THE BIRDS OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS 59 



was executed through a small arc for a few minutes, and then was suddenly- 

 changed. The male expanded his tail, showing the cinnamon of the webs, and 

 then threw himself rapidly and violently from side to side in an almost hori- 

 zontal line. During this latter part of the display a rustling sound was produced, 

 probably by the vibrations of the wings, and a few short sharp notes were 

 uttered. He then darted suddenly at the female who all the while had been sit- 

 ting apparently unconcerned, seemed almost to touch her with his bill, and then 

 flew rapidly away. Shortly afterward the female left, flying in another direction. 

 During all of the display the two birds were facing each other and not more than 

 six or eight inches apart, and the gorget and tail of the male were exposed to their 

 fullest advantage. 



36. Sporadinus ricordi Gerv. Ricord's Humming-bird. — This was abundant 

 on Andros, where all my specimens were obtained, none being seen on New 

 Providence. Curiously enough, in this species, there seemed to be a great prepon- 

 derance of males, and out of the seven specimens collected, but one proved to be a 

 female. It may safely be said that most of those we saw were males, as the 

 females are quite different, being smaller and lacking the beautiful blue green 

 gorget. The ovaries of the bird collected May 16 were not enlarged. It is prob- 

 able that both Doricha evelynce and Sporadinus ricordi breed on the island; that 

 one of them certainly does was evidenced by a nest that I was shown. It was 

 lined with cotton, and was evidently the nest of a Humming-bird. 



37. Crotophaga ani Linn. Ani. Rain Crow. — Frequently seen on both New 

 Providence and Andros, and always in small flocks of three or more. They 

 were not as tame as most of the land birds, being on the contrary quite shy, and 

 it was a difficult matter to get very close to them, as one of the flock was almost 

 certain to espy you, and to notify the others with his loud warning ^'wee-eep,'^ a 

 note in which the second syllable was much higher than the first, and more pro- 

 longed. On one occasion while walking through the woods during a rain, we no- 

 ticed what looked like a square black board suspended to a pine some distance 

 from the path. On investigation the black object was discovered to be seven 

 Crotophagas, sitting in a row on a small dead branch, and crowded as closely 

 together as possible. They were not asleep, however, for when I had approached 

 within thirty or forty feet, a warning note was heard, then another and another, 

 as they one by one took flight. ' 



38. Saurothera bahamensis Bryant. Great Bahama Cuckoo. — The "Rain 

 Crow," as the natives call this bird, was said to be abundant, but we got but one 

 mature specimen and two young ones. Dr. Bryant states that they were quite 

 common on New Providence in 1859. They fly about with a weak, wavy motion, 

 and the people told us that they could catch them after a short chase, as they soon 

 grew tired. Our specimens were obtained on the following dates, May 20, May 26, 

 June 13; all on the eastern side of Andros. The one taken on May 20 was a ma- 

 ture female, and the ovaries were enlarged, some of the ova being over one-fourth 

 of an inch in diameter. In the stomach were grasshoppers and a small lizard. 

 The stomachs of the others contained the remains of insects. Their bills were 

 soiled, probably from investigating the leaves of the epiphytic Tillandsias, as these 



