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THE WILSON JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY • Vol. 123, No. 2. June 2011 
subspecies, M. g. cozumelana (Paynter 1954), was 
named from Cozumel Island, Quintana Roo, 
Mexico and has been, at times, listed (Miller et 
al. 1957. Mayr and Greenway 1960). The species 
has been, at times, placed with the closely related 
Gray Catbird ( Dumetella carolinensis) as D. 
glabrirostris ; (Paynter 1954, 1955b: Land 1970). 
The two resemble each other in behavior and 
appearance, except for color, and the eggs of the 
two species are almost identical (L. F. Kiff, pers. 
comm.). A recent molecular systematic analysis 
of Carrihean mimids continued to treat the two 
genera separately (Hunt et al. 2001). 
Nothing was known about its breeding season 
until the mid-1900s when a male with enlarged 
testes was taken in Quintana Roo (Paynter 1955a) 
and two males and a female in breeding readiness 
were taken on Isla Cozumel (Klaas 1968). Us 
breeding biology was basically unknown until 
recently and we find no studies that have 
examined the complete natural history of the 
species, or its behavior. We know of only two 
unpublished theses, one for Belize, in English 
(Morgenthalcr 2003), the other for Mexico in 
Spanish (RoldSn Clan! 2009). and two AOU 
annual meeting abstracts of Black Catbird breed- 
a" § 2009 ) eS (LaPerg0la et al 2009 - Rolddn Cl aril et 
In addition to our observations of the Black 
Catbird at NTC, we added information from the 
literature, on-line, and discussions with other 
experienced individuals. We also physically 
searched through the libraries of The Peregrine 
und Boise, Idaho; Denver Museum of Nature 
and Science, Colorado; and University of Ar¬ 
izona, Tucson. 
Our objectives in this paper are to: (I) report 
he occurrence of a Black Catbird population in a 
ca lty where it had not been found since 1862 
and was considered extirpated (Russell 1964 
Jones and Vallely 2001, Jones 2005); (2) docu¬ 
ment previously unreported territorial, foraging 
and related behavior; and (3) emphasize the 
apparen diminishing of the species populations 
especially m Belize (Russell 1964; Miller and 
St L er i 9 ?. 1, 1998; Collar el al. 1992, 1994- 
2005^ apper 2000; JOn “ and Vallel * 
methods 
Reff° Re 0 L 0 rt r (tHR) WaS “ Ughth ° use 
smaller island comprise NTC and are the north- 
easternmost islands on LHR. The smaller island is 
almost entirely covered by a lighthouse operation 
and coconut {Cocos nucifera) plantation 
We found the Black Catbird relatively common 
in disjunct buttonwood (Conocarpus erecwi 
thickets and undertook a study of its habitat, 
territoriality, behavior, and other factors from IS 
to 25 June 2005. We estimated — 1ft pairs of Blatl 
Catbirds in a 3-ha study area in the buttonwood- 
coconut ecosystem but made no attempt to 
estimate the size of the population in the mot? 
extensive area of coastal scrub on the remainder 
of the island. We calculated territory sizes and 
related factors from on-ground measurements and 
estimated gross measurements (e.g., total study 
area, areas on Half Moon Caye, etc.) by 
extrapolation from on-site measurements applied 
to Google Earth imagery. 
Observations were made from windows of a 
LHR Resort cabin and on the ground. Infor¬ 
mation regarding territorial behavior was re¬ 
corded at the boundary between two territories 
in a large buttonwood thicket adjacent to the 
cabin. A large buttonwood tree ~I0 m from 
our cabin window, allowed easy viewing. The 
perch most often used by catbirds was on this 
tree’s trunk, which was -20 cm in diameter. 
3.5 m from the base of the tree. The tree had 
been severely bent by onshore winds and the 
perch was <1 m above the ground, allowing 
birds to easily move back and forth along the 
trunk that was almost parallel to the ground. 
This was a favorite perch of territorial pair A. 
at the edge of their 0.25-ha territory, but was 
often visited by pair B from the adjacent 
territory to the west. Two to three (rarely 4) 
catbirds often interacted on this trunk which 
was sufficiently flat to provide a platfonn for 
mating displays and territorial battles. 
We did not find the Black Catbird at Half Moon 
Caye National Natural Monument despite finding 
numerous buttonwood tree thickets along the 
waterfront. This is one of the three islands on 
LHR. besides NTC, where the species occurred in 
the past (Salvin and Goodman 1879, Russell 
1964). Trunks of large coconut trees and other 
woody debris littered the waterfront, suggesting 
more recent and/or more severe hurricane damage 
than at NTC. We also failed to find the species in 
the coastal lowlands near Belize City, an area 
from which it had been previously reported 
(Young 1974, 1981). 
