82 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 



142. Amazona leucocephala leucocephala (Linne). 

 Cuban Parrot; Lord. 



The familiar name of leucocephala must be restricted to the Parrot 

 of eastern Cuba. In the Province of Oriente Parrots are still to be found 

 in the forests of the lower mountainsides, but everywhere they are grow- 

 ing fewer in numbers year by year. 



143. Amazona leucocephala palmarum Todd. 

 Western Cuban Parrot; Cotorra. 



Todd did not realize from the material at his disposal that the Parrots 

 of western and central Cuba are indistinguishable from Isle of Pines birds. 

 They all average a slightly darker green, have the purplish abdominal 

 patch generally a little darker, and the throat usually of a more intense 

 red, than do Parrots from Oriente. A pair killed In April, 191 5, at Palo 

 Alto on the south-central coast of Camaguey, almost in the center of the 

 Island, are more like birds from the Clenaga than like others from the 

 eastern towns of Bayate and Holguin. Although it is probable that the 

 living bird which Edwards figured, and which was the basis of Linne's 

 description, came from Havana, yet there is no objection to this subdivision 

 of the species in the absence of specific information. 



For generations Parrots have been caught and shipped to Europe 

 as cage-birds. They nest conspicuously in holes in palm trees, and the 

 groves in which they nest are regularly divided up among the peasant 

 collectors, who get nearly every young bird. Indeed they often open the 

 trees too soon and take young birds which cannot be reared, so that there 

 is great waste. Todd has given an excellent account of parrot-catching 

 in the Isle of Pines (1. c, p. 229), and the conditions described are more 

 or less duplicated in Cuba, wherever there are still Parrots to be caught. 

 In 1917 and 1918, during the period of greatest expansion of cane planting, 

 I saw great numbers of nests destroyed in clearing land. Today it is not 

 so easy to find Parrots as it was only a few years ago. Still they persist 

 better than do the Paroquets, although they are far from shy. There are 

 probably bands still to be found in the more remote districts of all the 



