THE BIEDS OF HAITI AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 333 



eggs measure 23.7 by 18.4 and 23.9 by 18.3 mm. The third is broken. 

 On Tortue Island he collected another set of three from a nest made 

 rather loosely of thorny twigs and lined with shreds of bark placed 

 in an acacia about two meters from the ground. The date of collec- 

 tion is not given but is assumed to be about the middle of May, 1917. 

 These eggs are more finely spotted than the ones just described, and 

 have some of the markings coated by a shell deposit so that they 

 appear purplish. All three have spots distributed over the surface 

 with a heavy concentration about the large end. They measure 23.8 

 by 17.8, 23.9 by 18.2 and 24.6 by 18.3 mm. Cherrie secured young 

 birds near Santo Domingo City from March 18 to May 2, 1895. 

 Christy recorded young near La Vega in April and May, while 

 Kaempfer reports that there may be no especial breeding season as 

 he observed young in May, September, and December. He recorded 

 nests as placed from two to four meters from the ground. Wetmore 

 saw an occupied nest near Caracol, Haiti, April 27, 1927 placed two 

 meters from the earth in a logwood. Danforth in 1927 found a nest 

 containing young near Monte Cristi June 22. On Gonave Island he 

 saw a nest containing two eggs and a newly hatched young July 16, 

 and on July 18 one with large young and another with eggs. Most 

 of the nests seen were in acacia trees but one was in a mangrove. 

 Bond in 1928 found them nesting in northern Haiti in March and 

 April but says that they breed later in the south. Poole and Perrygo 

 secured a young bird recently from the nest at Fort Liberte February 

 16, 1929. The mockingbird is kept regularly as a cage bird especially 

 in the Dominican Republic. 



An adult male taken by Wetmore at Hinche, Haiti on April 22, 

 1927 had the iris deep yellow ; bill, tarsi and toes dull blackish. 



The mockingbird is from 230 to 255 mm. in length, slender in 

 form, with a long tail. Below it is white and above gray, with wings 

 and tail black. The outer tail feathers are white and there is a 

 prominent band of white in the wing. 



DUMETELLA CAROLINENSIS (Linnaeus) 



CATBIRD 



Muscieapa carolinensis Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 328 

 (Virginia or Carolina). 



Casual migrant from North America. 



The only record of the catbird is that of a male taken by Dr. W. 

 L. Abbott on Tortue Island February 5, 1917. It winters regularly 

 in Cuba and the Bahama Islands and may be expected to occur cas- 

 ually in Haiti. 



This species is approximately 200 mm. in length, and is dark gray 

 with black crown and chestnut under tail coverts. 

 2134—31 22 



