THE BIRDS OP HAITI AND THE DOMINICAN - REPUBLIC 43 



From cavern deposits there has been described also one species, a 

 great barn owl Tyto ostologa, a form of huge dimension compared 

 to its living relatives, that seems to have lived within comparatively 

 recent times but that so far as known is now entirely extinct. In- 

 cluding this owl the endemic forms number 69. Account of the birds 

 of the cavern bone deposits will be the subject of a special report 

 when the extensive collections secured in recent work have been 

 fully identified. 



Among extinct species there is also to be included in all proba- 

 bility a macaw of which nothing is known except for brief mention 

 by Buffon on the authority of the naturalist Deshayes. The color 

 and size of this bird remain entirely unknown and its very presence 

 is open to question, though probable because of the known occurrence 

 of species of this group on Cuba and Jamaica. 



Migrant birds from North America and a few from elsewhere 

 come to Hispaniola in abundance and in the northern winter season 

 furnish a prominent element in the insular birdlife. There are no 

 doubt additions to be made to this list particularly among the 

 waterbirds so that local observers will do well to pay close attention 

 to them. Some of those reported seem to have come merely as strag- 

 glers while the relative abundance of others is at present uncertain. 

 Among species of casual occurrence Wilson's petrel Oceanites o. 

 oceanicus breeds in southern seas and comes northward in its migra- 

 tions. One form of nighthawk Chordeiles m. gundlachii is seem- 

 ingly migrant through this area from breeding grounds in Cuba. 

 To the naturalist from North America one of the pleasing features 

 of the migrant swarm of wood warblers is the great abundance 

 of the Cape May warbler which seems to center its winter distribu- 

 tion in this island and is at times the most abundant of the smaller 

 birds. In connection with migration, attention is directed to the 

 records of common terns and black-crowned night herons banded in 

 the United States and found subsequently in Hispaniola accounts 

 of which are given under the species in subsequent pages. Following 

 is a complete list of the migrant species at present known from the 

 island : 



Oceanodroma leucorhoa leucorhoa 

 Oceanites oceanicus oceanicus 

 Butorides virescens virescens 

 Nycticorax nycticorax hoactli 

 Nettion carolinense 

 Querquedula discors 

 Nyroca affinis 

 Circus hudsonius 

 Pandion haliaetus carolinensis 



