BIRDS OF PORTO RICO. 57 



the yellow-billed species. It was immature, and if not native must have been 

 on the island for several days, as it was molting badly, having but two tail 

 feathers. Another, thought to be this species, was heard August 31 near the 

 same locality, but could not be found. Gundlach (1878, p. 232) records the 

 species near Mayagiiez, Aguadilla, and Arecibo. Bowdish (1902-3, p. 364) 

 secured two near Aguadilla, May 18 and 20, 1900, and one on Mona, August 17, 

 1901. Thus the birds seem to be possible residents or regular migrants here 

 in small numbers. They have the habits of the mangrove cuckoo, and thus 

 far have been recorded only from the western end of the island, with the single 

 exception of Gundlach's Arecibo record. 



Food. — The only bird examined had eaten 15 caterpillars of two species and 

 3 sugar-cane root-boring weevils (Diaprepes spengleri). It is to be hoped that 

 a bird capable of doing so much good may become more common over the entire 

 island. 



MAJfGROVE CUCKOO. Coccyzus minor nesiotes Cabanis. 

 PAJARO BOBOj Pajaro Bobo Menor. 



The mangrove cuckoo is a tolerably common resident species in this region. 

 Many were found in mangrove swamps, coffee plantations, and in dense thickets 

 overgrown with vines along small streams; but being of retiring habits, they 

 were easily overlooked. In dry brush-covered areas, as on the smaller islands, 

 they were especially common. The call notes are loud and sonorous and 

 closely resemble those of the yellow-billed species. In the morning the birds 

 frequently were seen sitting quietly in the sun on dead limbs, sometimes calling 

 from these perches. Slow and methodical in their movements, they frequently 

 remain motionless for several minutes and seldom fly far. On March 25, birds 

 on Vieques Island were about to breed. The breeding season is of irregular 

 extent, but appears to continue until October. 



Food. — Fifteen stomachs were available for laboratory examination, and in 

 these animal matter amounted to 99 per cent, Orthoptera and Lepidoptera 

 (nearly all caterpillars) forming the main bulk of it. The vegetable matter 

 (1 per cent) consist of a small quantity of rubbish found in one stomach 

 secured in February. The true grasshoppers (Locustidse) form 50.31 per cent of 

 the food and occurred in 13 of the 15 stomachs examined. The eggs as well as 

 the insect itself are eaten, one stomach containing 32 of them. A cuckoo taken 

 on Culebra Island in April had eaten a single mole cricket, but this forms only 

 0.21 per cent of the total food. Walking sticks in four stomachs and a small 

 cricket (Ellipes minuta) in one make 3.1 per cent, and one bird had eaten a 

 praying mantis. Earwigs were taken by three birds. Cicadas (Proarno hila- 

 ris) in two stomachs and stink bugs in another form 6.09 per cent. Cater- 

 pillars occurred in nine stomachs and a moth in one, and together they amount 

 to 29.52 per cent. Not much can be said regarding these, as the island species 

 are not sufficiently well known, but undoubtedly they are all injurious. It is 

 gratifying to learn that this cuckoo is as active in their destruction as are its 

 better-known northern congeners, the yellow- and black-billed cuckoos of the 

 "United States. As is frequently the case with the northern species, several 

 stomachs were lined with caterpillars' spines stuck in the walls of the stomach. 

 Various beetles, almost all destructive weevils, form 3.59 per cent of the food. 

 Scarred-snout beetles and a small curculionid (Rhyssematus sp.) were among 

 the most important beetles taken. Spiders form 4.06 per cent of the total, 

 and miscellaneous matter, fragments of a hymenopteran, a snail, and remains 

 of earwigs figure as 1.83 per cent. 



The mangrove cuckoo, with its appetite for Orthoptera and injurious cater- 

 pillars, is one of the most beneficial birds of the island. It has been accused 



