THE BIRDS OF HAITI AND THE DOMINIC A1ST REPUBLIC 143 



The species is seemingly rather local in the Dominican Republic, 

 and is not recorded as yet from the lagoons of the Samana Penin- 

 sula, nor from the Yuna delta at the eastern end of Samana Bay. 



In Haiti the jacana is first recorded definitely in 1760 by Brisson 

 who described a specimen sent by Chervain to de Reaumur. Buffon 

 notes that according to Deshayes this species is known as " chevalier 

 mordore arme." Descourtilz found it April 16, 1799 at the Pont 

 de l'Estere, and makes mention of it in connection with other birds 

 on other pages of his book. He calls it " le Vanneau Arme de Saint- 

 Domingue." 



Cory described this form from a single specimen taken in the late 

 winter of 1881, and was told by the natives that the bird was found 

 at other points. No locality is given in the original description but 

 in his work entitled Birds of Haiti and San Domingo, published in 

 1884 (p. 160) he says that this specimen was "taken near Le Coup." 

 In the Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club for 1881 (p. 155), 

 he says, however, that it came from Gantier. Hellmayr at Wet- 

 more's request has examined the type specimen in the collections of 

 the Field Museum and informs us that the type specimen of Parra 

 violacea, Field Museum No. 36416 (Cory Coll. No. 5104) is a female 

 (not a male as stated in the original description) taken on March 

 5, 1881. The locality given on the label is Le Coup, Haiti, but this 

 name is written in different ink from the rest of the data and seems 

 to have been added later. Since Le Coup, now called Petionville, is 

 in the hills above Port-au-Prince, the occurrence of the bird there 

 seems entirely out of place as its haunts are in the lowlands. It 

 seems probable that the type was taken near Gantier as described in 

 1881. On consulting the roster of specimens given in the Birds of 

 Haiti and San Domingo we find that Cory was at Le Coup from 

 March 1 to 4 and again on March 7. In the intervening period there 

 is record of specimens taken at Gantier March 6. It will be noted 

 that the type in question was taken March 5. In view of this and 

 of Cory's own statement in 1881 we consider Gantier the proper 

 type locality and believe that "Le Coup" was added erroneously 

 without consideration of the topographic difference involved in the 

 few miles separating the two points in question. 



Bartsch recorded the jacana at Trou Caiman April 4, 1917, and 

 Abbott collected a male at the same point on March 10, 1918. This 

 bird is peculiar as it resembles the adult above but below is white 

 with only a slight mixture of black and brown. In spite of its seem- 

 ing immaturity as regards the ventral plumage it is marked as a 

 breeding bird. We consider that it is an albinistic specimen that has 

 retained the juvenile dress in part after reaching maturity. Abbott 

 secured other males near the fitang Saumatre March 7, 1918, and 

 April 11, 1920, and one near Manneville on May 15, 1920. Beebe 



