THE BIKDS OF HAITI AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 39 



Sylvia pumilia Vieillot, Hist. Nat. Ois. Amer. Sept., vol 2, 1807, 

 p. 39, pi. 100. "A la Jamaique, a Saint-Domingue, a Caienne, 

 ainsi qu'a la Caroline; " apparently a species of warbler.) 



Sylvicola pumilia, Hartlatjb, Isis, 1847, p. 609. (Listed from 

 Hispaniola; probably taken from Vieillot 's Sylvia pumilia.) 



When birds as a concrete topic are mentioned in conversation 

 with those of foreign birth resident in Hispaniola, particularly with 

 Americans, the remark is inevitably made that the island has no 

 birds, a statement not entirely accurate as the number of forms that 

 has been found will indicate. This belief, however, has become a 

 part of the usual knowledge gathered by the casual tourist in brief 

 visits to Port-au-Prince or Santo Domingo City, and is so univer- 

 sally accepted that it is even current and established among some 

 of those residents who have interest in local natural history. In 

 consequence scant attention is paid to birds and an exceedingly 

 interesting subject for investigation has been almost wholly neglected. 

 This is true even among persons of native birth, since only the more 

 striking avian species are singled out by name, the small, obscurely 

 marked forms being designated usually merely as " oiseaux," 

 " siguas " or "siguitas " according to the language that is spoken. 



It is true that as one traverses roads and trails by motor car or on 

 horse or mule back few birds are noted by either eye or ear, except by 

 one who is adept in field ornithology. The circumstance seems so con- 

 vincing that one might well accept current tradition in the matter 

 and turn to botanizing as an outlet for recreational energy, since 

 everywhere interesting plants of many species cloak the land in 

 profusion. Let an observant pedestrian follow the little footpaths 

 that everywhere in Haiti lead through the scrubs, or penetrate the 

 less frequented woodlands and thickets of the Dominican Republic, 

 and a different picture meets the view. Woodpeckers laugh and 

 call amid the trees, anis scale away with planelike flight from 

 branches barely out of reach, the lizard cuckoo peers out through 

 red-lidded eyes, the gray thrush hops robinlike to meet the visitor, 

 and a host of smaller forms that may perhaps be identified only with 

 glasses flutter among the branches or along the ground, each indi- 

 vidual intent on his own affairs. As one pauses and looks about 

 tiny palm swifts dart quickly overhead, a sparrow hawk or a bur- 

 rowing owl meets the view, or with chattering calls the curious palm- 

 chats flutter past in search of flowers or berries. Though it is true 

 that in Hispaniola birds are far fewer than in tropical regions of 

 Central and South America where hundreds of species may occur 

 at one locality, yet they are actually common, and in proportion to 

 the number of species are about as abundant in individuals as is the 

 case in the average temperate zone region. The number of resident 



