220 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



The three forms here recognized may be diagnosed as follows: 



Frontal lappets small; upper parts more rufescent; under parts darker and duller. 



(Mexico) Jacana spinosa gymnostoma. 



Frontal lappets medium; upper parts more rufescent; under parts rather brighter. 



(Central America) Jacana spinosa spinosa. 



Frontal lappets large; upper parts more purplish; under parts decidedly brighter. 



(West Indies) Jacana spinosa violacea. 



It will thus be seen that my conception of a subspecies is essentially 

 different from that of Mr. Hellmayr (c/. Novitates Zoologicce, XIII, 

 1906, 53), who considers that J. " melanopygia " and /. spinosa should 

 stand as races of /. jacana, although I fully agree with him that the 

 recognition of a separate genus Asarcia for /. spinosa, as proposed 

 by Sharpe, is quite unnecessary. 



The Jacana is a fairly common bird in the Isle of Pines, being apt to 

 occur in almost any fresh-water lagoon. Messrs. Palmer and Riley 

 shot three individuals in the vicinity of Nueva Gerona, where IVIr. 

 Link also observed it on several occasions, securing one specimen at 

 Santa Ana, about three miles distant. It was abundant in the 

 Cienaga in the neighborhood of Pasadita, specimens having been 

 secured there both by Mr. Zappey and Mr. Link. None were observed 

 near the western end of the Cienaga, however, the water being rather 

 too brackish there. 



65. Starnoenascyanocephala (Linnaeus). Blue-headed Quail Dove. 



Starncenas cyanocephala Bangs & Zappey, Am. Nat., XXXIX, 1905, 199 (Caballos 

 Mountains and "south coast"?). — Read, Oologist, XXVIII, 191 1, 11 (I. of 

 Pines). — Read, I. of Pines News, VI, Feb. 21, 1914 (I. of Pines, one record). 



"Blue-headed Quail Dove" Read, Forest and Stream, LXXIII, 1909, 452 (I. of 

 Pines). — Read, Oologist, XXVI, 1909, 102, and XXX, 1913, 131 (I. of Pines). 



Messrs. Bangs and Zappey include this species in their list on 



purely hearsay evidence, stating that while it has never actually been 



observed by any naturalist, " the natives who know it well positively 



assert that a few inhabit the Caballos Mountains and some point 



near the south coast." While there is no intrinsic reason why it 



should not be found in the Isle of Pines, just as in Cuba, this can scarcely 



be regarded as very satisfactory evidence from a scientific standpoint. 



Mr. Read, however, reports a single individual as having been secured 



on August 26, 1909, adding that it was so badly mutilated that no 



effort was made to save it, and it is mainly on the strength of this 



record that the species is allowed to re^uain on the list. 



