 228. Dendfoica discolor (Vieillot). Prairie Warbler. The Prairie Warbler is common from late August or September to April. It is found in cultivated lands and in wild and tangled thickets as well. 229. Dendroica striata (Forster). Blackpoll Warbler. Gundlach often collected Blackpoll Warblers on their northward and southward migrations, as they passed Cuba in November and April. They are then neither common nor conspicuous. 230. Dendroica dominica dominica (Linne). Yellow-throated Warbler. In spite of Scott's records of albilora from Jamaica my series and all the Cuban birds seem to be true dominica — if the races are at all separable, which is doubtful. The Yellow-throated Warbler was the first bird which Gundlach saw after setting foot in Cuba. This was in 1839, in the park in front of Tacon Theatre, now the National Theatre. There is small chance that the experience would be repeated there today. They arrive as early as July, and by August first there are great crowds about; then most pass on, and later return, to go northward in early spring. I have found a few in both February and March. BIRDS OF CUBA 117 231. Dendroica cerulea (Wilson). Cerulean Warbler. Gundlach once killed a single Cerulean Warbler in April at Camarioca. 232. Dendroica virens virens (Gmelin). Black-throated Green Warbler. A rare species which I never have seen. Gundlach collected Black- throated Green Warblers several times, one on the Isle of Pines, in 1855, at later dates two on the Pan de Matanzas and three in the pine lands of Pinar del Rio. 233. Dendroica coronata (Linne). Myrtle Warbler. Myrtle Warblers are the last of the migrant Warblers to arrive, coming in late November. They return North at the end of March. 234. Dendroica pityophila pityophila (Gundlach). Cuban Pine Warbler. The Cuban Pine Warbler is found to be common, once its haunts are located. It is not found in all the growths of pine. It occurs about San Diego de los Banos, where pines are few, and much more commonly about the pine-clad hills near the mines of Matahambre and Asiento Viejo, all in western Cuba. Contrary to the experience of Gundlach, Ramsden has found it in eastern Cuba in the pinares of Mayari on the north coast of the Province. It does not leave the trees from which it takes its name, and flitting constantly about, it frequents the highest branches. Il8 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 23 5. Dendroica palmarum palmarum (Gmelin). Palm Warbler. The commonest bird in Cuba, as it is over much of Florida, during the winter months. Its bobbing tail may be seen by every dusty roadside, along fences, in pastures, gardens and in the very cities themselves — if there be a park with any cover. They come in September and retire late in April, the males having begun to assume the nuptial dress just as they leave. The birds seem to be such an essential part of the Cuban winter landscape that it is hard to believe that they are not natives. 236. Dendroica palmarum hypochrysea Ridgway. Yellow Palm Warbler. Cory recorded (Auk, vol. 9, p. 273, 1892) both races of the Palm Warbler in a list of birds " actually taken " during a visit he made to Gundlach in the previous winter. It is not improbable that this race may occur occasionally among the vast numbers of palmarum that throng the Island every winter. 237. Oporornis formosus (Wilson). Kentucky Warbler. The Kentucky Warbler is a rare, accidental visitor. Gundlach found one dead on the roof of a house in Havana in August. It had flown against a white wall. Later he killed another in April at Cojimar. BIRDS OF CUBA I IQ 238. Seiurus aurocapillus aurocapillus (Linne). OVENBIRD. Ovenbirds are common all winter. They arrive in late August and early September, and stay until April. They are common in woods, in orchards, about thickets and, especially in Oriente, in coffee plantations, in which they walk about with the mincing gait of a tiny Zorzal, scratching the leaves and peering under chunks and stones for spiders and beetles. 239. Seiurus motacilla (Vieillot). Louisiana Water-thrush. The Louisiana Water-thrush has been recorded from the mountain streams of the Oriental Province. I have one from Holguin, September 2, 1904. 240. Seiurus noveboracenis noveboracensis (Gmelin). Water-thrush. A not uncommon winter visitor. Found about lakes, ditches and river banks, and in the mangroves along the seashore. Todd refers several birds, shot by Link in the Isle of Pines, to the race notabilis. The specimen before me, shot by Mr. Peters at Nipe Bay, March 1, 1915, is true noveboracensis, and supports Cooke's surmise quoted by Todd, that the West Indian records "unquestionably relate to the Eastern bird." 241. Teretistris fernandinae (Lembeye). Mingling all winter in bands with many migrant Warblers the two little Cuban Bijiritas are common in woodlands and about old, overgrown 120 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB fields. Unlike the migrants, however, they like retired haunts, and do not hop about the houses, much less enter them — as some of their Northern allies do. The two distinct species of Teretistris never have been observed to intergrade, and though the exact limits of their ranges are unknown, it is probable that the following form inhabits Oriente only, and this species the remainder of the Island. In summer they are much more retiring and solitary. They nest from late March to May, sometimes with a small, round nest placed on a horizontal branch, but more often in the pendant Spanish moss called guajaca, a Tillandsia. A little, gray warbler, with olive-green back, yellow head and gray belly. The sexes are alike in plumage. 