THK CUI'.A REVIEW And Bulletin. 



I)ird, two boobies, the anhinga or water turkey, 

 two cormorants, ilu- white and brown pelicans, 

 man-o-war or frigate bird, twenty species of ducks, 

 of which all but four are common to the States, 

 as are the foregoing sea-birds. Included in Cuba's 

 avi-fauna are three species of geese, flamingo, 

 roseate spoonbill, five ibises and thirteen of the 

 lieron family. While the writer was engaged in 

 iKiturai history research for the United States 

 Xational .Museum at the mining camp of Gauma. 

 -<ome sixty miles from Santiago, he was presented 

 with a neirly full-grown young l)lack-crf)wncd 

 night heron which proved an interesting and amus- 

 ing pet. The sandhill crane is to be included in 

 the list, eight of the rails, two gallinules, the coot 

 and the .Mexican jacana. There are twenty-one 

 nf the sandpiper family, seven plovers, a turnstone 

 and the .\merican oyster-catcher, concluding the 

 water birds. The natives call the bobwhite or 

 (|uail "codorniz" or "coloni." Two species occur, 

 < ne native, the other the Florida variety. There 

 is also an introduced species of Guinea fowl. The 

 native name for pigeons is "torcaza." for dove 

 ■'lialoma." Of the former there are four species, 

 :ni\ of the latter eight. The turkey vulture is 

 \ i-ry abundant and quite tame ; the black vulture 

 i> quite rare. There are fifteen hawks, of which 

 three native species have rarely been taken by 

 naturalists. Five species of owls occur. The 

 beautiful barn owl, the "lechuza." of the natives, 

 differing somewhat from our bird, is largely white 

 and has several peculiar cries. It is abundant, as 

 is the curious little pigmy owl. called by the 

 Cubans "siju." The barn owl sometimes hunts 

 on cloudy days or in the late afternoon, but the 

 litile pigmy, scarcely as large as a robin, hunts 

 at all times, in bright daylight, and is quite 

 fearless and inclined to be curious regarding the intruder. Of the Cuban macaw 

 the writer has no personal knowledge, having never seen it in its wilds. It is 

 supposed to be nearly extinct. Parrots, however, were not uncommon in parties 

 of from two or three to seven, and even one of the birds Can at times make a noise 

 like a whole flock. They are the white-fronted parrots and are poor talkers, and 

 unless taken young are said to refuse food in confinement and starve themselves 

 to death. The paroquets are very abundant in flocks of twenty or thirty. They 

 wheel through the air in evolutions of machine-like precision, sometimes silent, 

 more often producing a din of noise. Suddenly a flock swtjops down on a tree 

 where food of fruit or buds is growing and for a moment the tree is alive with 

 fluttering and a pandemonium with cries. Then all is silent and apparently motionless 

 as each bird settles to his eating. .Ml at once the flock springs into the air with 

 tremendous outcry, circles swiftly and return to the same tree or one near by, or 

 dashes away to some distant point. 



There are five species of cuckoos, including 

 that strange departure from the cuckoo type, 

 the ani, called by the natives "judio." This 

 is a black bird wih a bill quite unlike that 

 of any other, and several females unite in 

 laying the bulky nest full cf eggs — as many 

 as twenty — light blue with curious chalky 

 white markings. Another interesting meni- 

 ber of the family which is quite abundant is 

 the great lizard cuckoo, locally known as 

 "arriero." reaching a length of twenty-two 

 inches, of whicii twelve is tail. One of the most 

 beautiful of the Cuban birds is the trogan. 

 about ten inches in length, the head, back and 

 wing-coverts glossed with metallic blue and 

 green changing reflecticns, inner tail feathers 

 the same, outer ones vvhite, throat, breast and ^ ^,^,^^,,,^ ,.^j^^„^. .,^ ^,,,,^ .^ ^^^_ j^,.^^ j^,,^„^ 



bellv grayish whnc. abdomen and under tail- „„t unlikp a small alligator in- general appearance. 



Young blaok-erowned night heron. Caught 

 at Gauuia. 60 miles from .Santiago. 



