1 8 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 



The Lakes and Swamps 



Further on, in speaking of the Ruddy and Masked Ducks and the 

 Glossy Ibis, I describe rather fully Lake Ariguanabo and the Zapata 

 Swamp. The former is the largest lake in a country where subterranean 

 drainage is so extensive that lakes are few and small. There are in western 

 Cuba a good many little ponds, an acre or two in extent, and as these 

 are usually not entirely permanent they show open water. The permanent 

 lakes are wholly covered with water lettuce, water hyacinths and floating 

 islands of willows and custard apples. The lake surface appears then as a 

 green plain with scattered clumps of trees. A high wind, however, will 

 move the islands about, and even crowd up and blow ashore enough of the 

 floating plants to leave a large area of open water which may persist for 

 weeks or longer before it is gradually reinvaded by the spreading plants. 

 The lakes vary greatly in area, too, from the dry to the rainy season. 



In the great Cienaga the superficial growth of vegetation over the 

 oozy mass below is sometimes strong enough to bear a man, but the going 

 is unsafe. Much of the surface of this swamp is composed of enormous 

 floating areas of bulrushes or saw-grass, and these are quite impenetrable. 



There is a swampy area just south of Cardenas, which in Gundlach's 

 time supported a typical Cienaga flora and fauna, but which today has 

 been greatly decreased by drainage. Although I believe that a few of the 

 true Swamp Redwings were still to be observed there in 1917, since then 

 I have heard that the swamp has been almost drained away. 



To sum up then, the visitor who motors from Havana to either Pinar 

 del Rio or IMatanzas, may expect to see Grebes, Jaganas and Gallinules 

 in the small pasture ponds by the roadside. In orchards and farmyards 

 Blackbirds, Crackles, Cuban Orioles, Centurus Woodpeckers, Ground 

 Doves and perhaps a Blue Thrush, may reasonably be hoped for. 

 Grassquits are common by the roadside, in thickets, and Anis, Cuban 

 Meadowlarks and Cuban Jvlourning Doves in open pastures. Palm Swifts 

 are seen flying overhead while passing wide savannas where Zenaida Doves, 

 Cuban Mockingbirds and Quail should be watched for. Short walks to 

 hillside jungles may reveal Lizard Cuckoos, Todies, a possible Trogon, 

 the native Warblers and Vireos, Black Finches and Green Woodpeckers. 

 However, as an examination of the notes on each species will show, many 



