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RDS OF JAMAICA.

THE

BIRDS OF JAMAICA.

BY

PHILIP HENRY GOSSE;

ASSISTED BY RICHARD HILL, ESQ., OF SPANISH-TOWN.

LONDON:
JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW.

M.DCOC.XLVIL

PREFACE.

Wuite of Selbourne has somewhere expressed
the gratification which would be afforded to him by
a sight of the hirundines of the ‘‘ hot and distant
island” of Jamaica. We know, in fact, exceeding-
ly little of the biography of tropical animals—of
those details of their habits, which are to be
known only by a close and continued observation
of them in their woodland homes. The present
volume may perhaps contribute an acceptable item
to the amount of information, derived, as it is,
entirely from original investigation. Nearly two
hundred species of birds are thus ascertained to
belong to the Jamaica Fauna, though of several of
these, the author can give only indications more or
less precise. He cannot doubt that many species
have escaped the researches both of himself and
his friends, especially among the migrant visi-
tors. The valuable assistance, however, of a
resident Ornithologist, whose notes pervade this
volume, and to whom he would here express his
deep gratitude, have greatly diminished the omis-
sions which must otherwise have been unavoid-
able.

Perhaps a word of apology may be thought need-
ful for the minuteness with which the author has

iv PREFACE.

sometimes recorded dates, and other apparently
trivial circumstances, in his observations. It is
because of his conviction, that an observer is
hardly competent to determine what circumstance
is trivial, and what is important: many a recorded
fact in science has lost half its value from the
omission of some attendant circumstance, which
the observer either did not notice, or thought
irrelevant. It is better to err on the side of
minuteness than of vagueness.

The author takes this opportunity of proffering
his cordial thanks to those friends in Jamaica
who kindly assisted his investigations; and par-
ticularly to Andrew G. Johnston, Esq., of Port-
land, and George Wilkie, Esq., of Spanish-town.

Lonpon, March, 1847.

SYNOPSIS
OF THE

BIRDS OF JAMAICA.

Orper.—ACCIPITRES.
Fam.—VULTURID&. [Morphnus urubitinga.
Cathartes aura. ° { Pandion Carolinensis.

[ Nauclerus furcatus.
Fam.—FALCONID.
Buteo borealis. Fam.—STRIGID.
Falco anatum. Ephialtes grammicus.
columbarius. Strix pratincola.

Orper.—PASSERES.

Fam.—CAPRIMULGIDA. Fam.—ALCEDINIDZ.
Chordeiles Virginianus. Ceryle alcyon.
Nyctibius Jamaicensis.

pallidus. Fam.—NECTARINIAD&.

Certhiola flaveola.

Fam.—-HIRUNDINID. maritima.
Acanthylis collaris ?
Tachornis phcenicobia.

Fam.—TROCHILIDA,

Cypselus niger.
Hirundo peeciloma. Lampornis mango.
Trochilus polytmus.
euchrysea. sy Shuts
Progne Dominicensis. ellisuga humilis.
Fam.—TODIDZ. Fam.—CERTHIAD.

Todus viridis. Mniotilta varia

Vili SYNOPSIS OF THE

Fam.—TURDID&.
Merula leucogenys.
Jamaicensis.
[Turdus mustelinus.
Mimus polyglottus.
Trichas Marylandica.
Vermivora Pennsylvanica.
Seiurus Noveboracensis,
aurocapillus.
Parula Americana,
Sylvicola coronata.
pensilis.
zestiva.
e0a,
discolor.
Canadensis.
pannosa.
pharetra.

Fam.—MUSCICAPADZ.

Setophaga ruticilla.
Myiobius pallidus.
tristis.
stolidus.
Tyrannus Dominicensis.
- caudifasciatus.
Tityra leuconotus.
Vireo Noveboracensis.
Vireosylva olivacea.

Fam.—AMPELIDZ.
[Ampelis Carolinensis.
Ptilogonys armillatus.

Fam.—CORVID&.
Cyanocorax pileatus.
Corvus Jamaicensis.

Fam.—STURNIDZ.
Quiscalus crassirostris.
Icterus leucopteryx.

[ —?
[ ?
Dolichonyx oryzivorus.

Fam.—FRINGILLADA.
Tanagra Zena.
Pyranga rubra.
Tanagrella ruficollis.
Euphonia Jamaica.
Coturniculus tixicrus.
Crithagra Brasiliensis.
Spermophila anoxantha.
olivacea.
bicolor,
adoxa,
Pyrrhula violacea.
[ Robinsonii ?
[Guiraca Ludoviciana.

OrpER.—SCANSORES.

Fam.—PSITTACIDA.

Ara tricolor ?

[ aracanga,
[ ararauna.
[ militaris,

Conurus flaviventer.

Psittacus agilis.
leucocephalus.

Fam.—PICIDZ.
Picus varius.
Centurus radiolatus.

BIRDS OF JAMAICA.

Fam.—CUCULIDZ.

Coccyzus Americanus.

Saurothera vetula. seniculus.
Piaya pluvialis. Crotophaga ani.
Orper.—GYRANTES.
Fam.—COLUMBAD&. Chamepelia passerina.
Columba Caribbea. Peristera Jamaicensis.
rufina. Geotrygon sylvatica.
eucocephala montana.

Turtur leucopterus.
Zenaida amabilis.

Starnzenas cyanocephala ?

Orper.—GALLIN A.

Fam.—PHASIANIDZ.

Numida meleagris.

Fam.—TETRAONIDZ.

Ortyx Virginiana.

OrpER.—_GRALLZE.

Fam.—CHARADRIAD &.

Aigialites melodus.
vociferus.

[ semipalmatus.

[Charadrius Virginiacus.

[Squatarola Helvetica.
[Strepsilas interpres.

Fam.—ARDEAD,
Egretta nivea.
candidissima.
coerulea,
ruficollis.
Herodias virescens.
Ardeola exilis.
Nycticorax Americanus.
[ Ardea Herodias.
[ Egretta leuce ?
[Botaurus minor.

[Platalea ajaja.

[Ibis rubra.

[ Numenius longirostris.
[ Hudsonicus ?

Fam.—SCOLOPACIDZ.

Pelidna pusilla.

Actitis macularius.

Totanus chloropygius.
flavipes.
melanoleucus ?

Gallinago Wilsoni.

