CUBAN MARTIN 511 



PROGNE CRYPTOLEUCA Baird 

 CUBAN MARTIN 

 HABITS 



The name eryptoleuca^ meaning hidden white, was aptly applied 

 to this species on account of the concealed bands of white on the 

 feathers of the lower abdomen in the adult male. The male is other- 

 wise like our common purple martin. The female has much white on 

 the posterior under parts, but it is not concealed, the immaculate white 

 of the breast, abdomen, anal region, and under tail coverts being 

 sharply contrasted with the grayish brown of the chest and sides. 



This martin, a straggler from Cuba, owes its place on our list to two 

 accidental occurrences in Florida. There are two specimens in the 

 United States National Museum: one was taken at Cape Florida on 

 May 18, 1858, and the other at Clearwater on an unknown date, but 

 in summer plumage. It was formerly supposed to breed in southern 

 Florida, but all breeding specimens have been proved to be our com- 

 mon purple martin. The Cuban martin is now supposed to breed 

 only in Cuba and on the neighboring Isle of Pines. Dr. Thomas 

 Barbour (1923) says of its haunts in Cuba : 



The Cuban Martins arrive in the cities in large numbers, and from late Feb- 

 ruary to late August they swarm about their chosen belfries. Santo Domingo 

 church tower in Havana is a great favorite. Saledad in Ca maguey, the old 

 church in the plaza at Santa Clara, the Ayuntamiento at Matanzas, the jtar- 

 roqiiia at Guane, the eaves of an old apothecary shop at Sumidero, are all 

 favorite haunts. It readily will be seen that these are not advantageous collect- 

 ing-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 of the Crossbill. The crosses which surmount all 

 Latin churches are constantly preferred perches. 



W. E. Clyde Todd (1916) says of its status on the Isle of Pines : 



Mr. [A. C] Read appears to be the only observer to have met with it in 

 any numbers. He states that it is a summer resident only, appearing as early 

 sometimes as February 8 (1914), March 12 (1912), and March 28 (1910), and 

 remaining until about the first of November. This agrees with what is known 

 concerning its seasonal status in Cuba, where Gundlach says that it disapijcars 

 towards the end of August and does not return until February. What becomes 

 of it in the intervening months remains an unexplained mystery, since it ig 

 a species scarcely known outside of its recognized breeding-range. Mr. Read 

 has also had the good fortune to find it breeding. The nest appears to be 

 built in an old woodpecker's-hole in a bottle-palm or pine-tree, and the four or 

 five white eggs are laid in May. 



The molts and plumages apparently follow the same sequence as 

 in the purple martin. Nothing seems to have been published on the 



