Todd: The Birds of the Isle of Pines. 149 



The surface of the northern portion of the island consists of an 

 essentially level plain, from which rise abruptly a number of isolated 

 mountain ridges and peaks, constituting prominent landmarks. Of 

 these ridges the best known are the two in the neighborhood of Nueva 

 Gerona, running parallel with each other in a general north and south 

 direction, on either side of the town. The ridge lying to the westward 

 is known as the Sierra de Casas or Casas Mountains (PL XXII, fig. l), 

 while the eastern and longer ridge is the Sierra de Caballos or Caballos 

 Mountains, which extend out into the sea to the northward in a high 

 rocky promontory, Punta del Colombo. The Caballos Mountains 

 reach a height in some places of about a thousand feet, the Casas 

 Mountains being considerably lower. Geologically speaking, these 

 ridges are composed mainly of a crystalline marble, the strata dipping 

 to the east-northeast, so that the western slopes are generally steeper 

 than the eastern, with precipitous cliffs exposed in many places. 

 Elsewhere the slopes are covered from base to summit with a dense 

 tangle of partly deciduous vegetation (PI. XXII, fig. 2). Among the 

 prominent forest- trees are Casearia sylvestris, Trichilia hirta, Amyris 

 halsamifera, Banisteria laurifolia, Spondias Monbin, and Guazuma 

 Guazuma. Everywhere the trees are looped with vines, while their 

 upper and more exposed branches are covered with air-plants of 

 various kinds, and the ground beneath is choked with bushes and 

 herbaceous growths. In these woody tangles, especially near the 

 foot of the mountains, the most characteristic bird is perhaps the 

 Isle of Pines Lizard Cuckoo, while among the other species partial, 

 to this particular habitat may be mentioned the Ani, Red-legged 

 Thrush, Black-whiskered Vireo, Cuban Tody, Cuban Spindalis, Ricord 

 Emerald, and Isle of Pines Pygmy Owl. A little higher up on the 

 slopes the Isle of Pines Trogon becomes fairly common, while among 

 the cliffs near the summit, where the trees begin to thin out, the Cuban 

 Cliff Swallow and Turkey Buzzard are accustomed to nest. 



Besides the two ridges just described, there is another, the Sierra 

 de la Cafiada or Canada Mountains, in the southwestern part of the 

 northern section of the island, a few miles east of Los Indios. This 

 is almost as high as the Caballos ridge, but unlike it is composed of an 

 impure mica schist, the southwestern exposure being quite steep and 

 precipitous. It is covered with a sparse growth of pines {PinuscaribcEa) 

 and star-palms ( Cocothrinax Miraguano) , and from its foot a level sandy 

 or gravelly plain, supporting a similar open pine-forest, stretches away 



