BIRDS OF CUBA 45 



56. Accipiter gundlachii Lawrence. 



One of the rarest Hawks in the world. In Gundlach's time, he said, 

 "Not rare in the woods but uncommon about cleared lands." He added 

 that adults in full plumage were rarely seen, and that he had but once 

 found the nest, in the Zapata Swamp, with young ready to fly. It is reported 

 very harmful to poultry and of the swiftest flight. I know of no specimens 

 having been collected for many years. Ramsden, a lifelong collector in 

 the Guantanamo basin, had, in 191 5, in his collection only one old, inherited, 

 mounted bird. I have seen Hawks on one or two occasions which I felt 

 might be this species — several times near Cojimar — but I never have 

 been near enough to chance a shot or to make a positive identification. 



This was a Hawk of the lowland forest, and it probably is well advanced 

 on the road to complete extinction. 



57. Accipiter fringilloides Vigors. 



This little Hawk is less rare than the preceding, and it has been taken 

 within a few years upon Pico Turquino, near Yara, by R. H. Beck, during 

 the Brewster-Sanford Expedition, while in search for nesting Petrels upon 

 that mountain. I never have killed it, although I have seen it ffying several 

 times. The type was taken by MacLeay who lived near Guanabacoa. 

 (For an account of his life in Cuba, see Mario Sanchez, Mem. Soc. Cubana 

 Hist. Nat., 'Felipe Poey, ' vol. 2, p. 73, 1916.) Gundlach mentions killing 

 a number of specimens, and among other localities he speaks of San Diego 

 de los Banos and Bayamo, both very familiar to me from various visits 

 which, however, have never provided the opportunity to garner one of 

 these much desired treasures. 



58. Accipiter velox (Wilson). 

 Sharp-shinned Hawk. 



Gundlach once killed two young Sharp-shinned Hawks at a coffee 

 plantation in the Sierra de Yateras. He believed they had been hatched 

 near by. He speaks of adults as being rare, but gives a description of 



