bangs: birds from the cayman islands. 313 



some other ornithologists that its nearest relation is E. m. riisii Sol. of 

 St. Thomas. Nor do I think it very closely related to any of the dis- 

 tinctly gray Lesser Antillean forms. It seems obviously much more 

 like E. m. subpagana Scl. and Salv. of the near by mainland, with which 

 it exactly agrees in size and markings and in color except in being j)aler 

 throughout. In good plumage the belly is uniformly yellow, the chest 

 dull yellowish gray, the throat grayish white, and the upper parts olive. 

 All these colors, however, are much paler than in the continental bird. 

 I think that this bird was derived not through any of the Lesser 

 Antillean forms, which on zoogeographical grounds would seem out of 

 reason, but like Vireosyha caymanensis and probably Vireo crassi- 

 rostris direct from the form occupying the adjacent mainland. 



MiMIDAE. 



^ MiMUS POLYGLOTTOS ORPHEUS (Linne). 



One adult cf, Grand Cayman, May 14. 



The Jamaican Mockingbird is abundant in Grand Cayman, but 

 apparently is wanting in the two smaller islands. 



TURDIDAE. 



MiMocicHLA RAViDA Cory. 



Thirteen specimens, both sexes, all adult. Grand Cayman, April, 

 May, and June. 



The Grand Cayman Thrush belongs in a group of the genus Mimo- 

 cichla by itself, and of all the birds peculiar to the Caj'mans is the only 

 one that is very distinct, having no representative elsewhere. In view 

 of the recent origin of the ornis of the Caymans, it is probable that 

 there was somewhere, possibly in Jamaica, where no member of the 

 genus now occurs, a related form which has disappeared. 



The Thrush is now extremely rare and local in Grand Cayman. 

 Brown covered the whole island and found it only in two remote 

 patches of woodland. Each of these tracts of rather heavier forest 

 than is usual in the island now-a-days was inliabited by a few pairs of 

 thrushes, which Brown believes to be the entire population of the 

 island. In each of these woods Brown was careful to leave birds 

 enough to perpetuate the species, if it is not gradually becoming extinct 

 from some natural cause, as seems to be the case. 



