INTRODUCTION 



It was my original intention to write this work in collaboration with 

 an old friend, Winthrop Sprague Brooks, and we prepared together a card 

 catalogue of the Cuban birds in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, as 

 a preparatory^ step to recall the material to mind. The scope of the project, 

 however, was changed, and press of work in separate institutions made it 

 impossible for us to do it together. I have, therefore, essayed the task 

 alone, and have concluded not simply to prepare a paper which would 

 describe my Cuban material but rather to attempt a work which may be 

 useful to the increasing number of amateurs of field ornithology who now 

 visit Cuba, for these serious observers find nothing accessible in English 

 which will give them any clue to the birds they may see. It may serve 

 also to answer some questions which I have often been asked by the ever 

 increasing number of English-speaking residents in Cuba and the Isle of 

 Pines. 



For a charming companionship and a patient tolerance of my erratic 

 wa^ys I owe more to Winthrop Sprague Brooks than I can well express. 

 For many years it has been Brooks' good fortune and mine to visit Cuba 

 frequently, and during the War we were there for long periods of many 

 months' duration. Our duties during this time did not permit of much 

 collecting, but constant travelling afforded many chances for observation. 

 On previous and subsequent journeys we have made extensive collections, 

 all of which are now in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, except such 

 specimens as have been distributed in exchange. 



It is difficult to describe a varied scenery, especially one that is in 

 great part really tropical, so that it may be reasonably visualized. This is 

 particularly true of a country which possesses the manifold aspects, each 

 in the highest degree peculiar, that combine to form the impression which 

 Cuba makes. No other Latin-American country affords the temporary 

 opportunity to enjoy the wholly foreign way of living that Cuba offers to 

 thousands of Americans. They leave Key West, whence the majority set 

 sail, with a vivid impression of the futility of clapboards and galvanized 