[ Tringa canutus.

[ Calidris arenaria.

[ Catoptrophorus semipalmatus.

[ Rusticola minor.

Fam.—RALLIDZE,
Aramus scolopaceus.

x

Rallus longirostris.
concolor.
Ortygometra Carolina.
minuta.
Jamaicensis.

Porphyrio Martinica.

SYNOPSIS.

Gallinula galeata.
Fulica Americana.

Fam.—RECURVIROSTRAD &.
Himantopus nigricollis.
[Recurvirostra Americana.

OrpEer.—ANSERES.

Fam.—ANATID&.
Pheenicopterus ruber.
Dendrocygna arborea.

[ autumnalis.
Anas maxima.
Cyanopterus discors.

inornatus.
Erismatura spinosa.
[ ortygoides.

[Chen hyperboreus.

[ Anser Canadensis.

[ Dafila acuta.

[ Peecilonetta Bahamensis.
[ Mareca Americana.

[ Aix sponsa.
[Querquedula Carolinensis.
[ Rhynchaspis clypeata.

[ Chaulelasmus streperus.
[ Anas obscura.

[ boschas.

[Cairina moschata.

[ Oidemia perspicillata.
[Fuligula Americana.

[ affinis.

[ rufitorques.

[ Nyroca leucophthalma.

Fam.—PELECANIDE.
Pelecanus fuscus.

Sula fusca.

[ fiber.

[ _ piscator.

[ _ parva.

Fregata aquilus.

Phaeton zthereus.

Fam.—LARIDZ.
Thalasseus Cayanus.
Hydrochelidon fuliginosa.
[ Megalopterus stolidus.

[ Thalasseus Cantiacus.
[Sterna argentea.

[ Hydrochelidon nigra.
[Xema atricilla.

Fam.—PROCELLARIAD®.
[Thalassidroma ——— ?

Fam,—ALCAD#,
[Alcea —— ?

Fam.—COLYMBID&.
Podilymbus Carolinensis ?
Podiceps Dominicus.

Page Line
33, 2,
“4, 5,

113, 15,
170, 19.
185, 8,

ERRATA.

* Falcons,”

“ pectloma,”

* into,”

“On their return }
in spring, they,”
* voltigant,”

“ and,”

{

Nightjars.
peciloma-
our.

The migrant
Visitors.
voltiyent.

I.

Y Soe

THE BIRDS OF JAMAICA.

Orper.—ACCIPITRES. (Birds of prey.)
Fam.—VULTURIDA. (The Vultures.)

JOHN-CROW VULTURE*
( Turkey-buzzard.— W son.)

Cathartes aura.

Vultur aura, Linn. :

Cathartes aura, ILLticgER.—Aud. pl. 151.
Tue history of this species has been so ably
written by Wilson and Audubon, that I shall do
little more than touch on one or two disputed points
in its economy. An excellent memoir of this Vul-
ture, communicated to me by my valued friend

_ Richard Hill, Esq., of Spanish-town, affords some

interesting particulars :—

“‘ Notwithstanding it forms so common a feature
in our landscapes, being seen every day and every
where, on the mountain as well as in the plain, in
the city as well as in the country, the Aura is not
common to the West Indies. It exists in Cuba and

* Length 253 inches, expanse 66, tail 93, wing from flexure 204,
rictus 2,2,, tarsus 3, middle toe 24,, claw +5.

B

2 ACCIPITRES.—VULTURIDZ.

Trinidad, but is unknown in Hayti, and in all the
intermediate islands of the Caribbean chain. We
are no doubt indebted for it to an accidental colony
blown over to us from Cuba, and Cuba herself
owes it to some stray visitants from the neigh-
bouring continent of Florida. Some similar for-
tuity imparted to us in common with Cuba, from
America, its naturalized hive-bee, which is said to
have been, at comparatively a late period, an intro-
duction into St. Domingo.

‘Those who ascribe the power which the Vul-
ture possesses of discerning from a distance its
carrion food, to the sense of seeing or to the sense
of smelling, exclusively, appear to me to be both
in error. It is the two senses, exerted sometimes
singly, but generally unitedly, which give the fa-
cility which it possesses of tracing its appropriate
food from far distances. * * * * [ shall relate one
or two occurrences, which seem to me to be in-
stances in which the sense of seeing and the sense
of smelling were sometimes separately and some-
times unitedly exerted by the Vulture in its quest
for food.

** A poor German immigrant who lived alone in a
detached cottage in this town, rose from his bed
after a two days’ confinement by fever, to purchase
in the market some fresh meat for a little soup.
Before he could do more than prepare the several
ingredients of herbs and roots, and put his meat
in water for the preparation of his pottage, the
paroxysm of fever had returned, and he laid him-
self on his bed exhausted. Two days elapsed in

Pate

i i

JOHN-CROW VULTURE. 3

this state of helplessness and inanition; by which
time the mass of meat and pot-herbs had putrefied.
The stench becoming very perceptible in the neigh-
bourhood, Vulture after Vulture as they sailed past
were observed always to descend to the cottage of
the German, and to sweep round, as if they had
tracked some putrid carcase, but failed to find ex-
actly where it was. This led the neighbours to ap-
prehend that the poor man lay dead in his cottage,
as no one had seen him for the two days last past.
His door was broken open; he was found in a
state of helpless feebleness, but the room was most
insufferably offensive from something putrefying,
which could not immediately be found, for the fever
having deprived the German of his wits, he had
no recollection of his uncooked mess of meat and
herbs. No one imagining that the kitchen pot
could contain anything offensive, search was made
everywhere but in the right place: at last the pot-
lid was lifted, and the cause of the insupportable
stench discovered in the corrupted soup-meat.

‘** Here we have the sense of smelling directing
the Vultures, without any assistance from the sense
of sight, and discovering unerringly the locality
of the putrid animal matter, when even the neigh-
bours were at fault in their patient search.

** Some few days succeeding this occurrence, after
a night and morning of heavy rain, in which our
streets had been inundated to the depth of a foot,
and flood after flood had been sweeping to the river
the drainage of the whole town,—a piece of recent

offal had been brought down from some of the yards
B 2

4 ACCIPITRES.—VULTURIDZ.

where an animal had been slaughtered, and lodged
in the street. A Vulture beating about in search
of food, dashed in a slanting direction from a con-
siderable height, and just resting, without closing
his wings, snatched up the fresh piece of flesh, and
carried it off.

