Bird-Lore/Volume 01/No. 2/An Ornithologist in San Juan

An Ornithologist at San Juan

An English newspaper correspondent, who called at the American Museum of Natural History to identify certain birds which he had seen in Cuba, gave an interesting illustration of how, under the most adverse circumstances, an enthusiastic naturalist may exercise his powers of observation. He said, “I noticed at San Juan a bird which seemed to be much alarmed by the firing. He hopped from the bushes to the lower branches of trees, and then, limb by limb, reached the tree tops,” and continued with a readily identifiable description of the singular Cuban Cuckoo, locally known as Arriero (Saurothera merlini).

There is one bird in Cuba, the Turkey Buzzard or Vulture, of which many of our soldiers probably retain a too vivid recollection, but how many of the men who were at San Juan can recall any other bird observed during the day of battle?