BIRDS OF POETO RICO. 105 



leaf-weevil (Lachnopus sp.), a shot-hole stalk-borer (Xyleborus sp.), and a 

 curculio (Euscepes porcellus). Engraver beetles (Platypus sp.) were found in 

 three stomachs. Longicorn beetles (2.17 per cent) were eaten three times. Mis- 

 cellaneous beetle remains figure as 2.38 per cent. Though fragments of flies 

 were found in two stomachs only, they comprise 10.09 per cent of the total. 

 Moth remains were identified once and caterpillars twice, and together they 

 amount to 6.7 per cent. In one stomach was an ant and in another small bits of 

 a hymenopteran, which come to 0.96 per cent. Spiders were eaten three times 

 and make up 12.62 per cent of the food. 



The black-throated blue warbler shares with others of its family a marked 

 taste for lantern flies and other small Homoptera, all harmful insects. One- 

 eighth of the food, as shown in these few stomachs, is composed of spiders, but 

 a larger portion is made up of injurious weevils, caterpillars, beetles, and flies. 

 Thus, though a migrant species, this warbler has considerable economic impor- 

 tance. Because of its retiring habits it is little known, but may be discovered 

 by those interested in birds who search for it. 



CAPE MAY WARBLER. Dendroica tigrina (Gmelin). 

 RbinitAj Bijirita db Costa. 



The Cape May warbler is recorded as a winter visitant from fall until May by 

 Gundlach (1878, p. 178), while Sundevall (1869, p. 596) received from his col- 

 lector many specimens taken in winter. At present it appears to be rarer, as 

 Bowdish (1902-3, p. 18) saw but one at Mayagiiez, October 30, 1901. I saw a 

 single bird on Vieques Island April 4. 



MAGNOLIA "WARBLER. Dendroica magnolia (Gmelin). 

 Reinita, Bijirita Manchada. 



The magnolia warbler is a rare migrant and winter visitant. The only cer- 

 tain record is that of Bowdish (1902-3, p. 18), who found it at San Juan Sep- 

 tember 26, 1899, and Mayagiiez December 26, 1900. Gundlach knew the bird 

 merely from a drawing in the album of Bello. 



PORTO RICAN YELLOW WARBLER. Dendroica petechia bartholemica Sundevall. 

 Canario del Manglar, Reinita. 



The Porto Rican form of the yellow warbler, a common resident, has a pecu- 

 liar distribution, being confined entirely to the coastal plain and coming inland 

 along the courses of the rivers to the base of the foothills.. It never goes far- 

 ther, except around Quebradillas, where the birds were distributed over the high 

 flats 300 or 400 feet above the sea. In December and January, in the region 

 about San Juan, these birds were confined mainly to the mangroves and the 

 narrow strips of bushes immediately back of the beaches, but by the first of 

 February they began to appear inland more frequently and were common about 

 Rio Piedras in shade trees near houses. Whether its distribution is similar 

 in other portions of the island can only be determined by further observation. 

 At Bayamon they were found in scanty growths of grass and weeds on the 

 gravel bars in the Bayamon River. At the Laguna de Guanica there were no 

 bushes or mangroves, so that the birds frequented reeds and clumps of marsh 

 grass. In all the coast towns a pair or two nest in the plazas, if there are 

 suitable trees. They are very quick and active. The song of these birds, like 

 that of Dendroica wstiva, is loud and cheery, and the call note a sharp chip. 

 From February to June, which corresponds to the breeding season, the males 

 sing the whole day long. July 8 at Manati a young bird just from the nest was 

 taken, and after this date they were common. The adults apparently remain 

 paired throughout the year, as even the last of August at Cabo Rojo, when 

 they were molting badly, male and female were invariably found together. 



