326 



ON BIRDS COLLECTED IN DOMINICA. 



[June 4, 



3. List of Birds collected by Mr. Raraage in Dominica, 

 West Indies. By P. L. Sclater, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S., 

 Secretary to the Society. 



[Eeceived May 13, 1889.] 



I lay on the table a set of the birds collected, in 1887 and 1888, 

 in the island of Dominica, West Indies, by Mr. George A. Ramage, 

 the Naturalist employed by the joint Committee of the Royal Society 

 and British Association for the investigation of the Fauna and Flora 

 of the Lesser Antilles. 



The specimens are 1 16 in number, and belong to the following 30 

 species : — 



*1. Mimocichla ardesiaca {Vicill.). 



2. Myiadestes domiuicanus, Sfcjn. 



3. Margarops montanus ( Vkill.'). 



4. Cinclocerthia.ruficauda, Gould. 



5. Thryotliorus rufescens, Lciwr. 



6. Dendroeca melanoptera, Sharpe. 



7. Dendroeca plumbea, Lawr. 



8. Setophaga rutieilla (Linn.). 



9. Vireosylvia calidris {Linn.). 



10. Certliiola dominicana, Taylor. 



11. Saltator guadelupensis, Lafr. 



12. Loxigilla noetis {Linn.). 



13. Phonipara bicolor {Linn.). 



14. Elaiuea martiiiica {Linn.). 



15. Myiarclius tyrannulus {Miillcr). 



16. Blacicus bi-unneicapillus, Lawr. 



17. Tyranniis rostratus, Scl. 



18. Eulampis jugularis (Linn.). 



19. Eulampis holosericeus {Linn.). 



20. Thalurania wagleri ( Less.). 



21. Orthorbynchus exilis {Gm.). 



22. Coecyzus minor {Gm.). 



23. Cbrysotis bouqueti ( Wagl.). 



24. Cbrysotis augusta, Vujors. 



25. Buteo pennsylvanicus ( Wils.). 



26. Tinnimcukis caribbsearum ( Gm.). 



27. Zenaida martinicana, Bp. 



28. Cham;T?pelia passei-ina {Linn.). 



29. Butorides vireseens {Linn.). 

 »30. Nyctiardea violacea {Linn.). 



The most complete list of the birds of Dominica is that published by 

 Mr. G. N. Lawrence in 1878 ^ It contains the names (or synonyms 

 of the names) of all the above-mentioned species except two, namely 

 Mimocichla nrdesiaca and Nyctiardea violacea. As regards the 

 latter of these, the species is of wide distribution, and is known to 

 occur in others of the Lesser Antilles '; there is no reason therefore 

 to remark on its being found also in Dominica. Eut Mimocichla is, 

 I believe, quite a novelty in the Avifauna of the Caribbean group 

 of islands. This genus contains four species, and has hitherto been 

 supposed to be restricted to the Greater Antilles, M. rubripes and 

 M. schistacea being its representatives in Cuba, M. plumbea in the 

 Bahamas, and M. ardesiaca in San Domiugo and Porto Rico. As 

 might have been expected, the Dominican Mimocichla belongs to 

 the Porto Rican form. It is, in fact, so nearly similar that I do not 

 see sufficient grounds for making it specifically distinct. The only 

 difference apparent is the much greater whiteness of the belly in the 

 Dominican specimens, whence those who adopt trinomials would, no 

 doubt, call it Mimocichla ardesiaca albiventris. Mr. Ramage has 

 sent home two male examples of this bird, which were both procured 

 at "Batalie, dry region to leeward," in March 1889. 



' " Catalogue of the Birds of Dominica from collections made for the Smith- 

 sonian Institution by Fred. A. Ober," Proc. U. S. N . M. 1878, p. 48. 

 2 See Cory, Birds of the West Indies (1880), p. 249. 