“Here was the sense of sight unassisted by that
of smelling, for the meat was too recent to com-
municate any taint to the morning air, and the
Vulture stooped to it from a very far distance.

“On another occasion very near to the time
when these facts attracted my notice, a dead rat
had been thrown out, early in the morning, into the
street, having been caught in the previous night.
Two Vultures sailing over head in quest of a morn-
ing meal, descended at the same time, stooping to
the dead rat, the one from the south, the other
from the north, and both seized the object of at-
traction at the same moment.

‘Here again was the vision, unaided by the
sensitiveness of the nostrils, directing two birds
with the same appetite, at the same moment, to
the same object.

“For the next example, I am indebted to the
records of a Police Court. A clerk in the engi-
neer department at Up-park Camp, brought before
the magistrates of St. Andrew’s, on the 20th
of January, 1840, a man who had been beset in
the night by the dogs of the barracks. The
poultry-yard had been repeatedly robbed; and
this person was supposed to have been prowling
after the roost-fowls, at the time the dogs rose upon

JOHN-CROW VULTURE. 5

him.” This case had been heard, and the man com-
mitted to the House of Correction, when a com-
plaint was presented against another man whom
Major G., also of the camp, had detected under
similar circumstances, and lodged in the guard-
house. ‘Two days after his detection, ‘‘the Major
observed some Carrion-Vultures, hovering about a
spot in the fields, and on sending to see what was
the matter, a Kilmarnock cap containing a dead
fowl, and some eggs, tied up ina pair of old trou-
sers, was found very near to the spot, where the
prisoner was caught. This discovery by the aid
of the Vultures confirming the suspicion against
the prisoner, he was condemned.

**The last instance that I shall relate is one
in which the senses of hearing, seeing, and smelling
were all exercised; but not under the influence of
the usual appetite for carrion food, but where the
object was a living, though wounded animal.

** A person in the neighbourhood of the town,
having his pastures much trespassed on by vagrant
hogs, resorted to his gun to rid himself of the an-
noyance. A pig which had been mortally wounded,
and had run squealing and trailing his blood
through the grass, had not gone far before it fell
in the agonies of death. At the moment the ani-
mal was perceived to be unable to rise, three Vul-
tures at the same instant descended upon it, at-
tracted no doubt by the cries of the dying pig, and
by the scent of its reeking blood; and while it was
yet struggling for life, began to tear open its wounds
and devour it.

6 ACCIPITRES.—VULTURIDA.

“These several instances, I think, abundantly
shew that all the senses are put in requisition by
the John-crow Vulture in its quest for food.”

From the facts thus presented by Mr. Hill we
gather also, that the common opinion is erroneous,
which attributes to the Vulture a confinement of
appetite to flesh in a state of decomposition. Flesh
is his food; and that he does not pounce upon
living prey like the falcons, is because his structure
is not adapted for predatory warfare, and not because
he refuses recent, and even living flesh, when in
his power. If the John-crow Vulture discovers a
weakling new-born pig apart from the rest, he
will descend, and seizing it with his beak, will
endeavour to drag it away; its cries of course bring
the mother, but before she can come, the Vulture
gives it a severe nip across the back, which soon
ensures the pig for his own maw. If a large hog
be lying-in a sick condition beneath a tree, the
Vulture will not hesitate to pick out its eyes,
having first muted upon the body, that it may
discover whether the animal be able to rise; the
‘contact of the hot faeces arousing the hog if he
be not too far gone. Cattle also he will attack
under similar circumstances. One of my servants
once saw a living dog partly devoured by one. The
dogs of the negroes, half-starved at home, “ bony,
and gaunt, and grim,” if they discover carrion,
will gorge themselves until they can hardly stir,
when they lie down and sleep with death-like
intensity. A large dog thus gorged, was sleeping
under a tree, when a John-crow descended upon

JOHN-CROW VULTURE. 7

him, perhaps attracted by the smell of the carrion
which the dog had been devouring, and began
tearing the muscles of the thigh: it actually laid
open a considerable ‘space, before the poor animal
was aroused by the pain and started up with a
howl of agony. The wound was dressed, but the
dog soon died.

A notion is very prevalent, that the Vulture
refuses the flesh of its own kind; or that if there
ever be an exception, it is only when the stomach
of the dead bird is filled with carrion. This I have
proved to be unfounded. I shot one in August,
the body of which I threw out; in a very few
minutes it was surrounded by others, and the bones
picked clean, though the stomach was nearly empty,
and the body had no odour of carrion.

“The Aura Vultures,” says Mr. Hill, are often
to be observed soaring in companies, particularly
previous to a thunder-storm. This occurrence is
commonly remarked, because at almost all other
times this species is seen solitary, or, at most, scour-
ing the country in pairs. They appear to delight
in the hurly-burly of transient squalls, gathering
together, and sweeping round in oblique circles,
as the fitful gust favours them with an opportunity
of rising through the blast, or winging onwards
through the misty darkness of the storm. The
effect which this imparts to a tropical landscape at
a time when thick clouds are upon the mountains,
and all vegetation is bending beneath the sudden
rush of the tempest, as gust gathers louder and
louder, is particularly wild and exciting. Ordi-

8 ACCIPITRES.—VULTURIDZ.

narily, however, in the evening, when the sea-breeze
is lulling, and the fading day-beam is changing
like the hues of the dying dolphin, they delight
to congregate, and career at an immense height.
At this time they soar so loftily, that they are
scarcely discernible as they change their position
in wheeling from shade into light, and from light
into shade. They seem as if they rose upward to
follow the fading day-light, and to revel in the
departing sunbeams, as, one after the other, the
varying hues are withdrawn, or irradiate only the
upper heavens.

“There is a salacious predilection of the Aura
Vulture for the black hen of the poultry-yard, and
the black turkey, supported by so many well-au-
thenticated instances, that I cannot doubt the fact.
It is said that the Vulture on these occasions makes
its amorous attack with an eagerness assuming the
character of ungovernable fury. Fear overcomes
the hen, and the sudden assault terminates in an
embrace, from which she escapes only to linger
and die in a very short time. A sort of carcinoma
uteri is the consequence. 4 . .

