﻿BIRDS OF THE TRES MARIAS ISLANDS. 



39 



forest. liiuaiias were excessively numerous, and furnished tbe main 

 supply of food for the caracaras ; the birds were on the alert, however, 

 for anything in the form of carrion that turned up along shore or in 

 the forest. 



Pandion haliaetus carolinensis (Gmel.) American Osprey. 



Several ospreys were seen along the shores of all the islands, where 

 they probably nest. Colonel Grayson found a nest on a rock adjacent 

 to the northern shore of Maria Madre and another in a large cactus. 

 Mr. Forrer obtained an immature bird during his visit to this island. 



Strix pratiiicola Bonap. American Barn Owl. 



Colonel Grayson states that he heard the well-known hissing scream 

 of this bird at night on the Tres Marias. We were told of the pres- 

 ence of barn owls on the islands, but did not see them, and failed to 

 learn whether they occur as residents or stray migrants. 



Speotyto cimicularia hypogaea (Bonap.) Burrowing Owl. 



Colonel Grayson says of the burrowing owl, "A few individuals of 

 this species inliabit the Marias Islands, perhaps wandered from the 

 m . inland." We neither saw nor could learn anything of them, and 

 those seen by Colonel Grayson were probably winter stragglers. 



? Micropallas Sp. 



The first evening after landing on Maria Madre, Mr. Goldman saw 

 and heard a little owl about the size of Glmicidium phalcmoides on an 

 old log road in the forest. It was very near, and when he had moved 

 back far enough to shoot without destroying the bird it became too 

 indistinct to see and so escaped. Its notes were not like those of the 

 ferruginous owl. This was the only one seen or heard during our stay. 

 If a resident, it is very uncommon, for special but unsuccessful efforts 

 were made to find others.^ 



Amazona oratrix Ridgwny. Double Yellow-headed Parrot. 



Chrysotis levaiUaniii Grayson, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., XIV, p. 271, 1871; 



Lawr., Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., II, p. 296, 1874. 

 Amazona orairix Ridgway, Man. N. Am. Birds, p. 594, 1887. 



The yellow-headed parrot is a common resident and always nests in 

 holes high up in large trees in the forest. Half-grown young were 

 found the middle of May. The birds were usually seen flying about 

 the forest in pairs, but congregated in flocks of from six to twenty or 

 more at their feeding places. They feed upon the fruits of various 

 trees, and during May the fleshy pods of Pithecolohium dulce formed 

 their staple article of diet. These low trees, from 15 to 35 feet high, 

 were growing around the houses of the settlement on Maria Madre and 

 were scattered thence along the coast, especially about the borders of 



'During the visit to Maria Magdalena Island a larger owl was seen in the forest 

 along the bottom of a steep canyon, hut was not sufficiently near to identify, and 

 escaped before it could be obtained. This was probably Ciccaba squamidata (Bonap.), 

 a species which is not rare on the mainlau<l. 



