30 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 



upon this work, and has also made reference to the Swan Island 'race.' 

 The most reasonable plan is to consider that West Indian birds together 

 may be recognized as a race, for which, as Riley first proposed (Smiths. 

 Misc. Coll., vol. 47, p. 278, 1904), the name maculatus of Boddaert, is 

 available. Should the Cuban bird be separable, which it almost certainly 

 is not, then Lembeye's name brunnescens is applicable to the subspecies. 

 For this is not a separate valid species, in spite of the arguments advanced 

 by Todd. Its habits, notes, etc., are not dissimilar from the common Green 

 Heron's, and on February 27, 191 5, J. L. Peters killed what he felt sure 

 was a mated pair and found the two types of coloration typically 

 represented. The ^brunnescens' phase is also shown by a fine adult (M. C. Z., 

 no. 72,982) from the Madeira Hammock, Florida, in the Howe-Shattuck 

 collection, while a young bird from Quintana Roo, Mexico, (M. C. Z., 

 no. 60,679) is almost similarly typical of this handsome aberration. Thus 

 it is evident that it may appear sporadically outside of Cuba. In Cuba 

 it is similarly sporadic in occurrence, but less uncommon. Ramsden has 

 listed the records (Auk, vol. 28, p. 367, 1911). It is wholly probable that 

 if by chance two individuals of the 'brunnescens' type should mate, the 

 young might all exhibit this type of coloration, while possibly it acts as a 

 Mendelian recessive in mixed matings. 



In Cuba Green Herons are found under the same sort of conditions 

 as with us here in New England, but some birds during drought — and 

 perhaps occasional individuals at all times — visit upland pastures where 

 they hunt lizards and large insects. 



21. Nycticorax nycticorax naevius (Boddaert). 

 Black-crowned Night Heron; Guanab^. 



I never have found the Black-crowned Night Heron a common bird, 

 although I have seen a few individuals on each of four visits to the Zapata 

 Swamp. It is much less abundant than the following form. 



22. Nyctanassa violacea jamaicensis (Gmelin). 

 West Indian Yellow-crowned Night Heron; Guanaba. 



This Night Heron is widespread and abundant. Both it and the 

 preceding species are very much more shy in Cuba than in Florida, and 



