252 BULLETIN 15 5, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



August 13 and 14, 1924, at an elevation of 300 meters. According 

 to the labels these include one male and two females. This species 

 was first identified from Haiti by bones from the cavern deposits at 

 L'Atalaye identified by Wetmore. In 1928 Bond recorded it in 

 small numbers in the arid region about Trou Forban and Magasin 

 Caries between L'Arcahaie and Mont Rouis, and on Gonave Island 

 found it fairly common so that he collected a series. He writes that 

 he usually found them " perched lengthwise on a horizontal branch 

 of a bush, from one to five feet above the ground. The protective 

 coloring of the birds, combined with their immobility, made them 

 extremely difficult to make out. Occasionally, however, I flushed 

 them from the ground, on which occasions they would flit a short 

 distance through the scrub like large moths and either settle again 

 on the ground, or, as frequently happened, would fty up into a 

 nearby bush like some passerine ! It will thus be seen that the bird 

 once found was not difficult to collect and in fact in no case did I 

 fail to secure a bird which I had followed up. 



k ' In May and June, which is evidently their breeding-season, 

 the little goatsucker is more noisy at night, and at times I heard it 

 during the day! The notes may be described as half croaks, half 

 whispers, and can be recalled by the syllables gu-eck, goo-re-caw, 

 with the accent on the re. The bird also emits at times a clear rising 

 whistle, which reminded me forcibly of a Canada Jay. 



"Partly because of its note, partly because of its habit, typical 

 of the family, of quivering its wings when flushed from the nest, 

 the little goatsucker is known to the natives as the ' Grouille-corps ' 

 or ' shaking-body.' " 



Bond secured two sets of two eggs each. The first one was 

 found May 16, 1928 on Gonave Island on the top of a narrow ridge on 

 burnt land, placed in a little hollow formed by the bird on the 

 ground. The eggs are dull white with rather evenly distributed 

 spots of pale violet-gray and numerous spots or scrawls of buff and 

 pale brown. A second set brought in by a native June 27 has the 

 violet-gray markings restricted to the large end and the buff spots 

 lacking. The first set measures 25.0 by 18.2 and 25.2 by 18.9 mm., 

 and the second 24.8 by 18.9 and 24.6 by 18.9 mm. Bond cites the 

 hills above Pointe-a-Raquette as the place where this little goat- 

 sucker was first seen, but does not state whether his subsequent notes 

 pertain to this locality or to others. 



On examination of the excellent series collected by Bond it appears 

 that male and female are generally similar in color, but that females 

 average decidedly paler, less blackish on the breast, and in most of 

 those examined are a little less rufescent on the back. Two juvenile 

 birds secured May 17, 1928, though not quite grown, were evidently 





