Todd: The Birds of the Isle of Pines. 279 



above and below, while in the Trinidad skins it is decidedly purplish 

 or violaceous. These color-differences are very conspicuous when a 

 series of adults are compared, while measurements show that the Isle 

 of Pines birds are constantly smaller. Moreover, specimens from 

 Baracoa, at the eastern extremity of Cuba, and from Guanaja, on the 

 north coast, prove to be the same as the Trinidad birds, while skins 

 from El Guama, in the Province of Pinar del Rio, on the other hand, 

 cannot be distinguished (allowing for their somewhat dift'erent con- 

 dition) from those from the Isle of Pines. It is evident, therefore, that 

 as distinctions go in this genus two different species inhabit the island 

 of Cuba, one the eastern and middle, the other the western portion. 

 The differences here pointed out, while perfectly obvious and constant, 

 seem to have escaped the notice of previous writers on this group, or 

 at least to have been discounted as having any geographical significance. 

 While Messrs. Bangs and Zappey, it is true, speak of the great vari- 

 ation among Cuban birds, they seem not to have suspected that this 

 variation was correlated with locality. The question of names for 

 the two forms naturally comes up for determination at this point. 

 Fortunately, the type of Cassin's Qiiiscalus giindlachii is still extant 

 in the museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 

 and Mr. VVitmer Stone has very courteously at my request compared 

 it with material which I forwarded for the purpose. He reports that 

 the type-specimen agrees precisely with the purplish bird. This fixes 

 the name gundlachii on the form from eastern Cuba, and leaves that 

 from western Cuba and the Isle of Pines to be provided with a new 

 name, which I here supply. Different as it is from gundlachii, it is 

 so closely related to the Grand Cayman form that it is best considered 

 as conspecific. Besides averaging considerably larger than caymanen- 

 sis, it is somewhat different in color, the plumage lacking almost en- 

 tirely the purplish sheen which is present in that form, although by 

 no means conspicuous. While these differences are, it is true, more 

 or less bridged over by individual variation in both forms, the average 

 difference between the respective series is in my judgment sufficient 

 to entitle the bird of western Cuba and the Isle of Pines to recognition 

 by name. 



The form from Grand Cayman is not only decidedly smaller than 

 the forms from eastern Cuba and Jamaica respectively, but also has 

 very little of the purplish gloss of the plumage, so pronounced and 

 characteristic a feature in those forms. The latter agree with each 