242. Teretistris fornsi Gundlach. Similar in all respects, as to haunts and habits, to the preceding species, but much more circumscribed in distribution, being found only in extreme eastern Cuba. A very distinct species this, which differs from the other in having the top of the head gray, not yellowish, and in having the yellow of the throat extended over the belly. 243. Geothlypis trichas brachidactyla (Swain son). Maryland Yellowthroat; Bijirita. Another common winter resident. Found about marshes, in cane- brakes and reed-beds, and in lowland thickets of vines and llianas. 244. Wilsonia citrina (Boddaert). Hooded Warbler. Gundlach occasionally got a Hooded Warbler, always near water and near the ground. They are very rare, and his records are few: one in a garden in Havana, a few pairs in the mangroves near Cardenas and one on BIRDS OF CUBA 121 the bank of a stream in the Savanna de Guamacaro. All were killed in April while passing northward. 245. Setophaga ruticilla (Linne). Redstart; Candelita. The Redstarts are the first sign to Cubans that the migration is on, and they probably are the very last Northern visitor to leave in the spring. They are excessively abundant in thickets and woods everywhere, even in the outskirts of the cities. Except for the Palm Warbler, no bird is more in evidence during the winter than the Candelita — the little flame. The North American observer never would dream that there could be enough Redstarts gathered together from all the bird's range to make up the hordes which come to Cuba. 246. Cyanerpes cyaneus (Linne). Blue-headed Honey Creeper; Azulito. ■j The Blue Honey Creepers are very local. Ramsden showed them to me near Guantanamo in early March, 191 5, feeding on the flowers of the cupey (Clusea rosea), a parasitic tree which towers far above its host. It also feeds in the majagua blossoms, but though this tree is widespread, the bird is very local. Their erratic appearance accounts for the name of Aparecido de San Diego, but Azulito is more generally used. Many are caught with bird-lime, and for a short while each spring scores are for sale in Santiago and Havana, but in no such number, however, as one may see in May in the market at Panama. Bangs has described the Cuban birds as a local race, ramsdeni; yet, loath as I am to part with this friendly name, I must conclude that the Cuban birds are not separable from those of Panama and Nicaragua. If the bird was introduced into Cuba purpose- fully, this must have been done years ago, for it was well known during all Gundlach's sojourn. He found his first nest in 1844; then it was widespread. Today it certainly is rare, except in Oriente where I have seen it near San Carlos de Guantanamo and near El Cobre. I have heard of it in San Carlos de Luis Lazo and San Diego de los Bafios. 122 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB This little bird has a sky-blue crown, black body and yellow inner webs to the primaries; the female is dull green. 247. Holoquiscalus jamaicensis caribaeus Todd. Cuban Wedge-tail; Chinchiguaco. This race occurs not only in western Cuba but in the Isle of Pines. The Wedge-tail Grackles of Cuba have been in some confusion, which happily has been satisfactorily cleared up by Mr. Peters in his excellent review of the difficult genus. (Auk, vol. 38, pp. 435—453, 1921.) The Chinchiguacos flock with the Totis, and their habits and haunts are similar. These Blackbirds, however, sing in unison like the Redwings, and in winter assemble in very large bands. They visit bamboo groves or mango thickets near water and often bathe together and afterward sing in chorus — and very agreeably. The flight is rather slow and labored, as if the great, deep tail were too heavy for comfort. It serves the males well in springtime, when their antics during courtship are most bizarre. In one display the head is turned back until it rests between the shoulders, while the tail is fanned. 248. Holoquiscalus jamaicensis gundlachii (Cassin). Hachuela. Todd restricted this name to the bird of eastern Cuba. It is quite similar in habits to caribaeus. It is even larger and more handsomely colored. 249. Ptiloxena atroviolacea (d'Orbigny). Cuban Grackle; Toti; Choncholi. This Grackle flocks in company with the Wedge-tails, and is excessively abundant and conspicuous during the winter season. In spring the gather- ings break up, and the birds pair for nesting. They search thatched roofs BIRDS OF CUBA 1 23 for roaches and cattle's backs for ticks, and haunt the high groves of royal palms for the insects attracted to the flowers and the beetles which harbor in the great clusters of fruit. The two-syllable call-note is not unpleasant and has given rise to the native name Toti. They do not sing in chorus like the Redwings. In the field this bird looks like a rather small, short-tailed Purple Grackle; it is, however, strictly arboreal. 