* This is altogether a curious and very unaccount-
able fact. Those who know how difficult it is to
bend instinctive nature, and induce the union of
animals different and yet similar, will perceive the
perplexity in which this occurrence is involved.
The only link of relationship in these events, is the
very distant similitude of colour; for the unnatural
predilection is restricted to fowls of black plumage.”

I may add that on my reading the above notes

JOHN-CROW VULTURE. 9

of my friend, I mentioned this statement to my
negro servants, both of whom assured me that the
fact was indubitable, and well known; and each
of them averred that he had witnessed its occurrence.

The dimensions in the note, p. 1, were those of
the largest of two adult males of the ordinary size,
which, however, is considerably less than that of
continental specimens. The tongue is singularly
formed, and may be termed spoon-shaped; or rather
it is a half-tube, curved in its length, having its
edges, which are bony, cut into minute and beau-
tifully regular teeth, pointing backwards. The
skin of the head is naked, except some small scat-
tered hairs, and falls on the occiput into ten or
twelve transverse wrinkles; its colour varies in the
same individual, being sometimes purple, then in a
few minutes bright red; when dead, it is a dull
lake-pink. The feet are scaly, white; or rather
dull reddish, covered more or less with a white
seurf; the red hue is most apparent at the upper
part of the tarsus; the claws are horny black. Im-
mediately in front of the eye is a series of irre-
gular tuberculous excrescences of a dull white, va-
rying in extent.

Like many black birds this Vulture is subject to
albinism. There was a pied one, which for a long
time had been occasionally seen in company with
others over Bluefields and the vicinity. I at length
invited him with some flesh, and lying in wait,
shot him. The white feathers were promiscuously
interspersed, chiefly on the shoulders, breast, upper

and under tail-coverts, and wing-quills; some of
B 5

10 ACCIPITRES.—VULTURIDZ.

the longest primaries were wholly, others partially,
white; but the wings were not uniform in the distri-
bution of the colours. This individual was recog-
nisable almost as far as visible; for the white was
very pure. Some, however, are found much more
completely white than this; my negro lad, Sam, had
seen one which had the wings wholly white ex-
cept some of the least coverts; and the breast also
white.

The situations usually selected in Jamaica by this
Vulture for the laying and hatching of its eggs,
are hollows and ledges of rocks in secluded places,
or inaccessible crags and cliffs. A little dry trash
or decaying leaves, are all the apology for a
nest. A young one taken in such a situation, and
brought to me in May, was nearly full-fledged,
but bore little resemblance to the adult. The whole
body, with the exception of the winglet, the wing
quills, and the tail, was clothed with down of the
purest white, while the naked head with the beak
was black. The eyes, as usual in young birds,
were blue-grey. It smelled strongly, unbearably,
of musk; was very fierce, tilting at every thing,
striking with the wings, and leaping forward to
bite. It kept up a continued harsh hissing. “The
nest contained two young, but they had begun to
wander, though as yet unable to fly.

RED-TAILED BUZZARD.

Fam.—FALCONID A. (Zhe Falcons.)

RED-TAILED BUZZARD.*
Chicken Hawk.

Buteo borealis.

Falco borealis, Linn.— Aud. pl. 51.
Falco Jamaicensis, GMEL,
Buteo borealis, BEcust.

i ee
De

This Buzzard, which we learn from Wilson is
spread over the United States, is the most common
raptorial bird in Jamaica. Permanent, not migra-
tory, we see it all the year round, sailing delibe-
rately in wide circles over the pastures and ruinates,
now near the ground, but presently soaring into
the upper air, each circle higher and higher till
the bird is lost in the glare of a tropical sky. It is
common to see two individuals of this species in
company, sailing each in its own circle, but inter-

secting the other; and as they thus fly, they utter
| from time to time a sudden energetic cry, ‘‘ pinyee.”
i The frequency of this bird’s depredations on the
| poultry of the homestead, has given it a provincial
appellation. In the stomach of one, examined by
Wilson, he found, however, the remains of frogs
i and lizards. Its courage is not proportioned to
its size or arms. Not long ago, near Bluefields, two

4 * Length 20 inches, expanse 443, tail 74, flexure 13}, rictus 1,%,

) tarsus 38, middle toe 14, claw 1.

12 ACCIPITRES.—FALCONIDZ.

of these Hawks swooped together upon a white
barn-door cock, who defended himself so vigorously
and so successfully as to keep them both at bay
for some time, until, help coming, both the maraud-
ers were shot.

Some observatious of Mr. Hill’s, on the flight
of the birds of prey, elicited by a few remarks in a
letter from a friend, appeared to me so interesting,
that he kindly placed both in my hands, for the
advantage of the present work; and I here present
them to my readers.

Samuel R. Ricketts, Esq., to Richard Hill, Esq.

“With regard to Hawks, I have had many
opportunities of observing their habits here, as I
have a large common, and a flock of turkeys. They
perform successive circular movements in the air,
and their pounce is done by closing the wings
upwards. They appear to be falling, when doing
so. A chicken was taken here some days ago
from the roof of the house, having fallen from the
talons of a Hawk I was in pursuit of. The South
American Hawks fly higher, and in larger circles,
than those of Europe:—why, I cannot tell, but
such is the fact. I speak from personal observation.
Our Hawk has a peculiar note in very dry weather,
and is then said by the negroes to be “ calling the
rain,”

Richard Hill, Esq., in Reply.

“Your observation about the widened circuit
which the Hawks of this country, and those of

RED-TAILED BUZZARD. 13

South America generally, take when surveying
their prey, has led me to trouble you with the
following remarks on the flight of raptorial birds.

*‘Raptorial birds that take their quarry on the
ground, as we very well know, before they seize
their prey, attentively survey it; keeping it in
view by sailing round and round it. In these
circumgyratory evolutions they leisurely gaze down
on their intended victim, and then descend circle
by circle, to pounce on it with a swoop.

“The attention of birds in ordinary or direct
flight is immediately fixed on the objects before
them. The swiftness with which they shoot through
the air makes every visual impression indistinct
and evanescent on either side of them. If they
take wing for a distance, they rise at once high,
that they may command a view of the place which
they intend to visit; and if they proceed to an
object that is near, they elevate themselves to such
a height only as is necessary to give them a clear
and direct course to where they are speeding. The
circular flight of raptorial birds, is therefore the
result of their directing their vision to the centre
of the gyrations they describe in examining their
prey, or descending upon their victims.

