BIRDS OF CUBA 93 



hedgerows than in wilder tracts, and its noisy rattle may be heard iri every 

 fruit grove. The lesser race, murceus Bangs, of the Isle of Pines, is only 

 fairly well defined; it is equally common and harmful. 



i66. Colaptes chrysocaulosus chrysocaulosus Gundlach. 

 Cuban Flicker; Carpintero Escapulario. 



The Flicker in Cuba is a rare bird. It loves the wide savannas and 

 open pastures with scattered groves of guasimas and other shabby trees 

 which struggle along on sterile lands. It is far less terrestrial than the 

 Northern bird, but nevertheless probes ant nests at times in the same 

 familiar way. About the estuary of Juan Hernandez and in the neighbor- 

 hood of Aguada de Pasajeros, Brooks and I have collected perhaps a dozen 

 birds, but elsewhere have only met with an occasional individual, a^ few 

 In the pine lands of Pinar del Rio and about the Ensenadade Cochinos. 

 Gundlach says it nests in April and May. That it may also bring out young 

 much earlier is shown by our shooting one, just able to fly but full-grown, 

 in early April, 191 5. ,, 1 • 



The only near ally of this Woodpecker is the race C. c. gundlacki 

 Cory from Grand Cayman. 



The Spanish name is derived from the heavy, conspicuous black 

 patch on the breast. 



167. Nesoceleus fernandinae (Vigors). 

 Carpintero Churroso. 



A very rare species in most parts of Cuba, but locally abundant m 

 the dry pastures of retired communities in southern Santa Clara and 

 Camaguey. Gundlach says that it does not occur in Oriente. I have, 

 however, a single example from Holguin, collected by the late O. Tollm. 

 I never have seen a single one in Pinar del Rio, Havana, nor Matanzas 

 Provinces, although Ridgway ('Birds of North and Middle America,' 

 vol. 6, p. 41, 1914) records examples from Havana, beyond doubt erroneous. 



