On the Birds of Grand Cayman. 17 



II. — Notes on some of the Birds of Grand Cayman, 

 West Indies. By T. M. Savage English. 



(Plate I.) 



An account of the birds of the Cayman Islands was given 

 by Mr. P. R. Lowe in ' The Ibis' (1911, pp. 137-161), his 

 list comprising 75 species. To this number the present 

 ■writer during a residence of three years, one of them in the 

 south-west and the other two in the north of Grand Cayman, 

 the largest and most westerly island of the group, has been 

 able to add 12, of which 4 (or 5) are resident and 2 (or 3) 

 summer visitors breeding in the island. 

 These new birds are : — 



Sterna an til/arum. Pelecanus fuscus. 



Catotrophorus semipalmatus. Pandion haliaetus. 



Himantopus mexicamis. Strix flammea. 



Fulica americana. C/iordeiles virginianus. 



Nomonyx dominicus. Chordeiles minor. 



Dendrocycna arborea. Cotyle riparia. 



Against these additions to the Cayman avifauna a familiar 

 acquaintance with two species, in the north of the island, 

 where they are perhaps as common as Jays are in the woods 

 of the south of England, would tend to cast some doubt on 

 their right to specific rank. 



These two are — Amazona caymanensis and Icterus bairdi. 



The Parrot Amazona caymanensis seems to be smaller than 

 the Cuban bird, as might perhaps be expected in the case of 

 a race inhabiting a small island Ccf. Vanessa urticce from the 

 Isle of Man, Shetland ponies, &c.), but as regards colour, 

 its variability is quite sufficient to enable a number kept in 

 captivity to be easily distinguished individually by their 

 colouring — in most cases by the colouring of their foreheads. 

 Those with white foreheiids are supposed by the islanders to 

 be hen birds and useless as talkers, those which have brightly 

 coloured foreheads being males and capable of learning. 

 This was certainly the case Avith the parrots kept by the 



SER. X. VOL. IV. c 



