BIRDS OF CUBA 7 



the 'Histoire' of de la Sagra is to be found in the larger libraries, there 

 is no reason for repeating here what d'Orbigny summarized to 1840. 



Ten years later Juan Lembeye, an Havana schoolmaster, published 

 his 'Aves de la Isla de Cuba' (Havana, Imprenta del Tiempo, 1850). This, 

 unfortunately, like so many Latin-American scientific works, is largely a 

 re-wording of d'Orbigny's work, with the addition of notes and descriptions 

 of new forms supplied by Gundlach, and of plates plagiarized from Audubon. 

 Neither is given credit, for notes supplied or plates copied. Gundlach, 

 whose modesty and generosity exceeded his industry, if such were possible, 

 wrote in 1877 (Contribucion de la Ornitologia Cubana, Supl. to Ann. Hav. 

 Acad., through many numbers in 1876-77), not censuring Lembeye but 

 saying that, as he had contributed to perfecting the 'Aves de Cuba' by 

 supplying notes and descriptions, so had he also been in part responsible 

 for some of its errors. Then he proceeds, very painstakingly, to correct 

 this shabby work and to bring it to accuracy. Lembeye's work today is a 

 great bibliographic rarity, but it offers little of interest to the general 

 student. 



Two foreigners lived in Cuba, who contributed much to advance a 

 knowledge of its zoology. One was William S. MacLeay, an Englishman, 

 resident for some time in Guanabacoa near Havana. His life in Cuba 

 has been well described by Dr. Mario Sanchez (Mem. Soc. Cubana Hist. 

 Nat., 'Felipe Poey,' sen 2, vol. 2, p. 73, 1916). 



The other and far better known sojourner was Johannes Gundlach, 

 a German, one of the most fascinating characters who ever visited America. 

 A fervid, devoted zealot, modest, frugal and industrious, he lived a long, 

 useful, itinerant life of poverty, wandering from time to time to La Fermina 

 where the de Cardenas family always gave him a home. Later on, in 

 Gundlach's old age, the rich planter's clan fell into evil days and was 

 saved from misery by Gundlach who sold his precious collections to help 

 his friends. Ramsden has written a sympathetic biography of the dear 

 old man, based largely on Dr. Carlos de la Torre's personal reminiscences 

 (Ent. News, vol. 26, pp. 241-260, 1915)-' Gundlach's memory is revered 

 today by every peasant who remembers him, and they are legion. 



Dr. Henry Bryant visited Cuba in 1864, and while his collection, 

 now in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, shows that he shot and 

 prepared birds with his usual indefatigable zeal, still no report upon this 

 voyage was ever prepared. 



In 1886 C. B. Cory went to Cuba, met Gundlach, and visited his 



Gundlach came to Cuba as a young man, in 1839, and died there in 1896. 



