BIRDS OF CUBA Vj 



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. 



