284 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



bird is wont to use the old holes of woodpeckers in palm-trees for this 

 purpose, laying its eggs in March and April. 



80. Gymnasio lawrencii exsul Bangs. Isle of Pines Bare-legged 

 Owl. 



Noctua nudipes (not Strix niidipes Daudin) Poey, Mem. Hist. Nat. Cuba, 1854, 

 426 (Nueva Gerona, fide Gundlach). 



Gymnasio lawrencii Cory, Cat. W. Indian Birds, 1892, 100 (I. of Pines, in geog. 

 distr.).— Gundlach, Orn. Cubana, 1895, 35 (I. of Pines). — Bangs & Zap,pey, 

 Am. Nat., XXXIX, 1905, 202 (Pasadita and Santa Sevilla; habits; crit.). — 

 Read, Oologist, XXVIII, 191 L i3 (I- of Pines).— Ridgway, BulL U. S. Nat. 

 Mus., No. 50, VI, 1914, 679 (Pasadita and Santa Sevilla; meas.). — Read, I. of 

 Pines News, VI, Jan. 24, 1914 (I. of Pines; descr.). — Read, Bird-Lore, XVI, 

 1914, 50 (Santa Barbara). 



Gymnasio lawrencii exsul Bangs, Proc. New England Zoological Club, IV, 1913, 

 91 (Santa Sevilla; orig. descr.; type now in coll. Mus. Comp. Z06I. ; meas.; 

 crit.). — Stone, Auk, XXX, 1913, 453- in text (review). 



Two specimens: Nueva Gerona. 



Besides the above, I have before me two of the birds collected by 

 Mr. Zappey, and the type-specimen of Gymnoglaux lawrencii Sclater 

 and Salvin (No. 39,111, Collection U. S. National Museum; Remedios, 

 Cuba, October 30, 1863; N. H. Bishop), as well as six other specimens 

 from Cuba, kindly loaned by Messrs. Bangs and Ramsden. There is 

 some variation in both series, but the general differences between the 

 two, pointed out by Mr. Bangs, are obvious at a glance. The speci- 

 mens from eastern and central Cuba are much more rufescent both 

 above and below than those from the Isle of Pines, while the white 

 spotting on the back and wings, as well as the light barring on the 

 tail, is much less pronounced. There is no especial difference in size, 

 however. A skin from San Francisco de Morales, in western Cuba, 

 agrees better with the Isle of Pines birds than with those from eastern 

 Cuba, so that it is probable that this is the form inhabiting the entire 

 western part of the island. Although Mr. Ridgway sinks exsul as a 

 synonym of lawrencii, and it is of course possible that with a larger 

 series the characters relied on for their discrimination might break 

 down, or prove to have no especial geographical significance, I have 

 no other alternative than to recognize it for the present. 



This species is rare in the Isle of Pines, but being strictly nocturnal, 

 this rarity may be more apparent than real. Mr. Zappey secured three 

 specimens in all, at Pasadita and Santa Sevilla, finding a brood of three 

 half-grown young at the latter locality, the nest being in a hole in a 



