Todd: The Birds of the Isle of Pines. 227 



open season for shooting lasts from September until the end of April, 

 and thus extends well into the breeding-season. Moreover, the birds 

 are so easily shot that large bags are the rule. In the spring and fall 

 months they are found in flocks of greater or less extent, scattered 

 through the pine-lands, feeding on the fruit of the " cocoa-plum." 

 At such times they may be approached with ease, paying little atten- 

 tion to an intruder, even after being repeatedly fired at, whence their 

 common name of " El Bobo " (fool) Pigeon. i* Many such flocks were 

 seen at Los Indios for about a week during the latter part of September, 

 after which they disappeared, and only a few odd birds were seen 

 until the end of March, when the flocks began to appear, seeming to 

 come from the south. The natives say that they retire to the " south 

 coast " for the winter months, but this could not be verified. That 

 there is a limited migration in both Cohifuba leucocephala and the 

 present species, however, is beyond question. In other sections of 

 the island it is evidently not so common, Mr. Zappey having secured 

 but a single specimen on his first trip, and none at all in 1904. Mr. 

 Read speaks of finding a nest on April 29, 1910, built in a blown-over 

 tree about twenty feet from the ground, and composed of a few loose 

 sticks, like that of the Mourning Dove. This nest had eggs on May 4 



74. Ara tricolor (Bechstein). Cuban Macaw. 



Ara tricolor Cory, Cat. W. Indian Birds, 1892, loi, 127 (I. of Pines). — Gundlach, 



Orn. Cubana, 1895, 151 (I. of Pines). — Bangs & Zappey, Am. Nat., XXXIX, 



1905, 200 (La Vega). — Clark, Auk, XXII, 1905, 348 (I. of Pines, in geog. distr.). 



— Rothschild, Extinct Birds, 1907, 51 (I. of Pines, in geog. distr.; Bangs and 



Zappey 's record). 



The Cuban or Great Antillean Macaw, the range of which at one 

 time included not only Cuba and the Isle of Pines, but also Haiti and 

 Jamaica, has been extinct for many years, having been destroyed by 

 the inhabitants because of its value for food. Gundlach attributes it 

 to the Isle of Pines, and Messrs. Bangs and Zappey remark as follows: 

 " It has been supposed that perhaps the Cuban Macaw still lingered 

 in the Isle of Pines. Unfortunately this is not so. The last pair 

 known in the island was shot at La Vega, near the Cienaga, about the 

 year 1864, and none have been seen since. This information was 



15 Mr. Read claims that this name properly belongs to Columba squamosa, but 

 Gundlach applies it to the present species, and Mr. Link indorses this procedure- 

 Mr. Reed seems to have confused one or both of these pigeons with the Zenaida 

 Dove during the early part of his work. 



