330 BULLETIN 15 5, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



collected one of these crows at Bombardopolis March 25, 1917, and 

 two at the fitang Saumatre March 6 and 9, 1918. In 1927 Wetmore 

 observed them on the summit of La Selle on April 9, when a little 

 flock scolded vigorously at his pack animals. At Hinche from April 

 22 to 24 these small crows were common among the trees lining the 

 ravines cut below the level of the plain. They ranged in little flocks 

 containing from four to six individuals, and were frequently observed 

 about the tops of the royal palms where they seemed to be nesting. 

 At any disturbance they gathered in groups like jays to clamour 

 noisily. One little band mobbed a yellow-crowned night heron and 

 drove it to cover. One bird was recorded at Caracol May 27. An 

 adult female taken at Hinche April 22, 1927 had the iris deep brown, 

 and the bill, tarsi and toes black. Danforth saw them in 1927 near 

 Mirebalais, near St. Marc, about the sloughs near the mouth of the 

 Artibonite, and east of Gonaives. According to Dr. G. N. Wolcott 

 these crows were seen eating sphingid caterpillars (Celerio lineata) 

 in the cotton and sisal plantation at Hatte Lathan. Bond found them 

 common on the plains and abundant in the pine forests of the north. 

 He recorded them in June on La Selle, and collected one at Trou 

 Caiman. He found them nesting in pines and palms high above the 

 ground. Poole and Perrygo recorded this crow at St. Michel De- 

 cember 21, 1928, L'Atalaye December 28, 1928 and January 9, 1929, 

 Dondon January 17 and 18, St. Marc February 25, and Cerca-la- 

 Source March 18 to 24, 1929. 



The small crows found on Hispaniola and Cuba are similar in 

 size and seem to differ only in color, palmarum being more iridescent, 

 and minutus a duller black. They seem best regarded as subspecies 

 and will stand as Corvus palmarum palmarum Wiirttemberg, and 

 Corvus palmarum minutus Gundlach. Bangs and Peters agree in 

 this treatment. Meinertzhagen in his review of the genus Corvus 25 

 has indicated these two as subspecies of orachyrhynchos of North 

 America but in this is in error. 



The palm crow was first described by Paul Wilhelm von Wiirttem- 

 berg in 1835 from "Nahe des Cibao-Gebirges in ehemaligen Span- 

 ischen St. Domingo " so that the type locality is the Cibao range of 

 the Dominican Republic. In 1852 Hartlaub published a note on this 

 species in which he changed the name to solitarius from a manuscript 

 designation by Wiirttemberg, which is of course antedated by 

 palmarum. 



Measurements of palmarum from our series are as follows : 



Four males, wing 250.0-264.0 (255.3), tail 143.6-149.0 (146.7), 

 culmen from base 49.0-51.7, tarsus 50.1-51.0 (50.6) mm. 



25 Nov. Zool., vol. 33, 1926, pp. 90-91. 



