THE BIRDS OF HAITI AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 425 



described by Brisson as the Merula olivacea Dominicensis from a 

 bird sent to de Reaumur by Chervain, and the Merle olive de Saint- 

 Domingue of Montbeillard figured by Daubenton as Merle, de St. 

 Domingue, but of this there is no definite certainty. Daubenton's 

 plate while suggestive of the chat-tanager does not show sufficiently 

 diagnostic characters to indicate definitely that it is that bird, 

 otherwise the species would need to be named from Turdus Indicus 

 P. L. S. Miiller, 51 based on the figure in question. Miiller's locality 

 of " Ostindien " is in error as he has confused the geographic sources 

 of the two species depicted on the plate in question. Turdus virens 

 Boddaert, 52 (not Linnaeus, 1758) also refers to this same plate. 



Cory described this species as a tanager but it is so aberrant in 

 appearance that Ridgway was uncertain as to its affinities, finally 

 placing it provisionally in the Mimidae. 53 Cory in a scheme of 

 classification for his Catalogue of Birds of the Americas 54 lists it as 

 " ?Calyptophilidae " placing it between the Cinclidae and Mimidae 

 remarking in a footnote, " the monotypic genus may later be con- 

 sidered to represent a subfamily." DeWitt Miller 55 finds that 

 Galyptophilus has only nine fully developed primaries instead of the 

 ten recorded by Ridgway, which removes it from the Mimidae. He 

 restores it tentatively to its old position in the family of tanagers 

 where it may remain for the present. 



In the Field Museum there is a considerable series of this bird 

 which Cory had before him when he described the species. These 

 include eleven skins from "Almercen," now Villa Rivas, shot August 

 21 to 29, 1883, including the type specimen, a male bird, taken August 

 29, 1883. The type, formerly mounted but now in the skin series, 

 is in fresh, bright plumage, and has the following measurements: 

 wing 92.0, tail 88.0, culmen from base 20.0, tarsus 28.0 mm. A pair 

 come from Samana, taken April 16, 1883, the female being marked 

 " Type of $ ." Two females were taken at La Vega, July 9, 1883. 

 Cory's statement, therefore, in the Birds of Haiti and San Domingo, 

 1885, p. 60, that " all the specimens were taken in the swamps near 

 Almercen, and none were observed elsewhere " is incorrect. Cory 

 reported it as retiring in habits, remaining among the densest 

 thickets. 



The species is next recorded by Canon Tristram who received a 

 male from C. G. McGrigor taken at Arenoso, Dominican Republic, 

 March 23, 1884, and another from "Almercen " collected in 1887 by 



B1 Vollst. Natursyst. Suppl., Reg. Band, 1776 (p. 145). 



88 Table Planch. Enl., 1783, p. 16. 



"Blfds North and Middle Amer., pt. 2, 1902, p. 1, and pt. 4, 1907, pp. 180. 181, 182, 

 278-279. 



"Cat. Birds Amer., pt. 2, no. 1, Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. ser., vol. 13, March, 1918, 

 p. 16. 



66 Auk, 1918, p. 357. 



