BIRDS OF POETO RICO. 



123 



A list of identified wild fruits and berries found in stomachs follows 



Wild fig (Ficus sp.) 21 



Amaranth (Amaranthus sp.) 2 



Fresa (Rubus sp.) 4 



Icaco (Chrysobalanus pellocarpa) 1 



Spurge (Chcemesyce sp.) 1 



Rhacoma (Rhacoma crossopetalum) 1 



Gia (Casearia sp.) 1 



Camacey {Miconia sp.) 4 



Camacey (Miconia prasina) 16 



Murta (Eugenia sp.) 1 



Storax (Styrax sp.) 1 



Nightshade (Solanum sp.) 7 



Moral (Cordia sp.) 2 



Moral (Cordia nitida) 1 



Moral (Cordia corymbosa) 2 



Sapalo (Palicourea riparia) 2 



Roble guayo (Bourreria sp.) 1 



Tantillo (Randia aculeata) 1 



Palo moro (Psychotria brachiata) 1 



Pendulo .(Citharexylum fruticosum) — 3 



PORTO RICAN EUPHONIA. Tanagra sclateri (Sundevall). 

 Canario del Pais, Jilguero, Jilguero del Pais, Canario Criollo. 



The euphonia is a tolerably common resident in Porto Rico, but is found only 

 in the hills and not in the coastal plain. It associates in pairs or small flocks and 

 frequents forests and coffee plantations. In the tree tops these little tanagers 

 are rather active, hopping quickly about, and calling wheur and a sharp chif-it. 

 These notes are rather ventriloquial, but when heard the bird may soon be dis- 

 covered in the nearest clumps of capitana (Phoradendron sp.), the seeds of 

 which form its food. Certain growths with an abundance of ripe berries are 

 visited time after time. The birds usually keep in the thickest parts of the 

 clumps and are rather hard to distinguish from honey creepers. They are at 

 times rather shy, and then fly for considerable distances with a bounding flight. 



These birds were in pairs in January and were nesting by the last of Feb- 

 ruary. Young birds were taken May 17 near Yauco, and were common until 

 the first week in July. By August 10 many adults had completed the molt. 

 The males have a low song consisting of the rapid repetition of a single metallic 

 phrase, preceded by louder explosive notes, with twittering interpolations. 

 For this and their bright colors they are prized greatly as cage birds, and 

 about Ponce and Juana Diaz bird catching is a regular occupation with the 

 boys, and the birds are offered in the markets for 5 and 10 cents apiece. In 

 catching them, a bird, usually a female, is shut up in a wicker cage, and a con- 

 venient perch or the top of the cage smeared with bird lime. The cage is then 

 placed in a bush, and the captive whistles loudly, calling down the others; or 

 the bird catcher holds the cage in his hand, up toward the trees, where the free 

 birds hop about excitedly calling and whistling loudly. The crate is then 

 moved rapidly back and forth or carried away, the boy running quickly, when 

 the notes of the captive, as it jostles about inside, prove too much for the 

 others, and they fly down. Once they alight, their fate is sealed, and in a few 

 minutes they are inside the cage, themselves captive. In captivity the food is 

 almost entirely ripe bananas and the birds appear to thrive on this diet. 



Food. — Fifty-one stomachs of this tanager were examined and in them nothing 

 but the seeds of mistletoe, known as capitana, was found, from 2 to 20 occurring 

 in each stomach. These seeds are small, coated with a thick, transparent, vis- 

 cous fluid, and are inclosed in an outer envelope. In feeding the berry is broken 

 and the inner portion swallowed, the outer covering being discarded. In dissect- 

 ing the tanagers the seeds and viscous matter found in the lower part of the in- 

 testines were in the same condition apparently as those which remained in the 

 throat, though the nutritive matter had been removed by digestion (Wetmore 

 1914a). The birds, then, act as distributors of their favorite food, the gelatinous 

 strings supporting the seeds after passing through the alimentary canal catch- 

 ing and lodging on the limbs of the trees and producing new plants. It was 

 noticeable that the mistletoe was very abundant in the dry region of the south 

 coast, as the seeds here were less liable to be washed to the ground before the 