“The eye of all birds is large and prominent.
The prominence widens the field of vision. The
width of the circle which the several kinds of
raptorial birds variously describe, I think, as a rule,
will be found to be determined by the size of
the head and position of the eyes, or increased
with the rotundity of the head of the bird. The

14 ACCIPITRES.—FALCONID.

direct vision being altered with the increase of
space between the eyes, Hawks of the Buzzard
kind, which have large and round heads, may be
expected to wheel in wide circles; the expanded
space being required, that they may keep the vision
of their wide-apart eyes direct upon the objects
beneath them.

“Owls fly differently. They search for their
prey, as if they were pursuing it with the vigilance
of the hound. They skim along the surface of the
earth, glide among trees, explore avenues, sweep
round, rise and fall, wheel short, and dart down,
but never sail in circles. Their wide staring eyes
are placed in what may be called their face, being
right forward in front, and have scarcely any field of
vision laterally. They therefore hunt with a forward
and downward gaze, like dogs over a field. The
globe of the eye of these nocturnal raptores, being
immoveably fixed in the socket by a strong elastic
cartilaginous case, in the form of a truncated cone,
they have to turn their heads to view objects out
of the path of flight, and their neck is so adapted
for this exertion, that they can with ease turn round
the head in almost a complete circle, without moving
the body.”

I have never met with the nest of this Hawk;
nor has Wilson given us any information concerning
it; but a young friend, very conversant with out-of-
door natural history, informs me that he lately
knew of one, a large mass near the top of an
immense cotton-tree into which he observed the old
birds frequently go. It was at Content, in the pa-

RED-TAILED BUZZARD. 15

rish of St. Elizabeth. The gigantic dimensions as-
sumed by the Ceiba, which strike a stranger with
astonishment, combined with the smoothness of the
trunk, rendered its summit perfectly inaccessible,
and prevented particular examination. At length
he witnessed the emergence of two young ones,
and their first essay at flight. He assures me
that he distinctly saw the parent bird, after the
first young one had flown a little way, and was
beginning to flutter downward,—he saw the mother,
for the mother surely it was,—fly beneath it, and
present her back and wings for its support. He
cannot say that the young actually rested on, or
eyen touched the parent ;—perhaps its confidence
returned on seeing support so near, so that it
managed to reach a dry tree; when the other little
one, invited by the parent, tried its infant wings in
like manner. This touching manifestation of paren-
tal solicitude is used by the Holy Spirit in the
Song of Moses, to illustrate the tenderness of love
with which Jehovah led his people Israel about,
and cared for them in the wilderness. ‘‘ As an eagle
stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young,
spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth
them on her wings; so the Lord alone did lead him,
and there was no strange God with him.”—(Deut.
xxxli. 12.—See also Exod. xix. 4.)

16 ACCIPITRES.—-FALCONIDZ,

GREAT-FOOTED HAWK.*

Duck-Hawk.

Falco anatum.

Faleo Peregrinus, | Witson.—Aud. pl. 16.
Falco anatum, Bonap.

The only individual of this species that has fallen
under my notice is a preserved specimen, now
before me, which was obtained and prepared at
the Pedro Kays, about the end of March, 1846.
The rocks so named, of which I may have an op-
portunity of speaking more at large, are situated
about sixty miles to the south of the western end
of Jamaica, forming the prominent points of a
large shoal, which is marked on the old Spanish
charts as the Vibora bank. The islets or kays are
the habitation of immense numbers of sea-fowl,
especially Boobies and Terns; and the eggs of the
latter form no unimportant article of commerce.
Several small vessels are annually sent from King-
ston and other ports, in the month of March, which
return loaded with eggs: and parties are often
made by sporting gentlemen, to enjoy the pleasure
of shooting on these desert rocks.

It is to the politeness of George Wilkie, Esq.,
who visited the Kays in the past Spring, that I am
indebted for the present specimen, shot by him.

* Length 20 inches, expanse — ? tail 7, flexure 143, rictus] 3, tarsus
24,, middle toe 1,9,, claw .

SE —— ———

PIGEON-HAWK. 17

In the United States this bird is found to prey
principally upon ducks, which it appears to strike
with its feet, but allows to drop to the ground be-
fore it secures them. If, as is probable, its pre-
dilection extends to other aquatic birds, its pre-
sence at the Pedro Kays, where such prey abounds,
on which it may riot undisturbed, is not sur-
prising. But, as the period of its occurrence is
that of the migration of many species of ducks
from the Spanish main to the United States, our
bird may have been a follower, with predatory in-
tent, of some of the many bands of migrant ducks
which were passing the rocks about that time.

The Prince of Canino has separated this species
from the Peregrine Falcon of Europe, with which
it was supposed to be identical. The European
bird, which was renowned as the Tiercel and the
Faucon of falconry, is inferior in its dimensions to
our species.

PIGEON-HAWK.*
Falco columbarius.

Falco columbarius, Linn.— WI1s.
Falco temerarius, Aup. pl. 75.

Though of small size, this bird is not lacking in
spirit and courage, often striking at prey nearly as
* Length 12 inches, expanse 25, tail 4,4, flexure 7,4, rictus -8,, tar-

sus 1,9,, middle toe 1, claw 3, closed wings 14 inch short of the tip of
the tail. |

18 ACCIPITRES.—FALCONID.

large as itself. It hovers about the savannas, fre-
quently flying very near the grass or bushes, but
it seems to have favourite resorts. In the guinea-
grass piece of Mount Edgecumbe, which stretches
along the sea-shore from Belmont to Crab-pond,
there are several hoary cotton-trees, (Ceiba erioden-
dron) of giant size, around which I have rarely
failed to see more than one of these little Hawks.
From one to another of these they sail on graceful
wing, usually alighting on a prominent branch,
near the summit. One which I shot from such a
station, manifested no alarm at being aimed at, but
peeped down as if its curiosity were excited. The
smaller pigeons form the principal prey of this
species; but sometimes it appears to be unequal
to the conquest of its quarry. My lad observed
a Hawk, one day, chasing a Pea-dove, which at
length took refuge in a low bush, but was fol-
lowed by the Hawk; the shaking of the bush
showed that a struggle was going on, which seems
to have terminated in favour of the gentle Dove, for
presently both emerged, the Dove flew off, and the
Hawk alighted on a tree close by; this same in-
dividual, being shot and wounded, fought bravely
with both beak and feet, drawing blood from the
hands of its slayer.