250. Icterus hypomelas (Bonaparte). Cuban Oriole; Solibio. The Cuban Oriole is gorgeous and common. It usually is seen in small companies, of adult and immature birds, stabbing into the bases of the flowers. Wire fences are now widely used, and the problem is to find posts which the white ants will not eat. Two plants furnish these, the smooth, red almacigo and the pifion. Both soon take root and grow into trees, so that tall hedgerows take the places of what were once simple fences. The pifion {Erythrina) flowers profusely, and the Orioles may be seen laboriously drilling each tubular flower through at the base, in search of little insects and sweet liquor as well. They frequent the majagua, when in flower, and other allied species of Hybiscus, as well as orange and lemon trees. They are fond, too, of soft, ripe fruit, into which the bill may easily be thrust, the favorites being the sweet and sour sops, the anon and guanabana. The nest, suspended from a palm frond or banana leaf, is the usual beautifully woven pouch. Both male and female take part in drilling the holes from which are woven the suspending threads, shredded out from a dry, dead palm leaf. The adult birds of both sexes are uniform black, the wing-coverts, lower back and thighs brilliant yellow. Immature birds are more or less dusky olive-green. 251. Icterus cucullatus cucullatus Swainson. Hooded Oriole. Gundlach reported it as having twice been seen, once in 1856 and again in April, 1859. This is possibly an erroneous record; certainly it is the only one for the Hooded Oriole from the Antilles. 124 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 252. Icterus galbula (Linne). Baltimore Oriole. Never seen in autumn, but occasional individuals have appeared from time to time, both adults and birds in immature plumage, usually in April and in company with native Orioles or with migrant Tanagers. 253. Icterus spurius (Linne). Orchard Oriole. The Orchard Oriole appears occasionally in spring in company with Baltimore Orioles or alone. It seems possible that they are regular migrants, and have been overlooked among the native Orioles in immature dress. 254. Agelaius humeralis (Vigors). Cuban Redwing; Mayito. The Mayitos abound in winter in great tame swarms, and haunt dooryards and gardens, whispering and wheezing metallically, and the volume of sound is very great. In the spring the males seek mates and the pairs split off and nest in April and May. They build, on palm fronds or on clumps of air plants, a nest of grass and Spanish moss lined with hair and vegetable wool. Formerly they did great damage in the rice fields, but today, beyond raising an unconscionable racket, they are very pleasing and ornamental neighbors. This is the black bird with a tawny shoulder-marking and with the female black also, but still having a shoulder patch, though less extended and often much invaded with black feathers. BIRDS OF CUBA 125 255. Agelaius assimilis assimilis Lembeye. Cuban Swamp Redwing; Mayito de la Cienaga. Until Brooks and I re-discovered this species in the Cienaga de Zapata, not far from the Laguna de Punta Gorda or where the Rio Hanabana enters the Swamp, this Swamp Redwing was known only from the small series which Gundlach collected. We observed one once in the swamp near Cardenas in 1917, and a very few evidently remained there where Gundlach found it abundant in 1842 and 1844. One great band, seen by us day after day in the late afternoon, frequented a small group of trees near the open Cienaga. Here they came from the far horizon to roost, perhaps the whole species population together. Singing in chorus, they could be heard at a great distance. I found the flock at the same spot three different years, and the last time I watched it diminish day by day, in April, as the males, assuming fresh breeding plumage, mated and moved off, to build in the high rushes. Here the scattered pairs pass the summer. Brooks and I have made a good series of skins of this hitherto excessively rare bird. This bird looks like our familiar Redwing, only it is smaller, and the female is uniformly coal-black. The birds from the Cienaga of the Isle of Pines, which Bangs has separated as a race, subniger, do not differ from the Cuban birds in color characters as we first supposed, but the race is nevertheless, and in spite of Todd's statements, perfectly valid. The Isle of Pines birds all have a rounded, and the Cuban birds a flattened, culmen. I disagree most emphatically with the attitude which tends to consider only color characters as the basis for taxonomic separation of races. 256. Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus (Bonaparte). Yellow-headed Blackbird. There are two instances of the occurrence of the Yellow-headed Blackbird, Gundlach's specimen, now in his cabinet, which came from the Havana market, and Ramsden's record for Guantanamo (Auk, vol. 29, p. 103, 1912). 126 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 257. Sturnella magna hippocrepis (Wagler). Cuban Meadowlark; Sabanero. The Cuban Meadowlark is more common and tamer than our own, and in the field is very similar in appearance. It is to be seen everywhere in the drier and more open portions of the Island. It does not, of course, frequent cane fields, but pastures and savanna lands swarm with these very musical and engaging Larks. Their nest is similar to that of the Northern species. The call is a more prolonged whistle, and is less broken into several notes than with our birds. As Todd has shown, hippocrepis is surely most closely related to argutula of Florida. 