BIRDS OF CUBA 77 



able to learn, but through all western or central Cuba this is its name. 

 As is so often the case, the name in use in Oriente is different from that 

 of the rest of the Island and, likewise characteristically, the name is of 

 Indian origin, being Gudnaro. While the last of the pure-blooded Caribs 

 died a few years ago, nevertheless there is much Indian blood evident 

 among the peasants of Oriente; far more than is usually known to exist. 

 Indian features, the 'typo indio,' are common in Baire, Jiguani, and the 

 Sierra Maestra generally, as well as about El Caney and in the remote 

 settlements west of El Cobre. 



This wide-ranging Pigeon is more shy and retiring than the Rabiche, 

 and more solitary. Nevertheless it is found in varying numbers throughout 

 the Island. Its noisy flight is often startling. It is found rarely in deep 

 forest, though Brooks and I have taken it in the high woods about the 

 Cienaga. It is far more characteristic of open savanna lands and the shady 

 second-growth manigua along water-courses in pastures and the outer bound- 

 aries of cultivated fields. It shuns habitations, and is seldom seen in culti- 

 vated land; in fact it feeds but little on the ground. Its flesh is excellent. 



Gundlach found nests from April to July, the usual shabby platform 

 with two eggs, on bunches of epiphytic bromeliads or on some horizontal 

 limb. A Dove so fond of lowland solitudes, yet generally shunning the 

 swamps, is likely to suffer from the increasing intensive cultivation unless 

 it changes its ways. 



135. Ectopistes canadensis (Linne). 

 Passenger Pigeon. 



The Passenger Pigeon, before its extinction, was a rare accidental 

 visitant to Cuba. It never even had a native name. There are two recorded 

 specimens, a female killed by Gundlach atTriscornia on the Bay of Havana 

 and a male procured in the Havana market. These are both now preserved, 

 well mounted, in the Museo Gundlach. 



136. Melopelia asiatica asiatica (Linne). 

 White-winged Dove; Paloma Aliblanca. 



The White-winged Dove is entirely confined to the eastern Province 

 of Oriente. It is not an uncommon species, and usually is seen in small 



