Todd: The Birds of the Isle of Pines. 205 



feathers are plain. Under the circumstances I am forced to the 

 conclusion that the individual described by Messrs. Bangs and Zappey 

 from the Isle of Pines was an unusually small, perhaps immature, bird, 

 and that therefore their recognition of a subspecies holostictus from 

 the West Indies, on the strength of this specimen, cannot stand. 



So far at least as Mr. Link's experience goes, this is not a very 

 common bird in the Isle of Pines. Two were shot at a lagoon north- 

 east of Nueva Gerona, and one in the Cienaga at Pasadita. A few 

 others were seen at the latter locality, as well as at El Canal, on the 

 route between Santa Fe and the Cienaga, where they were observed 

 in the dry uplands, in a plowed field. Mr. Zappey, however, saw 

 none outside of the Cienaga. Messrs. Palmer and Riley heard several 

 in the vicinity of Nueva Gerona, and Mr. Read has noted the species 

 repeatedly at various points in the northwestern part of the island, 

 remarking that it is solitary in its habits, and is oftener heard than seen. 

 The fresh-water snails which abound in the rivers and lagoons constit- 

 tute its principal food. " In the night it is a noisy bird, making weird, 

 mysterious cries, from which it gets its name " [of " Crying Bird "]. 

 Its ordinary alarm-note in the daytime is a frog-like croak. Nothing 

 is yet on record regarding its breeding on the island. 



45. Grus mexicana nesiotes Bangs & Zappey. Cuban Sandhill 

 Crane. 



Grus poliophcea (not of Wagler) Poey, Mem. Hist. Nat. Cuba, 1854, 427 (Nueva 

 Gerona, Jide Gundlach). 



Grus canadensis (not of Linnaeus) Gundlach, Journ. fur Orn., 1875, 293 (I. of 

 Pines; habits). — Gundlach, Contr. Orn. Cubana, 1876, 143 (I. of Pines). 



Grus mexicana (not of Miiller) Cory, Cat. W. Indian Birds, 1892, 90 (I. of Pines, 

 in geog. distr.). — Gundlach, Orn. Cubana, 1895, I7S (I- of Pines). — Cooke, 

 Bull. U. S. Dept. Agric, No. 128, 1914, 10 (I. of Pines, ex Gundlach). 



Grus nesiotes Bangs & Zappey, Am. Nat., XXXIX, 1905, 193 (La Vega and Pasa- 

 dita; orig. descr. ; type now in coll. Mus. Comp. Zool.; habits; crit.). — Allen, 

 Auk, XXII, 1905, 329, in text (review). — Editors, Ibis, 1905, 631, in text 

 (review). — Read, Oologist, XXVIII, 1911, 11 (I. of Pines); XV, 1913, 45 (Santa 

 Barbara). — Read, I. of Pines News, VI, Feb. 7, 1914 (I. of Pines; habits). 



"Sand-hill Crane" Read, Oologist, XXVI, 1909, 58 (I. of Pines), 102 (syn.). 



"Cuban Crane" Read, Forest and Stream, LXXIII, 1909, 452 (I. of Pines). — 

 Read, Oologist, XXVIII, 191 1, 7 (Caiiada Mountains, etc.), 113 (West Mc- 

 Kinley); XXX, 1913, 123 (Pine River), 125 (Santa Barbara), 130 (I. of Pines)^ 



Three specimens: Los Indios. 



The measurements given in the following table, having been taken- 

 by different individuals, are possibly not entirely comparable, although. 



