There are no woodpeckers in the forests of the Antilles, and only two species of large gallinaceous birds, but a prodigious variety of pigeons, swallows, finches, and crows. The _alcedos_ (kingfishers) are scarce, but the blackbirds so numerous that some of the countless species seem to claim a South American and even transatlantic ancestry. The restless _estornino_ of the Cuban highland forests, for instance, might be mistaken for a varnished starling, resembling the _Sturnus vulgaris_ of western Europe in everything but the more brilliant luster of its plumage. The curious _codornilla_, or dove quail, too, has its nearest relatives on the other side of the Atlantic, in Syria, Arabia, and the foothills of the Atlas. It builds its nest on the ground and, judging from its appearance, would seem to form a connecting link between the doves and small _gallinæ_; but its wings are those of a pigeon, and with the assistance of a northeast gale may possibly have carried it across the ocean. [Illustration: CROWN PIGEON.] In studying the geographical distribution of animals, we may estimate the prevalence of special genera by the number of their varieties, or by the aggregate sum of individuals, and in the latter sense the migratory pigeons of our forest States once nearly outnumbered all the other birds of North America, though the family is limited to five or six species. But in the West Indies the _Columbidæ_ predominate in both respects. Cuba is a country of wild pigeons as pre-eminently as South Africa is a land of pachyderms and Madagascar of night monkeys. The _Columba leucocephala_ (a congener of our ringdove) inhabits the mountain forests in countless swarms, and at the end of the rainy season visits grainfields in such numbers that hundreds are sometimes captured in nets, by means of corn scattered along the furrows. A closely allied variety is found in San Domingo, where in many upland regions a darkey, equipped with a shotgun and a supply of gunpowder, can dispense with agriculture and raise a family of anthropoids on pigeon pies and _tortillas_, compounded from the grain found in the crops of his victims. But the _tittyblang_ (_tête-blanc_) has scores of smaller and larger cousins, culminating in the Cuban primate of the family, the splendid _paloma real_, with its coronet of pearl-gray plumes and dark-blue wings. [Illustration: CRESTED CURASSOW.] [Illustration: PORTO RICO PARRAKEET.]