258. Dolichonyx oryzivorus (Linne). Bobolink; Chambergo. Gundlach said that it passed through Cuba in great numbers in October and again in May. Formerly, when rice was cultivated in the Island, these birds did much damage and spent some time in the rice fields, to the disgust of the planters. Now this does not occur, and the reduced numbers which migrate through the Island do not tarry long and find but little to attract them in the open pastures and marshes. The Chambergos are well known to be delicious, as with us. 259. Spindalis pretrei (Lesson). Cabrero. I never have found the Cuban Spindalis a common bird, although Gundlach says it was rather abundant in his time. It frequents overgrown hillsides and rather wild tangles in old pastures, and the edges of big woods. One always finds it in pairs, and one is always surprised that it shows no fear of man. It is persistently trapped, — or rather was, — and still is a favorite cage-bird, sought after for the aviaries so many Latin-Americans maintain among the shrubs and palms which decorate and shade the patio. BIRDS OF CUBA 127 This fruit-eating Tanager is easily recognized by the black head, with conspicuous white stripes over the eye and along the side of the head, the rufous-orange collar, rump and chest; the back is olive-green. The female is almost uniform plain olive. 260. Piranga rubra rubra (Linne). Summer Tanager. Seen in small numbers in spring and autumn as they pass over Cuba on migration. I have observed the bird but two or three times. 261. Piranga erythromelas Vieillot. Scarlet Tanager. Neither this species nor the Summer Tanager is known to the natives at all. The Scarlets are sometimes seen in company with the other species, and are always rather more abundant. Both birds pass through Cuba at the same times, usually in September and April. I have seen them only in spring. 262. Chondestes grammacus grammacus (Say). Lark Sparrow. The Lark Sparrow has been taken once at Guantanamo, in 191 1, by Doctor Ramsden (Auk, vol. 29, p. 395, 1912). 263. Passerculus sandwichensis savanna (Wilson). Savanna Sparrow. The Savanna Sparrow is rare. A few individuals may occasionally be seen during the winter in open pastures or savannas, usually singly. 128 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 264. Ammodramus savannarum australis Maynard. Yellow-winged Sparrow. The Grasshopper or Yellow-winged Sparrow spends the winter in Cuba, and I strongly suspect that some individuals are resident. My examples from eastern and western Cuba, however, cannot be separated from this race. The local name of Chamberguito, the diminutive form of the name used for the Bobolink, while in use in Gundlach's time, is never heard now. 265. Spizella passerina passerina (Bechstein). Chipping Sparrow. There is only one record for the Chipping Sparrow, a female which Gundlach shot on a fresh-water marsh near the sea, probably north of La Fermina where he labored so fruitfully and for so many years. 266. Zonotrichia leucophrys leucophrys (J. R. Forster). White-crowned Sparrow. A record, the "White Crowned Sparrow in Cuba," was made by Ramdsen in 191 1 (Auk, vol. 28, p. 488, 191 1). Cory while he was in Cuba bought a partially albino Sparrow of this species, which was said. to have been trapped near Havana (Auk, vol. 9, p. 273, 1892). 267. Tiaris olivacea olivacea (Linne). Common Grassquit; Tomeguin de la Tierra. The little Common Grassquit is very common everywhere. Jaunty, confiding and with a chirping, insect-like call, little bands may be seen BIRDS OF CUBA 120. in every dry hedgerow and thicket all the year through. For while they nest during every month of the year, and Brooks and I have found fully fledged young in January, February and March, still the birds which are not paired for immediate nesting are banded into the little itinerant companies that never fail to thrill the newcomer to el campo de Cuba. These little Grassquits are small, olive-gray, sparrow-like ground Finches with very short tails and with a black mask and cheek and a yellow spot on the throat. 268. Tiaris canora (Gmelin). Melodious Grassquit; Tomeguin del Pinar. Why the Melodious Grassquit, which does not sing, should be called by the Cubans Tomeguin del Pinar, I cannot say. The Spanish name is fully as inapt as the English, as it implies that the bird lives in the pinares or pine lands, which is entirely incorrect. While it is more common in western Cuba than elsewhere, I have specimens from Luis Lazo and Holguin, and from Lake Ariguanabo and Guaro on Nipe Bay. It is far less abundant than the other Grassquit, but often is seen associated with it in flocks, as well as banding by itself. Both species are similar in habits, make ideal cage pets and, be the aviary large, both will breed in captivity. It is easily distinguished from the Common Grassquit by having much yellow on the sides of the neck, indeed tufts of long feathers, and a yellow stripe behind the eye. 269. Melopyrrha nigra (Linne). Cuban Black Finch; Negrito. A rather common and quite active and engaging little tramp, fond of the dusty tangles and thickets in dry pastures and arid fields. Gundlach speaks of their moving about in small companies, and often in company with other birds, but this is the very reverse of my experience. The Negrito sings nicely and thrives in captivity, and while probably as abundant today as ever it was, still it is now certainly inclined to be rather shy and solitary. An unmistakable little Finch, deep black with white axillars, under wing-coverts and inner webs of primaries and secondaries, which are very conspicuous in flight. I30 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 270. Passerina cyanea (Linne). Indigo-bird; Azulejo. Another bird of spring and autumn passage, and one which some years must be rather abundant and may make a stay of some duration. A very considerable number are often on sale in the bird stores, and they are great favorites as cage-birds and apparently thrive. 