Plate XXVIII. 



MYIADESTES ELISABETH M 



(CUBAN SOLITAIRE). 



Muscicapa elisabeth . . Lembeye, Aves d. Cu"ba, p. 39, t. v. fig. 3. 



Myiadestes elisabeth . . Cab. Journ. f. Orn. 1856, p. 2 : Grundlach, Ann. L. K Y. vi. p. 271, et Journ. f. Orn. 



1861, p. 328. 

 „ „ . . Baird, Rev. A. B. p. 425. 



„ G-undl. Eep. F. N. de la Isla de Cuba. Vol. I. p. 240. 



Supra fuscescenti-olivaceus, subtus albus, cineraceo prsecipue in pectore perfusus : loris et spatio oculari rufes- 

 centibns: striga mentali nigricante: alis nigris fulvo variegatis, macula magna interna pallide ochracea: cauda 

 nigricante, rectricibus quatuor mediis dorso concoloribus, lateralibus extus pallidioribus et albo terminatis : rostro 

 corneo, subtus ad basin albicante; pedibus pallide corylinis : long, tota 7'0, alse 3"4, caudas 3'1. 



Hob. in ins. Cuba et in ins. Pinorum. 



The Cuban Solitaire was first described scientifically by Lembeye, in his " Aves de la 

 Isla Cuba," published at Havana in 1850, though it appears to have been long well-known by 

 the Spanish inhabitants of the Island under the name of " Kuisehor," or Nightingale. Like 

 the other members of the genus, it possesses, as is indicated by its native name, great powers 

 of song, which are much dilated on by Lembeye in the work just spoken of. He gives, 

 however, but few other details concerning its habits, merely mentioning that it is supposed to 

 breed in the mountain-forests of the eastern portion of the island. 



Lembeye placed this bird in the genus Muscicapa, and Dr. Cabanis was the first to point 

 out, from an examination of skins transmitted to Berlin by Gundlach, its true position in the 

 natural series. According to Gundlach's notes, it is also found in the Island of Pines, and in 

 the stony mountains of Western Cuba, and is frequently captured and kept in cages. Its food, 

 he tells us, " consists of berries and insects. Its voice is quite peculiar, resembling an iEolian 

 harp, or glass-harmonicum. The song is simple, commencing low, becoming gradually louder, 

 and ending in a trill." 



Specimens of the Cuban Solitaire, as of all the other peculiar forms of that Island, are 

 rather rare in European collections. Our figure is taken from a skin in Mr. Sclater's collection, 

 received through the Smithsonian Institution. It is that of a male, — No. 21,670 of the Smith- 

 sonian Catalogue— and was procured by Mr. Charles Wright, at " Donna del Gate," in Cuba. 



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