The Anis are acquainted with his prowess, and
indicate their fear by loud cries of warning to their
fellows, huddling away to the nearest bush. The
Petchary and Loggerhead Tyrants are often pur-
sued by him, but often escape; for it is remarkable,
that if his swoop is ineffectual, he does not repeat

P
]
4
-
J
g
Wy
7

———

DUSKY EARED-OWL. 19

it, but flies off. I have seen one descend upon a
flock of Tinkling Grakles, causing the whole body
to curve downward in their flight, and alight on a
neighbouring tree. But it is said to feed, in lack
of better prey, upon beetles and dragon-flies.

This species, which is a summer visitant of the
United States, is a permanent resident in Jamaica;
but I know nothing of its nest.

In addition to the Falconidez already mentioned,
the following species have occurred in Jamaica to
the observation of Mr. Hill :—

The Eagle-hawk (Morphnus urubitinga.—Cvv.)

The Fish Hawk (Pandion Carolinensis.—Bon.)

The Fork-tailed Kite (Nauclerus furcatus.—Vie.)

Fam.—STRIGIDA. (The Ouls.)
DUSKY EARED-OWL.*
Ephialtes grammicus.—MIul.

I have not been able to find any published de-
scription of this well-marked Owl. In the MSS. of

* Length 14 inches, expanse 31, tail 4,8, flexure 94, rictus 14, tarsus
2, middle toe 1, claw +4.

Trides hazel ; pupils very large, blue; beak pale blue-grey ; feet dull
lead colour; claws horny grey ; cere blackish-grey. General plumage
above dusky brown, becoming on the head and under parts, umber: each
feather marked with a medial band of blackish hue, and several un-
dulated transverse bars of the same. Egrets of about ten feathers, form-

20 ACCIPITRES.—STRIGIDA.

Dr. Robinson,* however, there is a very elaborate
description of the species, drawn up from an adult
male, but agreeing with mine, which is from a fe-
male ; save that he applies the term cinnamon, to the
parts which I designate as wmber. Three individu-
als, all females, have at separate times come into my
hands, two of which were immature, as manifested by
the downiness of the plumage. One of these was

ing conical horns about 1 inch high, giving the countenance a great
resemblance to that of acat. Facial feathers unwebbed, pale umber;
those of inner angle of eye, setaceous, black ; operculum edged with
black ; scaly, sub-aural feathers pale fawn-colour, with arrowy centres of
black ; the outermost rows also mottled with black at the tip; these
feathers meet under the chin in a ruff. Feathers of back, rump, tail,
scapulars, and wing-coverts, minutely pencilled with blackish ; shoulders
deepening into almost black ; primary greater coverts very dark. Quills
and tail pale brown, with broad transverse bars, and minute pencillings of
black, confused on the tertials. Wings short, rounded, hollow ; third,
fourth, fifth, sixth quills subequal. Breast bright umber, with transverse
wavy mottlings, and a dash of dark brown down each feather. Belly,
thighs, and vent, plain fawn-colour ; the feathers downy, filamentous.
Under wing-coverts yellowish-brown, a little mottled, the greater broadly
tipped with black. Quills beneath, basal half pale-yellowish, apical half
nearly as above. Whole tarsus feathered.

Intestinal canal 17 inches long; 2 cceca, distant 2 inches from the
cloaca, 24 inches long, slender at their base, dilating into sacs, thin, and
full of dark liquid.

* Dr. Anthony Robinson, a surgeon practising in Jamaica about the
middle of the last century, accumulated a very large mass of valuable
information on the Zoology and Botany of the island, which is contained
in five folio MS. volumes, in the possession of the Jamaica Society at
Kingston. The specific descriptions, admeasurements, and details of
colouring are executed with an elaborate accuracy worthy of a period of
science far advanced of that in which he lived. Accompanying the MSS.
are several volumes of carefully executed drawings, mostly coloured. To
these volumes I have been indebted, as the reader will find, for many
valuable notes, which I thus acknowledge with gratitude.

DUSKY EARED-OWL. 21

brought me on the 3lst of March by a man who ob-
tained it on Bluefields Mountain. He was engaged
in felling a tree, in which the bird was; being dis-
turbed it flew to another at a short distance, when it
was struck down with a stick. The time was about
noon. ‘The person informed me that he had seen
the bird there before, in company with another,
which he supposed to be its mate. The stomach
of this specimen, a large muscular sac, was filled
with an immense quantity of slender bones, which
appeared to be those of Anoles, as I discovered by
the iguaniform teeth of at least five sets of jaws,
of various sizes. They were enveloped in a quan-
tity of fetid, black fluid. There were also the re-
mains of beetles, and of orthopterous insects.

Of another, the adult from which my descrip-
tion was taken, struck down while sitting on a
mango tree at Tait-Shafton, on the morning of
April 6th,—the stomach was stuffed with the hair and
bones of a portion of a rat, and the legs of a large
spider; a Lycosa, as I believe—certainly a ground
spider. Most of the eggs in the ovary were mi-
nute, though some were as large as mustard-seed ;
by which I gathered that the period of incubation
was yet distant, though the spring was so far ad-
vanced.

The third I had the advantage of seeing alive:
one whose downiness indicated youth, was brought
me on the 24th of the same month. Its imbecility
by day was shewn by the mode of its capture. It
was in a small tree on Bluefields Mountain, when
a boy, by shaking the tree, caused it to fall to the

29 ACCIPITRES.—STRIGIDZ.

ground, where it lay helpless. It was cross all the
time I had it, snapping the beak loudly, and strik-
ing out as endeavouring to seize the hand; utter-
ing now and then a shrill wail, most plaintive to
hear. The globular head, and round full eyes, over
which the nictitating membrane was constantly
being drawn, gave the living bird an odd appear-
ance. On dissecting it I found in the stomach re-
mains of mice and elytra of small beetles.

