THE BIRDS OF HAITI AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 445 



Brachysplza capensis antillarum, Chapman, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 

 37, May 14, 1917, pp. 333-334 (Loma Tina, Loma Rucilla, Las Caiiitas, speci- 

 mens). — Moltoni, Att. Soc. Ital. Scienz. Nat., vol. 68, 1929, p. 326 (specimen). 



Brachyspiza, Ekman, Est. Agr. Moca, Ser. B, Bot., no. 15, December, 1929, 

 p. 7 (Loma de Mediania, La Pelona). 



Resident in the higher mountains of the central Dominican 

 Republic. 



In the autumn of 1916 when W. L. Abbott sent to the Smithsonian 

 Institution the first known specimens of this sparrow, which as a 

 species ranges in a large number of geographic races from southern 

 Mexico to the Straits of Magellan, but which had been wholly unsus- 

 pected previously in the West Indies, there became known another 

 of the strange and unexpected forms of birds of the higher moun- 

 tains of Hispaniola. Abbott secured skins near Constanza and El 

 Rio in 1916, and in 1919 obtained it at Hondo at a slightly lower 

 altitude. Beck in 1917 collected it on Loma Rucilla and Loma Tina 

 in January, February, and March, and on Loma Ultimate Civil, near 

 Loma Pelona, February 1. Wetmore in 1927 found it from the sum- 

 mit of the great hill known as El Barrero where the Constanza trail 

 climbs from the Rio Jimenoa, near Jarabacoa. to El Rio and Con- 

 stanza. Ekman reports it from Loma de Mediania and La Pelona 

 and presented a specimen to Ciferri taken on Loma del Medio. The 

 bird from present data seems mainly confined to the high portion of 

 the Cordillera Central in the general area about the great Valley of 

 Constanza. It is common in this circumscribed range. Under date 

 of December 2, 1929, E. L. Ekman has written that he has observed 

 it from the Rio San Juan through Constanza to the head waters of 

 the Rio cle los Cuevas, Rio Yuna and Rio Nizao. Wetmore searched 

 for it carefully on the Massif de la Selle in Haiti without success. 



This song sparrow is found in thickets along little streams in open 

 valleys, at the borders of the deciduous forests, or less commonly, 

 scattered through growths of bracken in the pine lands, where it lives 

 a secluded life, being shy and retiring in habit. When disturbed one 

 may appear for an instant on a prostrate tree trunk, skip rapidly 

 along it, and then, after a slight pause, drop out of sight on the 

 opposite side to disappear completely since it is difficult in most 

 instances to flush them a second time. The flight is tilting and on 

 the wing they appear very dark in color. When they do come out in 

 the open at the slightest alarm they pitch into cover, coming up occa- 

 sionally into low branches to peer about with nervous twitchings. 



The song of the Constanza form while similar in general to that 



of the many races of the species that are found in South America 



lacks some of the pleasing tones of the southern birds. It seemed 



somewhat more subdued also but is nevertheless a pleasing and agree- 



2134—31 29 



