150 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



to the western coast. Indeed, this sandy, pine-covered plain occupies 

 the entire southwestern portion of the northern island, as far north 

 almost as Santa Barbara. Excepting for a fringe along the streams, 

 where the prevailing vegetation is of a different kind, denser and more 

 jungle-like, the pines are very characteristic of this section (PI. 

 XXIV, fig. i). The bird-life here, however, is neither rich nor varied. 

 These open pine-lands are the favorite haunts of the Cuban Crane and 

 several species of pigeons and doves, but barring the La Sagra Fly- 

 catcher, Gray Kingbird, and certain winter-resident species of warblers 

 in their season, birds are rather scarce. 



Over the greater portion of the northern island, however, the soil 

 is largely the Mai Pais Gravel, a yellowish red or brownish red gravelly 

 clay, which becomes very firm during the dry season, and which in 

 depressions is replaced by a light yellow or somewhat gray sandy 

 loam. Over much of this part of the inland plain, as for instance in 

 the vicinity of Nueva Gerona and Santa Fe, the land has been in use 

 at least for grazing purposes for a long time, and the original vege- 

 tation has been greatly modified. Bush-fires have frequently been 

 started as a means of clearing the land, and at the present time con- 

 siderable areas are under cultivation. In these cultivated tracts are 

 found the Cuban Meadowlark, Isle of Pines Lizard Cuckoo, and Isle 

 of Pines Woodpecker, with an occasional flock of the Isle of Pines 

 Grackle, but few other of the woodland species have occasion to venture 

 into such situations. Outside of these cultivated areas the vegetation 

 is mainly a palmetto-pine scrub (PI. XXIII, fig. i), partly deciduous 

 in the dry season, and in the lower spots quite dense and difficult to 

 penetrate. As a rule this straggling shrubbery is from eight to fifteen 

 feet in height, and among others the following species are represented: 

 Curatella americana (sandpaper leaf), Byrsonima crassifolia, Tabe- 

 bouia lepidophylla, Brya ebenus (known locally as " majagua," and 

 forming dense thorny thickets), and several kinds of palmetto. Mixed 

 with these, but rising considerably above the general level of the 

 shrubby vegetation, are varying numbers of Pimis caribcea (Carib- 

 bean Pine), Muntingia calabura, Cocothrinax Miraguano (star-palm), 

 Sabal parviflora (cabbage-palm), PauroUs Wrightii (bottle-palm) 

 (PI. XXIII, fig. 3), and Copernicia Ciirtisii, and in the lower places 

 Oreodoxia regia (royal palm) (PI. XXIII, fig. 2). The Isle of Pines 

 Parrot, Isle of Pines Woodpecker, and Cuban Sparrow Hawk are 

 characteristic birds in this sort of country, while certain other species, 



