126 BULLETIN 15 5, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Haiti: — Dondon, Port-de-Paix, Port-a-Piment, Petite-Riviere, 

 Aquin, St. Louis, Jeremie, (Saint-Mery) ; Port-a-Piment, on south- 

 ern peninsula (Beck) ; Moustique, Riviere Bar, Pimentel (Abbott) ; 

 Glore, Trou Caiman (Bartsch) ; Fonds-des-Negres, La Tremblay, 

 Caracol (Wetmore) ; Hinche (Wetmore, Poole and Perry go) ; St. 

 Michel, Cerca-la-Source (Poole and Perry go) ; L'Arcahaie, St. Marc, 

 Les Salines (Danforth). 



The guinea hen was introduced into Hispaniola many years ago 

 so that it was well established and wide spread in the eighteenth 

 century. Charlevoix in 1733 records the wild bird, and believed 

 that it could not be domesticated. Saint-Mery in 1797 and 1798 

 lists it from many localities often in flocks. At Petite-Riviere he 

 notes that in the dry season hunters set fire to the vegetation and so 

 drove the birds where they could be killed. As this often took place 

 in the breeding season a great destruction of nests resulted. Des- 

 courtilz, who came to Port-au-Prince in 1799, found the bird com- 

 mon and gives a considerable account of its habits and hunting. 

 Walton, writing in 1810 says that guineas were killed on the plains 

 of Neiba in such numbers that they sold in the market for one real 

 each. Ritter reports that they were brought to the Antilles in the 

 year 1500, but does not give his authority for that statement. 



Christy remarks that the guinea hen was common in the Dominican 

 Republic, and shot it in the drier parts of the Yuna delta. Beck 

 secured a young bird one-third grown at Azua, December 28, 1916, 

 and a series at Tubano from December 30, 1916, to March 6, 1917. 

 Abbott found them at Sosiia in 1919 and recorded them as common 

 but difficult to procure near Pimentel January 19 to 25, 1921. In 

 the spring of 1927 Wetmore heard of guineas at various places but 

 actually saw them only near Comendador, on April 30. It was 

 his belief that they were common through the wild semi-arid scrubs 

 in the western part of the eastern Republic but that elsewhere hunt- 

 ing had greatly reduced their numbers. 



In Haiti the Pintade, usually pronounced " pintard," is one of the 

 common game birds and abounds in many localities. Abbott pre- 

 pared specimens shot at Moustique Bay on the northwest coast May 

 4, 1917, at Riviere Bar, also near the coast, on February 21, 1917, 

 and at Moustique, inland from Moustique Bay, near the center of 

 the northern peninsula, on March 8, 1917. Beck shot one at Port-a- 

 Piment, on the southern peninsula, June 29, 1917. Bartsch saw 

 guineas at Glore on the Etang Saumatre, April 3, 1917, near Trou 

 Caiman April 4, five miles west of Jeremie April 16, between Port- 

 au-Prince and St. Marc April 21 and 22, and in the Cul-de-Sac 

 Plain April 24. 



