Vol iqo XU ] Bangs, The Cuban Crab Hawk. 309 



decay. The twigs used in the construction of the nest were very 

 large, and there was no lining of soft material or feathers, and no 

 feathers were found on the bushes in the vicinity of the nest. 



The egg which Mr. Cash has kindly given me is rounded ovate 

 in shape. The ground color is dirty bluish white, and it is irreg- 

 ularly covered with small blotches and dots of pale, dilute chest- 

 nut, a few little dots here and there being strong chestnut; these* 

 markings rather more numerous at the larger end. It measures, 



5 6 b y 45-5 mm - 



Mr. Cash shot, in all, three adult birds but unfortunately two 

 of them spoiled; he informs me they were all practically alike. 



The Cuban Crab Hawk is a very distinct species, and of course 

 should be known as Urubitinga gundlachii (Cabanis). It differs 

 from all other members of the genus in the body color, in the 

 fully adult plumage, being rich chocolate brown, not black, the 

 tail and primaries only being blackish. It differs also in many 

 details from U. anthracina with which it has been confused, but 

 to which, I should say, it bears only a distant relationship. The 

 more marked of these are, that the lining of the wing is much 

 purer and more extensively white ; the two lower white bands on 

 the tail (usually indicated by a few white spots in U. anthracina) 

 are broader and more pronounced and the dusky band separating 

 the broad central white band from the next lower one is very nar- 

 row. It is of about the size of, or a trifle larger than, U. anthra- 

 cina, with a decidedly heavier, broader bill. 1 My skin, no. 15242, 

 adult (£, measures: wing, 365; tail, 206; tarsus, 92; culmen, 

 38.5 mm. 



The Cuban species differs much from the Crab Hawk of St. 

 Vincent, lately described by Austin H. Clark as Urubitinga 

 anthracina cancrivora, 2 not only in color and other characters, but 

 in habits. The St. Vincent Urubitinga is a bird of the high 

 mountain forest, while U. gundlachii appears to be wholly con- 

 fined to the mangrove fringed sea coasts and cays. 



1 Most of these characters were dwelt upon at length by Cabanis in his 

 original description of the species. 



2 Preliminary Descriptions of Three New Birds from St. Vincent, West 

 Indies. Proc. Biol. Soc. of Washington, Vol. XVIII, p. 63, Feb. 21, 1905. 



