58 THE BIRDS OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS 



quiet bird, although it has been described as noisy. Once we saw it attack a Buz- 

 zard, and persistently drive it away. ■ 



33. Chordeiles minor Cub. Cuban Nighthawk. — Quite abundant; some- 

 times a dozen or more were seen flying about in the dusk. It is called "Pira- 

 midig" by the natives/on account of its cry, which to us, however, sounded more 

 like " Pir-ra-me-qnick-quick." Those procured were shot in the daytime, on the 

 western side of Andros, on lune 17. They were sitting motionless on the hot dry 

 plain, and did not fly until we were within a very few feet of them. Even when 

 disturbed they would alight again very shortly, and crouch close to the ground as 

 before. 



*34. Antrostomus carolinensis Gmcl. Chuck-will's-widow. — Three speci- 

 mens were taken, two of which were disturbed in the woods during the daytime, and 

 the other shot at dusk. Upon examining the stomach of the first one I shot, I 

 found, amid an indistinguishable mass of brownish matter, a small bone, about 

 half an inch long, that looked like the leg of a small bird. The next one examined 

 contained in its stomach the partially digested remains of an entire Humming-bird, 

 enough of which was preserved to identify it beyond doubt as Sporadinus ricordi. 

 "The remains of a small bird are said to have been found within the stomach of 

 one of this species." l One collected on May 15 contained remains of beetles and 

 winged ants in its stomach. The testes were much enlarged, being about half an 

 inch in length, but I am not sure that the bird breeds on the island. 



35. Doricha evelynae Bourc. Bahama Woodstar. — Well distributed over 

 both New Providence and Andros, and as common in the pines as in the coppet. 

 They are both pugnacious and curious, for one day we watched one chase a Den- 

 droica discolor off a tree, and follow it some little distance, and while walking 

 through the woods one of these birds would often alight close by or hover over our 

 heads, as if examining us, and they flew through the house a number of times. 

 They seemed to alight on the branches quite as frequently as other birds, and we 

 often watched them perch and preen their feathers. Their little silvery trill was 

 a quite common note in the pines, and for a while we thought it the song of some 

 bird in the distance until we caught sight of the tiny songster almost above our 

 heads. They do not always confine their attention to flowers, for one day a Dori- 

 cha, after fluttering about the basket of flowers in my hand, made a dart at a good- 

 sized spider in a web close by, and to our surprise demolished it and was off again 

 in a moment. Of the numbers that we saw at New Providence, none were adult 

 males, and of those collected on Andros there was a large preponderance of females. 



On one occasion we had the good fortune to see a male who was evidently dis- 

 playing his charms. The female was perched on a branch of a low shrub and 

 before her the male was performing. His wings were vibrating rapidly in the 

 usual manner, and thus supported in the air he swung rapidly to and fro, at the 

 same time rising and falling, a movement very difficult to describe, but almost 

 exactly like that of a ball suspended by an elastic thread that stretches and con- 

 tracts as the ball swings back and forth. This exceedingly graceful movement 



1 Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, "North American Birds," Vol. II, p. 413. 



