BIRDS OF PORTO RICO. 



71 



and regain the full plumage by the first of August. The two long outer tail 

 feathers in the male are very loosely affixed and easily lost. In young males 

 the flesh-colored base of the mandible is less sharply defined anteriorly than in 

 adults. 



Food. — In 35 stomachs examined, representing the period from January to 

 August, nothing but animal food (100 per cent) was found. In 5 stomachs 

 were bits of sand and earth, forming considerable bulk in one or two cases. 

 Lantern flies (Fulgoridse) amount to 21.64 per cent, and other small homopteran 

 remains, largely made up of the same forms but so badly broken as to be inde- 

 terminate, come to 12.76 per cent. Diptera were commonly eaten and amount 

 to 15.64 per cent, and among the flies taken one mosquito was identified. 

 Hymenoptera (6.28 per cent) were found in 9 stomachs. Small spiders, 

 many of them immature specimens, were eaten constantly and form the largest 

 single item in the food, 43.5 per cent. A little indeterminate animal matter 

 comprises 0.18 per cent. 



In consuming large numbers of small Homoptera, all injurious species, this 

 tiny hummingbird does good work in coffee plantations, and, disregarding the 

 spiders, the only beneficial insects in its food were the few Hymenoptera. As 

 these are greatly outweighed by the injurious species destroyed, the bird may be 

 considered beneficial. 



The following were identified in these stomachs : 



Ormenis sp 



HOMOPTERA. 



DIPTEHA. 



3 



1 



1 



4 



Leucage sp 



Epeira sp _ 



ARACHNIDA. 



1 



2 



Scatopse sp — 

 Agromyza sp_ 

 Psilopus sp 









GREEN CARIB, BLUE-BREASTED HUMMINGBIRD. Sericotes Jwlosericeus holo- 



sericeus (Linnaeus). 

 Zumbador. 



The large blue-breasted hummingbird was common on Vieques, Culebra, and 

 Culebrita Islands. Hjalmarson had two in his collection taken at Manati and 

 Vega Baja (Gundlach, 1878a, p. 160), and these are the only records for Porto 

 Rico itself. On Vieques it frequented the small areas of forest, and on Culebra 

 was found in the mangroves about the bays. Although of swift flight, this bird 

 does not seem so active as the other hummers, for while feeding it clung to 

 flowers or twigs with its feet, or when this was impossible stopped frequently 

 to rest. 



Food.— The food of this hummer, as shown by 22 stomachs taken in March 

 and April, was entirely animal. Small bits of vegetable rubbish were present 

 in two cases, but amount to only 0.33 per cent. Small Homoptera, largely lan- 

 tern flies (Fulgoridre), and a few leaf hoppers, amount to 14.83 per cent. Ano- 

 biid beetles (Catorama sp.) of no particular importance were eaten twice, and 

 these with one small weevil make up 0.83 per cent. Flies were commonly eaten 

 and come to 7.14 per cent. Minute Hymenoptera, however, form the great bulk 

 of the food and figure as 64.63 per cent, while small spiders come to 11.31 per 

 cent. The balance (1.07 per cent) was composed of miscellaneous animal matter. 

 Although large numbers of small Hymenoptera are eaten, it is possible that only 

 a part are parasitic. All are undoubtedly picked up while searching flowers, 

 and so perhaps are flower-feeding species of no economic value. They were in 

 such condition as to preclude certain identification. These small insects fairly 

 swarm about the blossoming munecos and gonduros on the dry islands and offer 

 an abundant food supply. This hummer, like the gilt-crested species, may be 