271. Passerina ciris ciris (Linne). Nonpareil; Mariposa or Nonpareils. A few Painted Buntings winter in Cuba, but in my experience they are very few and, as Gundlach says, very shy. 272. Guiraca caerulea caerulea (Linne). Blue Grosbeak. Gundlach remarks that the Blue Grosbeak appears occasionally in April along with the migrating Tanagers, but that it is excessively rare. 273. Hedymeles ludoviciana (Linne). ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. Seen for a few days each year in October and April during the rush periods of migration when, twice each year, the avifauna of Cuba offers one of the most remarkable medleys of Northern and tropical types which can be seen anywhere in the world. PLATES Facing Page I. Cane fields and royal palms. Low limestone hillocks in the background. . I II. 1. Hills of limestone near Sumidero, Pinar del Rio Province 14 2. Foothills of limestone near San Carlos de Luis Lazo, Pinar del Rio Province 14 III. Three stages in turning virgin forest into cane fields, Cienaga de Zapata. . 32 IV. 1. Cane fields to the horizon, Soledad near Cienfuegos 52 2. The banks of the Damuji near Cienfuegos 52 INDEX In trinomial scientific names the middle term is omitted. Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences, Havana, 9. Accipiter fringilloides, 45, 46. gundlachii, 45. velox, 45. Actitis macularia, 68. Aegialitis tenuirostris, 70. Agelaius assimilis, 18, 125. humeralis, 4, 124. subniger, 125. Aguaita Caiman, 29. Aix sponsa, 37. Ajaia ajaja, 31, 32. Alcatraz, 27. Allen, G. M., 21. Amazona leucocephala, 82. palmarum, 33, 82. Ammodramus australis, 128. Anas americana, 36. boschas, 35. carolinensis, 35. cyanoptera, 36. discors, 36. strepera, 35. Anhinga anhinga, 26. Ani, 18, 83. Anous stolidus, 62. Anser gambeli, 43. Antrostomus carolinensis, 89. cubanensis, 89. Aparecido de San Diego, 121. Ara tricolor, 80. Aramus vociferus, 57. Aratinga euops, 81. Archilochus colubris, 96. Ardea adoxa, 27. repens, 27. Arenaria morinella, 71. Arriero, 83. Asio flammeus, 87. siguapa, 87. Atkins, E., 20, 115. Aulanax lembeyei, 100. Aura, 43. Tifiosa, 43. Avocet, 62. Azulejo, 130. Azulito, 121. Bahama Islands, 24. Green Cay, 78. Moraine Cay, 78. Bangs, O., 20. Barbequejo, 73. Bartramia longicauda, 67. Batchelder, C. F., 20. Batista, 47. Becasin, 63. Beck, R. H., 45. Beetle-head, 68. Bien-te-veo, 108. Bijirita, 112, 119, 120. Bird, Man-o-war, 26, 60. Tropic, 24. Bishop, N. H., 50. Bittern, 31. Least, 31. Blacicus caribaeus, 100. Blackbird, 18. Yellow-headed, 125. Bluebill, Little, 38. Bluebird, 103. Bluepeter, 57. Bobito, 99, 100. Bobolink, 126. Bob-white, Cuban, 51. Bombycilla cedrorum, 109. Booby, 25. White, 25. Botaurus lentiginosus, 31. Bovero, 73, 74. Brooks, W. S., 3, 53, 77, 79, 85, 93, 95, 96, 98, 108, 110, 125, 129. Bryant, H., 7, 50, 75, 81. Bufflehead, 38. Bunting, Painted, 130. Buteo, cubanensis, 46. platypterus, 46. umbrinus, 46. Butorides brunnescens, 30. maculatus, 29. Buzzard, Mexican, 44. Turkey, 43. Buzzards, King of, 44. Cabezon, 38. Cabrero, 126. 134 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB Cadenas, J., 20. Calidris fuscicollis, 65. maculata, 65. minutilla, 64. Callichelidon cyaneoviridis, 112. Calypte helenae, 96. Camao, 74. Campephilus bairdii, 8, 80, 91. Canario de los Manglares, 114. Canary, Mangrove, 114. Candelita, 121. Canvas-back, 38. Cao Montero, 106. Pinalero, 106. Capella delicata, 63. Carabo, 87. Caracara, Audubon's, 44. Caracolero, 48. Caraira, 44. Carancho, 44. Cardenas, de, 7. Carpintero, 92. Churroso, 93. Escapulario, 93. Jabado, 92. Real, 91. Taja, 92. Verde, 92. Catbird, 102. Catey, 81. Cathartes aura, 43. Catoptrophorus semipalmatus, 67. Cayama, 34. Cedarbird, 109. Centurus murceus, 93. superciliaris, 18, 92. Cerchneis, 50. Cerniealo, 49. Cervera, F., 48, 49. Chaemepelia insularis, 4, 18, 75. Chamberguito, 128. Chambergo, 126. Chapman, F. M., 8. Charadrius melodus, 70. nivosus, 70. semipalmatus, 69. tenuirostris, 70. Charitonetta albeola, 38. Chen caerulescens, 43. nivalis, 42. Chinchiguaco, 122. Choncholi, 122. Chondestes grammacus, 127. Chondrohierax wilsoni, 47. Chordeiles gundlachii, 88. minor, 89. Chuck-wills-widow, 89. Circus hudsonius, 44. Coccyzus americanus, 84. erythrophthalmus, 85. maynardi, 84. minor, 84. Coco Blanco, 32. Prieto, 32. Codorniz, 51. Colaptes chrysocaulosus, 93. Colegio de Belen, 9. Colinus cubanensis, 18, 51. floridanus, 52. Columba inornata, 79. leucocephala, 78. proxima, 79. squamosa, 78. Colymbus dominicus, 23. Compsothlypis pusilla, 114. Coot, 57. Coragyps urubu, 43. Cormorant, Florida, 25. Fresh- water, 26. Corua, 25, 26. Corvus minutus, 16, 106. nasicus, 106. Cory, C. B., 7, 43. Cotorra, 82. Cotunto, 86. Crane, Cuban Sandhill, 16, 58. Creciscus jamaicensis, 55. Creeper, Black-and-white, 112. Blue-headed Honey, 121. Crocethia alba, 66. Crotophaga ani, 18, 83. Crow, Cuban, 106. Little Pine, 16, 106. Cuba, climate, 19; geography and geology, 9. Acostas, 16. Acostas, Las Lomas de los, 106. Aguada de Pasajeros, 42, 50, 58, 63, 