BIRDS OF PORTO RICO. 



121 



green grasshopper in a trail ahead of me and proceeded to break it up on a 

 limb and eat it as I watched. The coffee leaf -weevil (Lachnopus sp.), found 

 in 17 stomachs, constituted 8.5 per cent, while other weevils (0.21 per cent) 

 and various beetles (0.35 per cent) were eaten to some extent. Bug remains 

 in three instances amount to 1.26 per cent. 



. Moths in 2 stomachs and caterpillars in 21 formed a large bulk (30.94 per 

 cent), more than half the animal food. Remains of Hymenoptera, largely 

 fragments of ants, come to 1.72 per cent, and spiders in six instances constitute 

 1.49 per cent. Snails (0.72 per cent) were eaten twice, and vertebrate matter 

 (tree toads and a small lizard) comes to 6.12 per cent. Miscellaneous matter 

 figures as 0.61 per cent. 

 A list of identified material follows : 



HEMIPTERA. 



Lecanium sp. 



COLEOPTERA. 



Cryptocephalus sp 1 



Europs apicalis 1 



Lachnopus sp 17 



VERTEBRATA. 



Eleutherodactylus sp 2 



Anolis sp 1 



Vegetable food. — The larger portion of the vegetable food consumed by this 

 bird may be classed as wild fruits (25.7 per cent). Berries of various rubi- 

 aceous plants were represented most commonly, many being unidentified. Al- 

 though no sand was eaten to aid digestion, a number of stomachs contained 

 grass seeds and other species with little or no pulpy exterior, which amount to 

 8.27 per cent, while miscellaneous matter classed as rubbish comes to 6.16 per 

 cent. 



The following were identified : 



Paspalum (Paspalum millegrama) 



Paspalum (Paspalum sp.) 



Panic grass (Panicum sp.) 



Palmo (Acrista sp.) 



Wild fig (Ficus sp.) 



Camacey (Miconia sp.) 



Camacey (Miconia prasina) 3 



Adelia (Adelia sp.) 1 



Capitana (Phoradendron latifolium) _ 1 



Sapalo (Palicourea crocea) 3 



Rabo de raton (Gonzaliguinia spi- 



cata) ; 2 



Summary. — The verdoso is almost entirely a beneficial species, and one of 

 considerable value in the coffee plantations which it frequents. Nearly two- 

 thirds of the animal food is made up of weevils and caterpillars, all serious 

 pests, and the only evil chargeable to the bird is the destruction of a small 

 number of spiders and also of a few lizards and batrachians. Its vegetable food 

 has no value whatever. 



The species seems confined to the immediate vicinity of considerable bodies 

 of natural forest, and as at present it has seemingly few enemies, it will perhaps 

 not spread to any extent under protection. In any event, the bird should be 

 encouraged. 



PORTO RICAN SPINDAL.IS. Spindalis portoricensis (Bryant). 

 Reina Mora. Tomate, Llorosa., Reinona, Llorona. 



The spindalis is common in Porto Rico, but does not occur in the smaller 

 islands. It is found over the entire island, but comparatively few are encoun- 

 tered in the lowlands, it being most abundant in the hills and mountains. It 

 frequents the patches of second-growth forest, the borders of coffee plantations, 

 hedges, and occasionally citrus groves. The birds are unsuspicious when they 

 alight near one, and peer out of the leaves curiously, but at a distance it is 



