THE BIRDS OF HAITI AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 275 



600 meters January 30, 1918, Jeremie December 1, 2, 8 and 9, 

 1917, Riviere Bar, February 18 and 22, 1917, and Bombardopolis, 

 at an elevation of 450 meters, March 22 and 23, 1917. On Gonave 

 Island he found it likewise common, feeding at the flowers of cactus 

 and collected four skins February 24, 25, and 27, 1918. He took 

 four more on Tortue Island January 31 and February 1, 2, and 7, 

 1917. 



Wetmore recorded this species at many localities, reporting it in 

 Port-au-Prince in the garden of his hotel on March 27, the day of 

 his arrival. At Montfleury, March 29, in company with Dr. G. N. 

 Wolcott, he observed a male for some time as it alternately rested in 

 the shade on a dead twig high above the Riviere Froid, or descended 

 to feed at the blossoms of a flowering tree (Inga vera). The bird 

 was alert and active on the wing, whirling, poising and shifting its 

 position with the greatest celerity. The long tail was nervously 

 expanded and gyrated from side to side to assist in balance during 

 the frequent shifts in center of gravity as the bird whirled from 

 flower to flower. The sun was reflected from its plumage as it 

 passed through raj r s of light with a strong sheen of copper. One 

 was seen at Damien this same day, and on March 30 one was observed 

 in dry, hot mesquite scrub near L'Arcahaie. This hummer was found 

 at the Etang Miragoane April 1, Fonds-des-Negres April 2 and 5, 

 L'Acul April 4 (when a female taken showed some development of 

 the ovaries), La Tremblay April 7, and Kenskon* April 8. None 

 were seen on the summit of La Selle. The species was noted at 

 Hinche April 22 to 24, and Caracol April 26 and 27. Near Cap- 

 Hai'tien on April 28 Mr. Jungerneel showed him a nest of this 

 species built on the flower stalk of a banana plant just below a bunch 

 of developing bananas. The structure was made almost entirely of 

 cotton, covered externally with lichens. It contained two young 

 almost as large in body as the adult, with pin feathers barely be- 

 ginning to show. There was a slight indication of down on the 

 dorsal pteryla but nowhere else. Both birds had short bills, with 

 elongation to the condition found in the adult just beginning. The 

 skin was dusky gray with a wash of yellowish at the gape. The 

 nest was located where it received the fierce heat of the sun with no 

 shelter available until noon when shadow reached it. The young 

 maintained the cervical air-sacs fully inflated with considerable 

 inflation in the body also so that at first glance their bloated appear- 

 ance gave a startling impression of deformity. The air cushions 

 thus engendered may be supposed to have served as some protection 

 against the extreme heat. 



Danforth says that in the summer of 1927 these birds fairly 

 swarmed in the tree cactus country near Gonai'ves. He found a nest 

 on Gonave Island July 19, built twenty feet from the ground on a 