87, 93, 94. Alacranes, 58. Alquizar, 109. Anafe, Sierra de, 14, 15. Ariguanabo, Lake, 18, 23, 24, 31, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 48, 55, 76, 129. Asiento Viejo, 117. Baeuranao, Lake, 23, 40. Bahia Honda, 36. Baire, 77. Banaguises, 91. Banes, 50. Baracoa, 8. Batabano, 15, 25. Bayamo, 12, 45, 65, 75, 90, 98. Bayate, 82, 90, 106. Belig, 60. Bemba, 75, 97. Bolondron, 74, 110. Bonito, Cayo, 107. Buena Ventura, 50. Cabanas, 36. Caibarien, 28, 101, 102. Caimanera, La, 67, 70. Calimete, 91. Camaguev, 9, 15, 28, 32, 47, 58, 81, 82, 93, 94, 106, 109. Camarioca, 25, 117. BIRDS OF CUBA 135 Cuba, Caney, El, 77, 98. Canimar River, 113. Cardenas, 9, 18, 25, 51, 59, 66, 68, 84, 85, 96, 104, 106, 108, 111, 113, 114, 120, 125. Casilda, 60. Cauto River, 34, 51, 68. Cauto Valley, 12, 48. Centeno, Lake, 26. Ciego de Avila, 73. Cienfuegos, 51, 60, 98, 109, 115. Cobre, El, 77, 121. Cochinos Bay, 31, 34, 67, 97. Cochinos, Ensenada de, 16, 25, 47, 51, 91, 93, 106. Coco, Cayo, 31, 34. Cojimar, 45, 70, 90, 96, 99, 107, 112, 114. Consolation del Sur, 40. Cruz, Cape, 24, 51, 60, 63, 64. Cubitas, Sierra de, 15. Cumanayagua, 81. Cuyaguateje, 12. Doce Leguas Archipelago, 26. Esperanza, La, 106. Fermina, La, 7, 8, 75, 99. Guabairo, 115. Guadelupe, 52. Guamacaro, Savanna de, 121. Guanabacoa, 7, 45. Guanajay, 15, 17. Guane, 15, 52, 58, 80, 88, 106, 109. Guaniguanico, Sierra de, 15. Guantanamo, 61, 75, 79, 90, 91, 95, 96, 107, 112. Guantanamo Basin, 12, 45, 81. Guaro, 50, 129. Guayabal, Caimito del, 15. Hanabana River, 26, 32, 34, 35, 43, 64, 85, 91, 125. Hanabanilla Falls, 81. Hatiguanico River, 74. Havana, 4, 8, 15, 35, 40, 49, 51, 54, 55, 77, 82, 89, 93, 104, 109, 116, 118. Herradura, 110. Holguin, 50, 82, 85, 93, 98, 119, 129. Hoyo Pelenque, 14. Isla, La, 75. Jaimanita, La, 107. Jaruca, Escalera de, 54. Jicarito, Hato, 74. Jiguani, 77. Jiqui, 97. Jobabo, 12, 16. Jovellanos, 75. Juan Hernandez, 28, 93. Jucaro, 58, 60, 61, 66, 68, 73, 81, 83. Luis Lazo, 12, 15, 129. Madruga, 16, 88. Maestra, Sierra, 5, 11, 77, 95. Maisi, Farallones de, 24. Manzanillo, 60. Marianao, 90. Cuba, Mariel, 35, 36. Matahambre, 117. Matanzas, 9, 15, 35, 40, 54, 59, 60, 62, 93, 106, 109, 115. Mava, La, 70, 75. Mayari, 16, 91, 117. Mendoza, 52, 58. Moa, 95. Mono Grande, Cayo, 25, 27, 61. Morales, San Franciso de, 74. Moron, 58. Morro Castle, 70. Xipe Bav, 28, 31, 34, 53, 60, 65, 101, 111, 112, 119, 129. Xuevitas, 84. Organos, Sierra de los, 15, 91. Oriente, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 16, 20, 37, 73, 80, 82, 93, 98, 105, 119. Palo Alto, 32, 44, 73, 82, 83, 109. Pan, 15. Pan de Matanzas, 117. Pico Turquino, 45. Piedras, Cayo, 25, 61. Pinar del Rio, 5, 8, 9, 15, 16, 23, 32, 46, 52, 58, 73, 79, 80, 83, 87, 93, 106, 117. Playa del Chivo, 89. Potrerillo, El, 15. Preston, 50, 68, 98, 114. Providencia, La, 4. Punta de Icacos, 62. Punta de Judas, 28, 31. Punta Gorda, 34, 36. Punta Gorda, Laguna de, 125. Remedios, 50, 75, 81, 98, 102. Rodas, 94. Romano, Cayo, 26, 31. Rosario, Caleta, 25, 34. Sagua la Grande, 37. San Antonio de los Banos, 110. San Carlos de Guantanamo, 95, 121. San Carlos de Luis Lazo, 121. San Cristobal, 105. San Diego, 15. San Diego de los Banos, 45, 91, 94, 117, 121. San Francisco, 32, 33. San Juan de los Perros, 31, 83, 101. San Juan River, 98. San Luis de la Cabezada, 91. Santa Clara, 9, 15, 75, 93, 109. Santiago, 9, 12, 42, 52, 96. Santiago de Cuba, 84, 104, 110. Sarabanda, 32. Soledad, 20, 115. Sumidero, 109. Tesoro, Lake, 39. Toledo, 4. Trinidad, 8, 17, 60, 79, 81, 83, 94, 95, 106. Triscornia, 77. Turiguano, Isle of, 34. Union de Reyes, 58. Verde, Monte, 50. 136 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB Cuba, Viflales, 15, 58. Vuelta Abajo, 52, 79. Vuelta Arriba, 52. Yagua-justa, Cayo, 75. Yaguaramas, 106. Yara, 45. Yateras, Sierra de, 45, 75, 95. Zapata Peninsula, 34. Zapata Swamp, 5, 18, 23, 28, 30, 31, 32, 36, 39, 40, 42, 43, 45, 48, 55, 57, 58, 64, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 85, 90, 98, 106, HI, 112, 125. Zarabanda, 74, 80. Cuchareta, 36. Cuckoo, Black-billed, 85. Cuban Lizard, 14, 18, 83. Maynard's Mangrove, 84. Yellow-billed, 84. Curlew, Hudsonian, 68. Cyanerpes cyaneus, 121. ramsdeni, 121. Dafila tzitzihoa, 37. Dendrocygna arborea, 41. viduata, 42. Dendroica albilora, 116. caerulescens, 4, 115. cerulea, 117. coronata, 117. discolor, 116. dominica, 116. gundlachii. 114. hypochrysea, 118. magnolia, 115. palmarum, 4, 118, 121. pityophila, 16, 117. striata, 116. tigrina, 115. virens, 117. Dichromanassa rufescens, 29. Dolichonyx oryzivorus, 126. D'Orbigny, A. D., 6. Dove.Blue-headed Quail, 72. Cuban Ground, 4, 18, 75. Cuban Mourning, 18, 76. Fool, 79. Key West Quail, 73. Ruddy Quail, 73, 74. White-winged, 77. Zenaida, 18, 76. Dowitcher, 64. Western, 64. Duck, Bahama, 37. Black-masked Tree, 42. Masked, 39. Pheasant, 35. Ring-necked, 38. Ruddy, 39, 40, 41. Spoon-bill, 36. Tree, 41. Wood, 37. Dumetella carolinensis, 102. Ectopistes canadensis, 77. Egret, American, 28. Greater, 28. Louisiana, 29. Reddish, 29. Snowy, 28. Egretta egretta, 28. thula, 28. Elanoides forficatus, 48. Empidonax virescens, 101. Ereunetes mauri, 65. pus ill us, 65. Erismatura jamaicensis, 39, 40, 41. Eudocimus albus, 31, 32, 44. Falco anatum, 49. columbarius, 49. sparverioides, 49. Finch, Cuban Black, 14, 18, 129. Flamenco, 34. Flamingo, 34. Flicker, Cuban, 93. Florida, Key West, 3, 59. Lake Washington, 33. Madeira Hammock, 