THE BIRDS OF HAITI AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 247 



Acad. Nat. Sci. No. 82,272, male, wing 303, tail 169, oilmen and 

 cere 35.8, tarsus 47.3. 



Abbott describes the soft parts in his specimen as follows: iris 

 yellow, toes dirty lead color, claws black, bill horny black, with the 

 tip and lower mandible yellowish. 



This owl, which is about 440 mm. in length is blackish brown 

 above, mottled faintly with grayish buff on forehead, sides of head, 

 wing coverts, inner secondaries, and tertials, and barred with buff 

 on the tail. Below it is buff, paler anteriorly, streaked and barred 

 heavily with blackish brown. Elongated feathers project as two 

 horns on the crown, and the legs are feathered to the toes. (PL 19.) 



Order CAPRIMULGIFORMES 

 Suborder Caprimulgi 



Family NYCTIBIIDAE 



NYCTIBIUS GRISEUS ABBOTTI Richmond 



HISPANIOLAN NYCTIBIUS, DON JUAN, CHAT HUANT 



Nyctibius griseus abbotti Richmond, Smithsonian Misc. Colls., vol. 68, no. 7, 

 July 12, 1917, p. 1 (Port a Piment, Haiti).— Wetmoee, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 

 vol. 54, October 15, 1918, pp. 577-586, 3 figs, (anatomy, systematic position). — 

 Bond, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 80, 1928, p. 502 (reported). 



Resident; abundance not certain. 



The present form was described from a male taken by W. L. 

 Abbott at Port a Piment, on the southern shore of the northwest 

 peninsula of Haiti, March 9, 1917. It was caught alive while asleep. 

 Under date of February 12, 1918 Abbott wrote from Jeremie that 

 he had heard many chat huant (as these birds are named in Haiti) 

 calling but that he did not secure any. He also reported them from 

 the Cul-de-Sac region under date of May 19, 1920. James Bond 

 collected a female on Gonave Island June 28, 1928, a gray bird like 

 the type, with the wing 295.0, tail 212.0, culmen from base 26.2, and 

 tarsus 17.9 mm. He writes (in a letter) that his specimen came 

 from Pointe-a-Raquette. 



The body of the type specimen, preserved in alcohol, was studied 

 by Wetmore who has published an account of the anatomy. The 

 following items of food, with their percentages by bulk, were found 

 in the capacious stomach of this bird : 



Three Stenodontes exsertus Olivier 5 per cent, 2 other ceramb} 7 cid 

 beetles not identified 5 per cent, 2 small Passalid beetles 2 per cent, 

 18 locustid eggs 5 per cent, remains of moths 83 per cent. 



