20 'Bowman, Birds of Porto Rico. \.^ln. 



89. Margarops fuscatus. — I never met with this bird on the main island, 

 but they were fairly common in the creek-bottoms at Vieques, and abun- 

 dant among the rocks in the scraggy growth on Decicheo, and still more 

 so around the openings of the caves on Mona Island, where it is the most 

 characteristic land bird. Here I saw a number of bulky nests, built of 

 twigs, on shelves and in niches of the rocks, at the roofs and near the 

 mouths of the caves. These the lighthouse keeper told me belonged to 

 these thrushes, and on Aug. 8 I found one containing the skeleton and 

 feathers of a half grown young, establishing the identity beyond doubt. 

 On Decicheo I shot four birds; a female, July 6, 1900, stomach containing 

 dark purple berries ; July 9, two females and one male, stomachs of male 

 and one female contained dark purple berries, the other the entire body of 

 a bombacine moth, about one and a quarter inches long. Specimens 

 taken at Mona had fed chiefly on berries and the fruit of the giant cactus, 

 a katydid or occasional other insect entering into their bill of fare. At 

 Decicheo, on July 8 I made the following note : "As dusk came on I sat in 

 a grotto in the rocks, listening to the vesper song of the Margarops fus- 

 catus. Many of the notes are strongly suggestive of the vesper notes of 

 the Robin. One characteristic note, however, is a whistled tu-ivhee., fre- 

 quently interspersed in the Robin notes. Its vesper song is quite as dis- 

 tinct from its daylight carols as the Robin's. The daylight notes, as they 

 vary, recall notes of the Robin, Catbird, and several of our Thrushes." 

 The bird sings in the evening until it is fairly dark, and its morning 

 notes are ringing wiih the first streaks of light. Its alarm note is strik- 

 ingly like that of the Catbird, but rather louder. It is shy and retiring, 

 retreating out of sight the moment it realizes that it is seen. 



90. Mimocichla ardosiacea. Quite common around Aguadilla and 

 Mayaguez, in the hills back of Catafio, and near Las Marias, but I did not 

 find it on the smaller islands. Its notes are somewhat like those of the pre- 

 ceding species, but the song is far inferior in variety, clearness and sweet- 

 ness. Its alarm note is entirely different, being difficult of description, a 

 rapidly repeated note something like that of the Cuban Paroquet, on a 

 small scale, and a single nasal quirk. It also has a note somewhat resem- 

 bling that often uttered by Wilson's Thrush in late summer. Its food 

 'onsists of both fruit and insects, the former gi-eatly preponderating. 

 Though somewhat shy it is less so than AI. schistacea of Cuba, and far less 

 so than Margarops fuscatus. I saw a deserted nest, bulky and well cupped, 

 looking much like an overgrown nest of the Wood Thrush, in the fork of a 

 tree, in the hills near Mayaguez, which could hardly have belonged to any 

 other species than the present. I have shot immature birds in August. 





91. Conurus maugei (.^). — The occurrence of a Co««r«5 in Porto Rico 

 has been considered doubtful. That there is, however, a Paroquet still 

 fairly common in the mountains nearJLares every Porto Rican will testify, 

 and I met a considerable number of Americans who had seen them. I 