30. St. John's River, 33. Florida caerulea, 29. Flycatcher, Acadian, 101. Great Crested, 99. Forbes, W. C, 50, 101, 111, 112. Frailecillo, 64, 69, 70. Fregata magnificens, 26, 60. Frigate-bird, 26, 27. Fulica americana, 57. caribaea, 57. Gad wall, 35. Gallego, 59. Gallereta Azul, 56. de Pico Blanco, 57. de Pico Colorado, 56. Gallinuela, 52. Chica, 55. de los Manglares, 53. Escribano, 54. Gallinula cachinnans, 56. Gallinule, Florida, 56. Purple, 56. Gallito, 71. Garcilote, 27. Blanco, 27. Garza, 29. Blanca, 28. Garzon, 28. Gavilan Caguarero, 47. Caracolero, 48. del Monte, 46. Gaviota, 60. Boba, 62. Gelochelidon aranea, 61. Geothlypis brachidactyla, 120. Geotrygon, 73. BIRDS OF CUBA 137 Glaucidium siju, 85. vittatum, 85. Gnatcatcher, Blue-gray, 105. Cuban, 105. Goatsucker, 89. Godwit, Hudsonian, 66. Marbled, 66. Golondrina, 95, 110, 111. Goose, Blue, 43. Greater Snow, 42. White-fronted, 43. Grackle, Cuban, 4, 18, 122. Wedge-tail, 122. Grassquit, Common, 18, 128. Melodious, 18, 129. Grebe, Antillean, 23. Pied-billed, 23. Grey, R. M., 20. Grosbeak, Blue, 130. Rose-breasted, 130. Grulla, 58. Grus nesiotes, 16, 58. Guabairo, 89. Guacamayo, 80. Guanaba, 30. Guanana, 42. Prieta, 43. Guanaro, 77. Guareao, 57. Guincho, 51. Guiraca caerulea, 130. Gull, Herring, 59. Laughing, 59. Gundlach, J., 7, 8, 9, 80. Gymnasio exsul, 86. lawrencii, 86. Hachuela, 122. Haematopus palliatus, 71. Halcon, 49. Halconcito, 49. Hawk, Broad-winged, 46. Cuban Crab, 47. Cuban Sparrow, 49. Duck, 49. Fish, 51. Florida Red-tailed, 46. Marsh, 44. Pigeon, 49. Sharp-shinned, 45. Hedymeles ludoviciana, 130. Helmitheros vermivorus, 113. Heron, Black-crowned Night, 30. Great Blue, 27. Great White, 27. Green, 29. Little Blue, 29. West Indian Yellow-crowned Night, 30. Himantopus mexicanus, 63. Hirundo erythrogaster, 110, 111. Holoquiscalus caribaeus, 18, 122. gundlachii, 122. Hummer, Ricord's, 4. Hummingbird, Ruby-throated, 96. Huyuyu, 37. Hydranassa ruficollis, 29. Hydrochelidon surinamensis, 62. Hylocichla aliciae, 104. fuscescens, 105. mustelina, 104. swainsoni, 104. Ibis, Glossy, 32. White, 31, 32, 44. Wood, 34. Icterus cucullatus, 123. galbula, 124. hypomelas, 4, 18, 123. spurius, 124. Indigo-bird, 130. Institute of Secondary Education, Havana, 8, 27, 34. Ionornis martinica, 56. Iridoprocne bicolor, 111. Ivory-bill, Cuban, 91. Ixobrychus exilis, 31. Jacana, 18, 71. Jacana violacea, 18, 71, 72. Juan-chivi, 107. Judio, 83. Killdee, 69. West Indian, 69. Kingbird, 98. Gray, 4, 97. Royal, 98. Kingfisher, Belted, 91. Kite, Everglade, 47, 48. Snail, 47. 48. Swallow-tailed, 48. Lanivireo flavifrons, 108. solitarius, 108. Larus argentatus, 59. atricilla, 59. Lechuza, 88. Lembeye, J., 7. Limnodromus griseus, 64. scolopaceus, 64. Limnothlypis swainsonii, 112. Limosa fedoa, 66. haemastica, 66. Limpkin, 57. Llorente, Francisco, 42, 75. Lophodytes cucullatus, 35. Macaw, Cuban, 80. MacLeay, W. S., 7, 45. Mallard, 35. Marbella, 26. Mariposa, 130. Martin, Cuban, 109. Martin Pescador, 91. Mayito, 124. de la Cienaga, 125. 138 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB Meadowlark, Cuban, 16, 18, 126. Megaceryle alcyon, 91. Melopelia asiatica, 77. Melopyrrha nigra, 14, 18, 129. Merganser, Hooded, 35. Red-breasted, 34. Mergus serrator, 34. Mestre, A., 20. Mexico, Mirador, 87. Quintana Roo, 30. Micropalama himantopus, 64. Mimocichla rubripes, 18, 103. schistacea, 104. Mimus elegans, 101. gundlachii, 101. orpheus, 18, 101. polyglottos, 102. Mniotilta varia, 112. Mockingbird, 102. Cuban, 18, 101. Gundlach's, 101. Morales, F., 20, 32. Mycteria americana, 34. Myiadestes elizabeth, 15, 102. retrusus, 103. Myiarchus crinitus, 99. sagrae, 99. Myiochanes virens, 100. National University, 9. Negrito, 129. Nephoecetes niger, 95. Nesoceleus fernandinae, 93. Nighthawk, 89. Noddy, 62. Nomonyx dominicus, 39. Nonpareil, .130. Numenius hudsonicus, 68. Nyctanassa jamaicensis, 30. Nycticorax naevius, 30. Nyroca affinis, 38. collaris, 38. valisineria, 38. Oceanites oceanicus, 24. Oporornis formosus, 118. Oreopeleia caniceps, 74. chrysia, 73. montana, 74. Oriole, Baltimore, 124. Cuban, 4, 18, 123. Hooded, 123. Orchard, 124. Osprey, 51. Ovenbird, 119. Owl, Bare-legged, 86. Cuban Barn, 88. Short-eared, 87. Stygian, 87. Oxyechus rubidus, 69. vociferus, 69. Oyster-catcher, 71. Paeciloxitta bahamensis, 37. Pagolla rufinucha, 70. Pajaro Bobo, 25. Mosca, 96. Palmer, W., 8. Paloma Aliblanca, 77. Boba, 79. Cabeziblanca, 78. Pampero, 24. Pandion carolinensis, 51. Pardirallus inoptatus, 54. Paroquet, Cuban, 81. Parrot, Cuban, 82. Western Cuban, 33, 82. Passerculus savanna, 127. Passerina ciris, 130. cyanea, 130. Pato Agostero, 39. de la Florida, 35, 36. Espinoso, 39. Ingles, 35. Lebanco, 36. Pedorera, 90. Pelecanus erythrorhynchus, 27. fuscus, 27, 60. Pelican, Brown, 27, 60. White, 27. Percy, W., 24, 37, 40. Perdiz, 72. Perico, 81. Periquito, 81. Pescuezilargo, 37. Peters, J. L., 21, 26, 28, 30, 50, 53, 65, 95, 119. Petrel, Black-capped, 24. Wilson's, 24. Petrochelidon cavicola, 110. lunifrons, 110. Pewee, Wood, 100. Phaethon catesbyi, 24. Phaetusa chloropoda, 60. Phalacrocorax floridanus, 25. mexicanus, 25. Phoebe, 100. Phoenicopterus ruber, 34. Pigeon, Passenger, 77. Scaly-naped, 78. White-crowned, 78. Pines, Isle of, 8, 26, 34, 47, 51, 52, 58, 67, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 85, 87, 88, 98, 114, 119. Almacidos, Los, 50. Caballos Mts., 108. Casas River, 53. Casas, Sierra de, 73. Jucaro, 50. Laguna