OCR Text |
Show 326 ON BIRDS COLLECTED IN DOMINICA. [June 4, 3. List of Birds collected by Mr. Ramage in Dominica, West Indies. By P. L. S C L A T E R , M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S., Secretary to the Society. [Eeceived May 13, 1889.] I lay on the table a set of the birds collected, in 1887 and 1888, in the island of Dominica, West Indies, by Mr. George A . Ramage, the Naturalist employed by the joint Committee of the Royal Society and British Association for the investigation of the Fauna and Flora of the Lesser Antilles. The specimens are 116 in number, and belong to the following 30 species:- *1. Mimocichla ardesiaca (Vieill.). 2. Myiadestes dominicanus, Stcjn. 3. Margarops montanus (Vieill.). 4. Cinclocerthia ruficauda, Gould. 5. Thryothorus rufescens, Lawr. 6. Dendrceca melanoptera, Sharpe. 7. Dendrceca plumbea, Lawr. 8. Setophaga ruticilla (Linn.). 9. Vireosylvia calidris (Linn.). 10. Certhiola dominicana, Taylor. 11. Saltator guadelupensis, Lafr. 12. Loxigilla noctis (Linn.). 13. Phonipara bicolor (Linn.). 14. Elainea martinica {Linn.). 15. Myiarchus tyrannulus (Muller). 16. Blacicus brunneicapillus, Lawr. 17. Tyrannus rostratus, Scl. 18. Eulampis jugularis (Linn.). 19. Eulampis holosericeus (Linn.). 20. Thalurania wagleri (Less.). 21. Orthorhynchus exilis (Gm.). 22. Coccyzus minor (Gm.). 23. Chrysotis bouqueti (Wagl.). 24. Chrysotis augusta, Vigors. 25. Buteo pennsylvanicus (Wils.). 26. Tinnunculus caribbaearum (6r?w.). 27. Zenaida martinicana, Bp. 28. Chamfepelia passerina (Linn.). 29. Butorides virescens (Linn.). *30. Nyctiardea violacea (Linn.). The most complete list of the birds of Dominica is that published by Mr. G. N. Lawrence in 1878 1. It contains the names (or synonyms of the names) of all the above-mentioned species except two, namely Mimocichla ardesiaca and Nyctiardea violacea. As regards the latter of these, the species is of wide distribution, and is known to occur in others of the Lesser Antilles 2; there is no reason therefore to remark on its being found also in Dominica. But Mimocichla is, I believe, quite a novelty in the Avifauna of the Caribbean group of islands. This genus contains four species, and has hitherto been supposed to be restricted to the Greater Antilles, M. rubripes and M. schistacea being its representatives in Cuba, M. plumbea in the Bahamas, and M. ardesiaca in San Domingo and Porto Rico. As might have been expected, the Dominican Mimocichla belongs to the Porto Rican form. It is, in fact, so nearly similar that I do not see sufficient grounds for making it speci6cally distinct. The only difference apparent is the much greater whiteness of the belly in the Dominican specimens, whence those who adopt trinomials would, no doubt, call it Mimocichla, ardesiaca albiventris. Mr. Ramage has sent home two male examples of this bird, which were both procured at "Batalie, dry region to leeward," in March 1889. 1 " Catalogue of the Birds of Dominica from collections made for the Smithsonian Institution by Fred. A. Ober," Proc. U. S. N. M. 1878, p. 48. 2 See Cory, Birds of the West Indies (1880), p. 249. |