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 148 THE CONDOR Vol. XVlII The cavity was neatly made and chips of soft palm fibre at the bottom formed quite a comfortable bed for a woodpecker. Tod,,s m,dUcolor. Cuban Tody. Common in the scrub, and ridiculously tame and friendly. One is usually first made aware of their presence by their curious clattering note, which seems much too loud for such a tiny body. By keeping quite still I have often had them hop up almost within arm's reach, apparently through sheer curiosity. The coloring is bold and beautiful. Tolmarchus caudifasciatus. Cuban Kingbird. Very common. During March these birds seemed to be always in small groups of five or six individuals, and I saw no evi- dence of nesting up to the time I left last April. On June 8, 1914, I found a nest with small young, in the upright forks of a large cactus, and I have observed many old nests probably of this species in similar situations. Apparently May is the month for fresh eggs and I have just missed it in recent years. Icterus hyporneias. Cuban Oriole. Fairly common in more open places, particu- Fig. 41. BETWEEN THE TRAILS: U.S. NAVAL SFATION, GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA larly among palms, where it builds its nest. It also frequents trees about houses and gardens like some of our northern species. On the 25th of March, 1915, I located a nest by watching a pair o the birds. The structure was entirely invisible from the ground, being attached to the under side of a dead and pendant palm frond. It is com- posed entirely of fine fibres of the same material, neatly and substantially woven in the usual icterine manner. On the above date the nest was empty but apparently ready for eggs, so I returned six days iater expecting a set- No birds were about but there was one egg, which, to my surprise, was quite unlike that of any oriole familiar to me, being decidedly ]l{olothrus-like in type. Although I had seen no cowbirds at any time, I sus- pected that it might have been deposited by one of these vagrants, but upon subsequent enquiry Dr. Richmond informed me that there was no cowbird in Cuba. It is experi- ences like this that make egg collecting a difficult matter in foreign countries. Melopyrrha nigra. Cuban Bullfinch. This bird, which is not a true bullfinch, Dr. Richmond tells me, is found only in Cuba, though there is an allied species in Grand