From these instances we can pretty well infer the
food of the present species to consist largely of
shelled insects, as well as lizards and small mamma-
lia. For a while I knew not what to make of a state-
ment of Robinson’s, that in his male he found
‘nothing but some particles of maize ;” as also that
in another, with “the remains of scarabs,” there
was ‘‘some guinea-corn, and maize.” But I am in-
formed that this Owl is known to enter dove-cotes,
and devour the young pigeons; the grain, therefore,
in these specimens was probably in the stomachs of
their prey, and remained in the Owls after the prey
had been dissolved, because the stomach of a rapa-
cious bird refuses to digest vegetable food. It would
probably have been cast up, if the birds had sur-
vived.

I know not whether this is the species that Mr.
Hill means when he says, in “ Notes of a Year,”
published in the Companion to the Jamaica Alma-
nack, for 1840,—** After sunset [in evenings in Au-
gust] the Brown Owl, seated on the dead limb of
a tree in some savanna, makes little circuits of about
thirty feet diameter, and returns to perch again. I

rT ae

I el ee

SCREECH OWL. 93

should judge that it is darting at Coleopterous in-
sects, occasional fire-flies being seen wandering at
about ten or a dozen feet above the highest eleva-
vation at which the Owls are flying.”

The flesh of this species is soft and flabby in tex-

ture, and pale in colour.

SCREECH OWL.*

Striz pratincola.

Strix flammea, Witson.
Stria pratincola, Bonap.
Stria Americana, Auvp. pl. 171.

Though Wilson has introduced this bird into his
American Ornithology, and described it apparently
from native specimens, his very meagre notes of its
manners are those of its European representative,
the bird being very rare in the United States. In
Jamaica it is not at all uncommon, though little seen
by day. I have been accustomed to see one nearly
every evening, emerge from some lofty woods on
a hill just above Bluefields, soon after sunset, and
fly heavily over the pasture and house, uttering a
querulous cry, kep, kep, kep, in a sharp tone, without
intermission. Sometimes it was followed by another,
and both would betake themselves to a large cotton-
tree at the border of the opposite woods, where they

* Length 17 inches, expanse 46, tail 53, flexure 133, rictus 2, tarsus
33, middle toe 14, claw 1.

24 ACCIPITRES.—STRIGIDA.

would alight on the topmost boughs, and after
sitting quiet awhile, resume their flight and their
cry together. At other times, one or two are
heard, and dimly seen by the light of the moon,
slowly flying over the pasture in a large circle.
Its motion is noiseless in itself, but almost always
accompanied by this monotonous cry; it usually
flies high, but remarkably slowly. I had been
informed that it sometimes screams shrilly when
flying, but this I had not heard, until I had
been familiar with the bird in this way, for more
than a year. But one night as I lay awake at
Content, in St. Elizabeth’s, I heard a harsh screech
twice repeated, which I at once suspected to be the
voice of the White Owl, and presently this was con-
firmed by the hep, kep, of one which was evidently
flying round the house, and continued for some time
within hearing. And one evening, about three
months afterwards, just as the west horizon had
faded from its glowing gold to a dull ruddy hue,
I heard a Screech Owl flying from the hill as usual
over the pasture; when it was overhead, but at a
height of perhaps three hundred feet, it suddenly
intermitted the kep, kep, by a loud scream; then
kep, kep again, and soon another scream, and by
and by another, as it slowly flew along.

This Owl does not seem to affect the deep forests, 7

although it haunts shady places in the vicinity of
estates and open grounds, doubtless because in such
places its prey abounds. Among these groves
it is sometimes seen flitting on soft and silent wing
during the day, when it does not usually cry.

an ©

SCREECH OWL. 25

About the middle of October, passing through the
extensive and beautiful Pen, called Mount Edge-
cumbe, where the smooth-barked pimento trees
grow from the grassy sward, as in a park, my at-
tention was called to a large space walled in, which
my negro lad, Sam, told me was a “ Spanish hole.”
Curiosity led me to examine it. On getting over
the wall, which was only a fence of dry stones, to
protect the cattle from falling in, I found myself
in an area of about eighty feet in diameter, in the
centre of which yawned a vast pit nearly circular in
form, about forty feet wide, and as many in depth.
The edge overhung in every part, consisting of
sharp limestone rock, so that there seemed at first
no means of getting down. Some trees, however,
were growing from the bottom, a few being of large
size, and all of great height and smoothness, almost
wholly of one kind, the bread-nut (Brosimum ali-
castrum). On carefully searching round, we found
a slender tree growing so close to the edge as to
afford a ready means of sliding down by, but so
smooth that Sam was very reluctant to essay it,
doubting his power to climb up again. It was
with a hope of finding it the resort of owls or bats,
that I had determined to examine it, and while
we were discussing the possibility of reascending,
a large White Owl suddenly flew up, and after flitting
round once or twice, sailed away towards the woods.
While I was peering into the remote corners, I
discerned on a huge flat rock beneath the cavernous
sides, what seemed a young bird, snow-white, and of
large size, together with several eggs. This made
c

96 ACCIPITRES.—STRIGIDZ.

me more urgent on my lad, and after much per-
suasion, and the promise to procure ropes, and
assistance without delay, in case of need, he at
length sprang off, and slid down the tree. By
means of a long and tough smilax, which I after-
wards used to measure the depth, I passed down
to him in succession the gun and the basket; and
he proceeded to explore the dungeon. It was
evidently formed by nature; for from the over-
hanging sides depended stalactites of various sizes
and forms, in points and festoons, some of the small-
est of which he broke off; they were of a rough
dead-white surface, but the fracture displayed
shining crystals. In one corner were two or three
holes of less than a foot in diameter, into one of
which he thrust a stick several yards long; it met
no bottom, and on being let go, instantly slid out
of sight. In another corner lay some immense
masses of stone, so large, as to leave a comparative-
ly small space beneath the rocky roof. On one
of these lay the object of the enterprise. The lad
having clambered up the rocks, was saluted on his
approach by a loud hissing from one of the ugliest
creatures he had ever beheld; so that he hesitated
to touch it. I encouraged him, however; for from
the top I could witness all that took place; and he
at length opened the basket, and with a stick
tumbled the young bird in. Not the least vestige
of a nest, nor of any apology for one, was there ;
but the bird had reposed on a broad mass of half-
digested hair, mingled profusely with the bones of
rats and birds; half of a rat lay there, freshly killed,

