153 



November 24, 1840. 

 William Yarrell, Esq., Vice-President, in the Chair. 



A Letter from Mr. Frembly, R.N., Corresponding Member Z.S., 

 dated Gibraltar, November 13th, 1840, was read. In this letter 

 Mr. Frembly states that he had forwarded for the Society's Museum 

 a species of Petrel, rarely met with at Gibraltar, and that he is in 

 expectation of a collection from Brazil, from which he will select 

 some specimens to present to the Society. 



In a letter from Charles Clarke, Esq., dated Colwich Molesley, 

 November 2nd, 1 840, which was read, that gentleman, at the request 

 of the Curator, furnishes an account of the habits of a bird recently 

 presented by him to the Society. The bird alluded to " is a native 

 of the mountain-forests of Cuba, never being seen nor heard in the 

 plains. It is named the ' Musician' by the cofFee-planters, who in- 

 variably, in the south-eastern parts of the island, select the moun- 

 tains for the site of their plantations, from the well-known fact, that 

 the higher the elevation, cceteris paribus, the better the coflFee ; and 

 this rule may be said to hold good in Cuba, to the height of 3000 

 feet above the level of the sea. 



" The presence of this bird, in land intended to be cleared, is always 

 hailed as highly satisfactory, as indicative of a cool temperature, and 

 therefore of a climate suited for the production of high-priced coftee. 



" The specimen presented to the Society was shot in a mountain- 

 halt of forest named ' Brazos de Cauto,' varying perhaps from 1500 

 to 2500 feet of elevation, and it is found in all parts of that range. 

 The thermometer rises in the lowest parts to 80° Fahrenheit in the 

 summer heats (whilst it will stand in Santiago de Cuba at the same 

 time at 90°) ; below this, and of course in a higher temperature, the 

 bird is not known to exist. 



" It confines itself exclusively to the woods, and takes its name of 

 ' Musician' from its notes being very similar to those of the flute : it 

 possesses only a few notes, and repeats nearly an exact repetition of 

 its rather melancholy pipe at intervals, when in song, of two or three 

 minutes. 



"It is very rarely seen, altliough not a rare bird in many spots ; 

 repeatedly have I spent five to ten minutes along with my attendants, 

 fellows of the most piercing vision, in vain efforts to discover the 

 little dusky warbler piping above our heads, and that at no great 

 height; but securely hidden, perhaps designedly, in its tangled and 

 leafy covert. 



" I never shot any other specimen, and never have seen more than 

 one or two others during a residence in the Cuba woods of eighteen 

 months. 



" In conclusion I may observe, that I have always understood this 



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