noble: the resident birds of Guadeloupe. 365 



adult and half-grown birds from Les Saintes taken during the first 

 week in September. 



Oberholser (Proc. U. S. N. M., 1912, 42, p. 529-577) has recently 

 revised the subspecies of Biitorides virescens and has described several 

 new Antillean races. He refers the Guadeloupe bird to B. v. cubamis 

 (Oberholser, Loc. cit., p. 559-561) and erects another new race, B. v. 

 christophorensis between the Guadeloupe bird and the northern race, 

 B. V. cuhamis. 



I have compared a large series of specimens from nearly every 

 island in the Antilles with the eighteen specimens taken on Guadeloupe 

 and St. Croix and am convinced that the green herons from Cuba 

 to Grenada all belong to one subspecies. Messrs. Bangs and Barbour 

 have studied this series with me and have called my attention to the 

 fact that the series from Guadeloupe includes within its range of 

 variation, in color and measurements, the distinguishing characters 

 of four of Oberholser's new subspecies: — namely, B. v. christophoren- 

 sis, B. V. dominicanus, B. v. lucianus, and B. v. grenadcnsis. I saw 

 in early July a green heron flying a considerable distance off the north 

 shore of Guadeloupe and from the bird's position high in the air, both 

 Antigua and Dominica must have been plainly visible. It seems very 

 probable that green herons wander from island to island throughout 

 the Greater and Lesser Antilles. 



The Antillean race of green heron feeds in both fresh- and salt- 

 water swamps but for some reason it is only locally abundant through- 

 out Guadeloupe and Grande Terre. In general its habits are like 

 those of our own Green Heron {B. v. virescens) except that the Antil- 

 lean race has adapted itself to lizard hunting. On both St. Croix 

 and Guadeloupe I have observed the green heron standing motion- 

 less in the center of a dry field watching for an Anolis. It is surpris- 

 ing to see this bird of the twilight and the swamps apparently dozing 

 in the middle of an open field while the tropical sun glares down from 

 directly overhead. 



4. Cerchneis sparveria caribbaearum (Gmelin). 



Gli-Gli. 



Seven adults from various localities on Guadeloupe and Les Saintes : 

 two from Ste. Rose July 13th, one from Ste. Claude June 26th, one 

 from Goyave September 6th and three from Les Saintes September 

 15th. 



