on the Birds of San Domingo. 333 



I examined several breediug-holes of this little Tody, one 

 of which contained yonng. These excavations were not 

 bored straight into the bank, but turned off to the right or 

 left for about a foot or eighteen inches. I could not judge 

 by any impressions left in the earth whether they were exca- 

 vated by the feet or the bill or both ; but it will be noticed 

 that the feet are exactly like those of a Kingfisher, 



Of several specimens shot, one (Sanchez, Feb. 10) measured 

 4i inches, anotlier (Feb. 29) 4| inches in length. 



—34. Centurus striatus. 



(Cory, op. cit. p. 111.) 



Locally " Carpentero," or the '^ Carpenter Bird," a species 

 peculiar to San Domingo, and quite one of the commonest 

 birds in the island. 



It is most destructive, for in some districts it is difficult to 

 find a palm-tree which is not riddled with holes, and yet the 

 wood of these trees is so hard that it is not easy to make an 

 impression on it with a penknife. They not only bore into 

 the palm-trees but into the houses, and make great havoc 

 with the telegraph-poles, besides destroying great quantities 

 of cacao (chocolate) by boring into the half-ripe fruit. I do 

 not remember to have seen a boring in a cocoanut palm, 

 but always in the royal palms. 



Governor Anderson, of Sanchez, told me quite seriously 

 that twice he had received orders from the President of 

 the Republic to have all the Carpenteros shot (the dirty 

 ragged soldiers are sure to get into mischief if they are not 

 shooting somebody or something), which orders he had 

 executed ; but they were still to be seen in hundreds, and their 

 noisy cries resounded on all sides. Some of their holes are 

 within thi'ee feet of the ground. 



At Sanchez, on Feb. 27, I took a clutch of four slightly- 

 incubated eggs of this Woodpecker from a hole eighteen inches 

 deep, about eight feet from the ground. The four eggs varied 

 a good deal in size, measuring 24-5-26 -5 x 18-0-19-0 mm. ; 

 their colour is porcelain-white, but they were plastered with 

 dirt from the bottom of the wet hole. 



An adult female (length 8} inches, stretch 14), shot at 



Q 



