BIRDS OF CUBA 85 



the mountain forests. Brooks and I never have found it abundant, on 

 the contrary we have seen but very few altogether. That it does occasion- 

 ally nest in Cuba, I have no doubt. Gundlach states definitely that, while 

 he' never has seen the eggs, "which the country people say are green," 

 he has seen a nestling, and has killed in June a female with eggs almost 

 ready to lay. On April 15, 191 5, I shot a female near the edge of the Zapata 

 Swamp, not far from the Hanabana River, which I thought was nest- 

 building; unfortunately I did not wait as long as I might well have done 

 before killing the bird. It was late, and I had a long ride home. 



148. Coccyzus erythrophthalmus (Wilson). 

 Black-billed Cuckoo. 



For the Black-billed Cuckoo there is but one Cuban record — a single 

 specimen killed in May near Cardenas by Gundlach, but in what year 

 I do not know. 



149. Glaucidium siju (d'Orbigny). 

 SijuciTo; Siju Platanero. 



My large series does not bear out the contention of Ridgway and of 

 Todd that the Isle of Pines birds are separable as a valid race. A specimen 

 from Holguin (M. C. Z., no. 114,918) is as much spotted above as the most 

 heavily speckled bird in my Isle of Pines series, and another (M. C. Z., 

 no. 61,072) from the Cienaga is equally maculate. Other specimens show 

 various intermediate conditions, and one from the Isle of Pines (M. C. Z., 

 no. 67,399) is in the gray phase and almost unspotted above. So 'vittatuni' 

 must perforce enter the synonymy. 



These little earless Owls are quite tame and are both nocturnal and 

 diurnal. They live, not only in woods, but about orchards and gardens. 

 Indeed their constancy in visiting the dark, shady recesses of banana 

 groves has given rise to the common name of Siju Platanero. They 

 often step or move suddenly, tipping the tail up toward the back and 

 holding it there for some little time. Gundlach says that in courtship 