Grande, 50. Nueva Gerona, 25, 50, 53. San Juan, 50. Santa Barbara, 95. Santa Fe, 50, 89. Pintail, 37. Bahama, 37. Piranga erythromelas, 127. rubra, 127. BIRDS OF CUBA 139 Pitirre, 97. Real, 98. Plegadis falcinellus, 32. Plover, Golden, 69. Piping, 70. Ring-necked, 69. Snowy, 70. Upland, 67. Wilson's, 70. Pluvial, 64, 68. Dorado, 69. Pluvialis dominicus, 69. Podilymbus antillarum, 23. podiceps, 23. Polioptila caerulea, 105. lembeyei, 105. Polyborus auduboni, 44. Porzana Carolina, 55. gossii, 55. Primaveva, 84. Priotelus temnurus, 18, 94. vescus, 94. Progne cryptoleuca, 109. Protonolaria citrea, 113. Ptiloxena atroviolacea, 4, 18, 122. PufBnus lherminieri, 24. Quail, Cuban, 18, 51. Querequete, 88. Rabiche, 76. Rabihorcado, 26. Rabijunco, 24. Rail, Black, 55. Cuban Clapper, 53. Cuban King, 52. Mangrove, 53. Spotted, 54. Virginia, 54. Yellow, 55. Rallus cubanus, 53. leucophaeus, 53. ramsdeni, 52. virginianus, 54. Ramsden, C. T., 7, 9, 20, 21, 45, 47, 53, 75, 79, 91, 95, 117. Recurvirostra americana, 62. Redstart, 4, 121. Redwing, Cuban, 4, 124. Cuban Swamp, 18, 124. Rhynchops nigra, 62. Ricordia ricordii, 4, 97. Riley, J. H., 8. Riparia riparia, HI. Robin, 105. Rodriguez, V., 20, 36, 54. Rojas, Dr., 9. Rostrhamus plumbeus, 48. Ruddy, 39. Ruisenor, 102. Sabanero, 126. Sagra, R. de la, 6. Sanchez, M., 7. Sanderling, 66. Sandpiper, Buff-breasted, 68. Least, 64. Pectoral, 65. Semipalmated, 65. Solitary, 67. Spotted, 68. Stilt, 64. Western, 65. White-rumped, 65. Sanjuanera, 76. Santo Domingo, Choco, 50. Sapsucker, Yellow-bellied, 92. Saramagullon, 23. Chico, 23. Saurothera decolor, 84. merlini, 14, 18, 83. Sayornis phoebe, 100. Seiurus aurocapillus, 119. motacilla, 119. notabilis, 119. noveboracensis, 119. Setophaga ruticilla, 4, 121. Sevilla, 31. Shaw, L. A., 50. Shearwater, Audubon's, 24. Sialia sialis, 103. Siguapa, 87. Siju Plata nero, 85. Sijucito, 85. Simon, L., 91. Sinsonte, 101. Prieto, 101. Sinsontillo, 105. Skimmer, Black, 62. Snake-bird, 26. Snipe, Wilson's, 63. Solibio, 123. Solitaire, Cuban, 15, 102. Sora, 55. Sparrow, Chipping, 128. Grasshopper, 128. Lark, 127. Savanna, 127. White-crowned, 128. Yellow-winged, 128. Spatula clypeata, 36. Sphyrapicus varius, 92. Spindalis pretrei, 126. Spizella passerina, 128. Spoonbill, 31, 32. Squatarola cynosurae, 68. Starnoenas cyanocephala, 72. Sterna acuflavida, 60. antillarum, 60. dougalli, 61. fuscata, 61. maxima, 60. melanoptera, 61. Stilt, Black-necked, 63. 140 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB Streptoprocne pallidifrons, 95. Sturnella hippocrepis, 16, 18, 126. Sula leucogastra, 25. sula, 25. Swallow, Bahama, 101, 112. Bank, 111. Barn, 110, 111. Cliff, 110. Cuban Cave, 110. Tree, HI. Swift, Antillean Black, 95. Cuban Collared, 95. Cuban Palm, 16, 18, 95. Tachornis yradii, 16, 18, 95. Taco, 84. Tanager, Scarlet, 127. Summer, 127. Teal, Blue-winged, 36. Cinnamon, 36. Green-winged, 35. Teretistris fernandinae, 119. fornsi, 120. Tern, Black, 62. Bridled, 61. Cabot's, 60. Gull-billed, 61. Least, 60. Roseate, 61. Royal, 60. Sooty, 61. Thrush, Cuban, 104. Gray-cheeked, 104. Olive-backed, 104. Red-legged Blue, 18, 103. Wilson's, 105. Wood, 104. Tiaris canora, 18, 129. olivacea, 18, 128. Titere, 64. Tocoloro, 94. Todd, W. E. C, 6, 8, 50. Todus exilis, 91. multicolor, 4, 14, 18, 90. Tody, Cuban, 4, 14, 18, 90. Tojosa, 75. Tollin, O., 9, 50, 93. Tolmarchus caudifasciatus, 99. Tomeguin de la Tierra, 128. del Pinar, 129. Torcaza Morada, 78. Torito, 73. Toroloco, 94. Torre, C. de la, 7, 9, 20, 54, 63. Toti, 122. Tringa flavipes, 67. melanoleuca, 66. solitaria, 67. Trogon, Cuban, 18, 94. Tryngites subruficollis, 68. Turdus migratorius, 105. Turnstone, 71. Tyrannus cubensis, 98. curvirostris, 4, 97. melancholicus, 98. sulphuraceus, 98. tyrannus, 98. Tyto furcata, 88. Ububitinga gundlachi, 47. Vencejo, 95. Vermivora bachmani, 113. chrysoptera, 114. peregrina, 114. Vireo griseus, 108. gundlachii, 107. orientalis, 107. Vireo, Black-whiskered, 108. Blue-headed, 108. Gundlach's, 107. Red-eyed, 109. Yellow-throated, 108. Vireosylva barbatula, 108. olivacea, 109. Vulture, Black, 43. Warbler, Bachman's, 113. Blackpoll, 116. Black-throated Blue, 4, 115. Black-throated Green, 117. Cape May, 115. Cerulean, 117. Cuban Mangrove, 114. Cuban Pine, 16, 117. Cuban Yellow, 114. Golden-winged, 114. Hooded, 120. Kentucky, 118. Magnolia, 115. Myrtle, 117. Palm, 4, 118, 121. Parula, 114. Prairie, 116. Prothonotary, 113. Swainson's, 112. Tennessee, 114. Worm-eating, 113. Yellow Palm, 118. Yellow-throated, 116. Water-thrush, 119. Louisiana, 119. Water-turkey, 26. Wedge-tail, Cuban, 122. Widgeon, 36. Wilcox, W., 20. Willet, 67. Williams, S., 20. Wilsonia citrina, 120. Woodpecker, Cuban Green, 18, 81, 92. Cuban Ivory-billed, 8, 80, 91. Green, 92. Wright, C, 50. BIRDS OF CUBA I4I Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus, 125. Xiphidiopicus insulae-pinorum, 92. percussus, 18, 81, 92. Yaguasa, 41. Yellowlegs, Summer, 67. Winter, 66. Yellowthroat, Maryland, 120. Zancudo, 63. Zappey, W. R., 8, 50, 67, 89, 107. Zarapico, 64. Real, 66. Zenaida zenaida, 18, 76. Zenaidura macroura, 18, 76. Zonotrichia leucophrys, 128. Zorzal Gato, 102. Real, 103. Zumbador, 96. Zunzun, 96. Zunzuncito, 96. 1111111 •■•".-.■.•'■ 9&§§B8£1S1 ML ■■"■■=•>'■■■■:'.:■.■ &§§ :. :.'. ■'■i HPpe StSSSHOSSS ■;;■;;. '■/■■ *8t ";: 1111 SH '.■■■')• mm H KM '■•■■■- "; ■" ' ■ .■•".■■■'■"•..'■• rife ■■■' :-V ".'■-. :v BSeJii&SgGBBBSES ■ Hi I -