328 Dr. C. Christy— Field-Notes 



ceaseless notes are very irritating and prevent all sleep after 

 daybreak, and often earlier, if they happen to be in the 

 vicinity of the house. I saw several nests, each with young, 

 in June. They were astonishingly small flat structures of 

 just a few twigs placed crossways on each other, and all 

 situated at the extremity of a horizontal branch some 6 or 

 10 feet from the ground. These birds are very pugnacious. 

 At La Vega I saw a boy fairly defeated in an attempt to rob 

 a nest, although six or seven other boys were throwing 

 sticks and stones from below to keep the birds off him. The 

 Petigaries flew at his head and hit him with their wings, and 

 rustled up and down a branch within a few inches of his 

 face, with crest and feathers ruffled, shrieking all the while 

 in a most ferocious manner, until the boy got frightened and 

 retreated. 



y 22. Myiarchus DOMiNiCENsis, Locally '' Maroa.^' 



(Cory, op. cit. p. 79.) 



Another species peculiar to the island. The only specimen 

 I procured of this Flycatcher, although I observed it several 

 times, was a female (length 6| inches, stretch 10^) on 

 March 26 at Sanchez. Its stomach was full of small black 

 and green beetles only. 



-f ^3. Chordeiles minor. 



(Cory, op. cit. p. 85.) 



In July, at La Vega, about an hour or more before sunset, 

 these birds sometimes appeared in considerable numbers, 

 generally when it was or had been pouring with rain. At 

 one time I counted as many as nine, hawking together in 

 the pouring rain round a large tree in the open until it was 

 too dark to follow their movements. Their peculiar note is 

 very distinctive, and generally uttered when they first appear 

 and are flying high. When it is very dull and wet they fly 

 low, backward and forward between the houses, with their 

 characteristic butterfly-like flight, and the big white spot on 

 the primaries showing like a hole in each wing. I was never 

 able to see what they were catching, but the natives say 

 they feed on mosquitoes. One was brought to me in a 



