94 



[WOOD THRUSH. Hylociclila mustelina (Gmelin). 

 TORDO. 



Gundlach (1878, p. 170) saw a drawing of the wood thrush in the album of Bello, made 

 from a specimen taken by Don Celedonio-Carbonell, of Cabo Rojo. Stahl (1883, p. 58; 

 says that it is a very rare visitant, but noted no actual specimens. As this evidence does 

 not appear sufficient to establish the wood thrush as a valid member of the Porto Rican 

 avifauna it is included as hypothetical.] 



PORTO RICAN CROW. Corvus leucognaphalus leucognaphalus Daudin. 

 Cuervo. 



Formerly reported abundant over much of the island, the Porto Rican crow 

 is now almost extinct. A few are said to occur below San Sebastian, and in the 

 more inaccessible portions of El Yunque they are still fairly common. Occa- 

 sionally small flocks come down from the mountains to the coast near Mameyes. 

 There, were formerly a few near Utuado, but Mr. L. B. Strube, of the Hacienda 

 Jobo, says that none have been seen there for five or six years, though there is 

 no apparent reason for their disappearance, as on his plantation at least they 

 were not disturbed. In the region between Lares and Las Marias it was said 

 that there was formerly a smaller species that had not been seen for many years, 

 and it is possible that there were once two species on the island, as on Santo 

 Domingo and Cuba to-day. 



These birds have more the nature, habits, and call notes of ravens than crows. 

 They seem to thrive only where there are extensive growths of natural forest, 

 and when these are cut down the crow disappears. In March along the west 

 fork of the Rio Mameyes they were breeding, the nests apparently containing 

 both eggs and well-grown young. All were inaccessible, however, being located 

 in the tops of the tall tabanuco trees. The adults kept well concealed in the 

 leaves high above, and only by patient watching could they be located. They 

 exhibited considerable curiosity, however, and once, when I was hidden in some 

 tall grass, two flew down to examine the place. On a second visit to this colony 

 all the birds left, going higher into the mountains, though every half hour or 

 so four or five would come circling back, high in the air, and perhaps one or two 

 would alight on a dead limb projecting above the forest, where they croaked and 

 called, lifting the wings nervously. Later a flock of about 25 were found near 

 the forks of the Rio Mameyes, but these were very wild, keeping entirely to the 

 higher slopes. On days when it was cold and rainy on the summit of El 

 Yunque they descended into the warmer valleys, as the parrots did, and when 

 it cleared circled back to the higher peaks. 



The ordinary call note is a high Jclook, or a deep ical-lough, varied by any 

 number of indescribable gutturals and gabbling calls, with none of the vocifer- 

 ous cawing of our crows. The natives claim that the birds live for many years, 

 and credit them with great sagacity, asserting that birds captured while young 

 may be taught to speak a few words of Spanish. They are prized as food by 

 the country people and were formerly hunted as game. 



Food. — In nine stomachs collected around El Yunque in March animal food 

 amounts to only 10.56 per cent, and is composed of fragments of a nestling 

 passerine bird in one stomach and bones of tree toads (Eleutherodactylus sp.) 

 in two others. The vegetable food (89.44 per cent), by far the larger part, is 

 made up of wild berries and drupes of a number of species, several of which 

 were unknown. The drupes of the tabonuco (Dacryodes excelsa) were found 

 in three stomachs and a palm berry (Acrista monticola) in another, while seeds 

 of rubiaceous plants were common. In the field the birds were observed feed- 

 ing on the guaraguou {Guarea trichiloides) , tabonuco, and jagua (Genipa sp.), 

 and other fruits are added to its dietary as the seasons change. None of these 

 are of economic importance, but the animals destroyed are all friends of man, 



