THE OOLOGIST. 



39 



back, breast soft grey like the breast of 

 Shrikes, belly and under tail coverts 

 scarlet. 



His feet are small, legs short and he 

 has two toes iD front and two behind. 

 He is a fruit eater. 



Another common bird on these trails 

 is Mimocichla schistacea, a Thrushs 

 whose appearance suggests the Robin 

 in form, size, red bill and legs, but his 

 general coloring is a greyish blue. He 

 is not at all demonstrative, but rather 

 retiring and charry of exhibiting his 

 person. As you walk along the trail a 

 rustle of leaves in the bushes at the side 

 betray his presence and vou catch a 

 glimpse of his trim form darting into 

 thick cover. 



If you are quiet, however, his curios- 

 ity gets the better of him and he soon 

 hops out to have a better view of you. 



On these trails, too, you are liable to 

 see or hear any one of several Dove, 

 and Pigeons— Columbia leucocephala and 

 C. inomata, Geotrygon montana and 

 Stariaenas cyanocephala. 



At this time the trees are alive with 

 migrant Warblers from the States. 



Their incesant chippings and lispings 

 put to shame the strange quiet of many 

 of the native birds. Here are the Water 

 Thrushes and the Ovenbirds, the Black- 

 throated Blue, the Redstart, the Black 

 and White and others less conspicuous 

 than those mentioned. There are also 

 a number of the Vireos. A rather quiet 

 little bird you may see perched on a 

 twig attending strictly to the business 

 of getting his breakfast is the littte FJy- 

 catcher, Blacicus caricaeus. 



As you pass the weed-grown fence 

 rows of the camp too conspicuous and 

 delightful little bits of feathers are the 

 Sparrows, Eulhiaolivaeea bryanti and 

 E. canora In Santiago the boys trap 

 these birds and many others and sell 

 them for cage birds at five or ten cents 

 apiece. 



Down on the cleared pasture ground 

 by the river in the scattering trees one 



or two of the Pitangus caudifasciatus, 

 which look very much like our King- 

 bird are desporting themselves with a 

 good deal of clatter and incidentally 

 picking up their living. The bill of 

 fare of one who gave up his life that his 

 remains might enrich the halls of fame 

 and the temples of science consisted of 

 a large caterpillar, the legs of a big 

 grasshopper and some small green beet- 

 les. 



In the edge of the timber by the river 

 you may chance to see an Audubon's 

 Caracara like, a smaller edition of the 

 Bald Eagle, sitting quite dignified. 



Then your thoughts go back to the 

 dear old days of spring, both as to sea- 

 son of the year and as to life's season, 

 and childhood's home in old New York 

 State, as you hear the carol of the 

 Flicker; that sound one cannot separ- 

 ate from its association with May days. 

 This is Colaptes chri/socauloueus, but his 

 "song" sounds the same and he looks 

 much like the bird of the States. In the 

 woods you may meet him in company 

 with the Cuban Green Woodpecker, a 

 pretty fellow, yellowish-green and 

 striped, about the size of our Hairy, 

 with a large round cockade of red and 

 green and a red necktie, and a short 

 sharp bill. One morning I shot five 

 Woodpeckers one after another from 

 one tree, including three species. 



The last bird of which I will speak at 

 this time, though this far from finishes 

 the list, is a bird of the night that the 

 Cubans call "Lechuya;" Strix pratlcola 

 furcata. I have not yet seen them, but 

 am told they are common here and this 

 evening one of the "rural guard" has 

 gone after one for me. 



Yesterday the same man brought me 

 a Plover, JEgialitis wllsonia rufincha, 

 alive, which he said a boy found, in- 

 jured, by flying against a telephone 

 wire. 



B. S. Bowdish, 



Guama, Cuba. 



Dec. 4, 1901. 



