98 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 



and then sometimes are shot, for the birds are considered as delicate as 

 Reed Birds and as fat. According to Wetmore the Gray Kingbird does 

 not migrate in Porto Rico. 



Its habits are the usual bee-hunting, bullying, and conspicuous ways, 

 so well known in Tyranntis tyrannus. 



176. Tyrannus tyrannus (Linne). 

 Kingbird. 



An excessively rare straggler. Gundlach gives records of a young one 

 taken in September, 1855, and an adult in April, 1851. 



177. Tyrannus cubensis Richmond. 

 PiTiRRE Real. 



This Royal Kingbird, or Pitirre Real, easily distinguishable by its 

 great size, is now rare. It is a lover of deep woods and solitudes, a bird 

 perching on the topmost twig of some lofty forest tree, watchful after 

 insects, lizards and even little birds. It is not fond of the hills but haunts 

 the lowland woods, the very places which now are changing fastest. I shot 

 one once from a boat, as it flew over the Rio San Juan near Alatanzas, and 

 Brooks and I have killed a few about the Cienaga. Bryant took it years 

 ago (1864) at Remedies, where it is hardly to be looked for today, and 

 Peters shot two at Preston in 191 5. I have seen skins also from a few other 

 localities, among them Holguin and Bayamo. It is found in the Isle of 

 Pines, but is rare there too. 



178. Tyrannus melancholicus subsp. 



A very rare, accidental straggler from Central America. It was taken 

 first in 1823 by Duke Paul William of Wurtemburg, at Cienfuegos, and 

 years later by Gundlach at El Caney. The former bird became the type 

 of Hartlaub's Tyrannus sulphur ace us, but no allocation of that name can 

 be made until this type is critically examined. The subspecific identity 

 of Gundlach's specimen also is uncertain. 