SCREECH OWL. Q7

the fore parts being devoured. At a little distance
from the bird lay, on the same mass, three eggs, in
no wise to be distinguished from those of a hen, in
form, size, or colour, save that they were scarcely
equal to the average size of hen’s eggs. I may add
that, on emptying them afterwards, I found them to
contain only a fluid apparently homogeneous, glairy,
but turbid, like very thin paste. They were not
collected for sitting, neither being within six inches
of another. No sooner had Sam descended, than the

old Owl again appeared ; but, after flying round the

mouth of the pit, and settling for an instant on one
of the trees, she flew off again ; and though, when we
had secured the young and eggs, we waited long in
expectation of her return, she came no more while
we remained, Having passed up the things by the
brier, the lad shinned up the tree without much
difficulty, and we proceeded home with our young
charge. On taking him out, I found him a strange
figure indeed; the head long, and sparingly clothed
with down; the curved beak, with its flesh-coloured
cere; the immense orbits of the eyes marked by
a white ring of small down, and the top and back of
the head, and all the body besides, thickly clothed
with white down of exquisite softness, strongly re-
minding me of a hair-dresser’s powder-puff. The
tips of the wings displayed the budding quills, but they
bore the singular appearance of flesh-coloured tubes,
crowned with a divergent tuft of down. The hinder
parts were, as usual in young birds, large and pro-
tuberant, and there was not a vestige of a tail as yet.

The feet and legs were well developed, and the
c 2

28 ACCIPITRES.—STRIGID&.

bird sometimes stood up on them, but more usually
rested on the whole sole, in an upright, but most
grotesque attitude. The clothing down was of the
purest white, except that in a few parts, as the back
of the head and neck, the shoulders, and the elbow of
the wing, it was slightly tinged with a delicate buff,
hardly discernible. He was a very cross fellow,
biting spitefully at everything presented to him, and
sometimes at the boards around him, without any
provocation ; but the beak, though sharp and hooked,
was not moved by sufficient muscular power to hurt
the hand. He was almost constantly hissing; par-
ticularly, but not only, when approached, giving out
a sound, that for character, and really almost for
volume, may be likened to that produced by the
rushing forth of steam from the waste-pipe of an
engine. While I was bringing him home, he dis-
charged from the stomach a hard and very dry pellet,
an inch in diameter, and about three in length, com-
posed of rats’ hair and bones, showing that he was
habitually fed with prey as taken, perhaps simply
divided, and not with half-digested matter from the
stomach of the mother. I found, however, that
though it would bite at any object, it had no notion
of eating; a bit of flesh seized in the beak being
invariably dropped in a second or two. I therefore
crammed it, giving it portions of the bodies of small
birds and lizards, forcing them into its throat; an
operation the less difficult, as the gullet is enormous.
The portions remained in the fauces for a few
moments, and were then swallowed. When standing
up, or sitting, gazing with apparent curiosity at any

SCREECH OWL. 29

person near, it was perpetually swaying deliberately
from side to side; sometimes it lost its balance and
fell over. The irides were black, but the pupils
pale blue. It lay down to sleep, resting the side
of its head on the floor.

In the course of a few days it began to seize food
when presented to it, which it swallowed eagerly ;
and I was astonished to see how large morsels it
would swallow, such as the undivided body of a
large Noctilio, which it could hardly receive into its
mouth. The coloured feathers now began to pro-
trude from the lengthening quill-tubes, and I per-
ceived that the tuft of down was slightly attached to
the point of the feather, and was deciduous; or
rather, that it consisted of very fine and loosely
barbed prolongations of the ordinary beards of the
vane, very closely resembling in texture the barbs of
an ostrich-plume. When it became a little stronger,
so that it could support itself a moment on one foot,
it began to manifest a singular habit in eating.
Almost invariably, henceforth, as..soon as it had
snatched a piece of flesh, which it did ravenously, it
chewed it a moment with the tips of the mandibles ;
this had the effect of pressing out the morsel on each
side so that it protruded. One foot was then brought
up under the chin, and thrown forward with a clutch-
ing motion, two toes being on each side the beak;
this was awkwardly performed, being repeated several
times before the morsel was grasped; and the bird
often stumbled about on the other foot, or nearly
fell over. When the foot had clutched the flesh, it
was held in the toes, until the beak could seize it in

30 ACCIPITRES.—STRIGIDA.

a more favourable position for swallowing. Then,
by repeated tossings of the head, the morsel was
thrown, as it were, little by little into the fauces.
All the while it was eating, even when the throat
seemed quite closed by the descending food, the whist-
ling hiss was maintained with incessant pertinacity.
Indeed, this sound, harsh and deafening as it was,
scarcely ever ceased, except when the bird was sleep-
ing. It was exceedingly vigilant; the smallest
sound, even a light foot-fall, would arouse it, and
awaken this most unmusical noise. It was more
than usually loud when the bird was hungry,
and doubly so at the moment when food was
presented to it, as, in its ravenous eagerness to
seize, it frequently missed from its hurried motion.
Sometimes, wlfen its belly was full, it substituted
a quivering whistle, in a very high key, emitted,
I believe, through the nostrils. The feces were
very fluid, and resembled a thin solution of lime,
they left a chalky deposit, pulverulent: and were
not at all foetid. It seemed to have no desire for
drinking. On the 1st of November it died, having
been in my care about a fortnight.

Soon after this, my lad Sam being again near the
Spanish-hole, looked in, and discerned the old Owl
sitting on the same spot, and on the 12th, I again
visited it. On peeping cautiously over the wall, I
discerned her on the rock, and fired; but merely
wounding her, she retreated into one of the cavities,
so that Sam, on descending, could not find her. There
were four eggs, which were placed close together,
but in no nest. Another Owl, doubtless the mate,

Se -

SCREECH OWL. 3l

flew at the report of the gun from somewhere
near the margin, opposite to the female’s side: but
though we made considerable noise in entering
the area, and in talking, the boy in descending
discovered him perched still near the margin of the
cavern. At length, however, he flew off. As the
sitting bird had concealed herself, and could not
be found, I determined to leave the eggs untouched,
presuming she would soon return to them. In
the course of half-an-hour I returned, and had the
satisfaction of seeing her again on the eggs: I
fired, and this time not vainly. In her fall she
crushed one of the eggs, which had evidently been
in contact with the skin of her abdomen, that part
being wholly denuded of feathers. The remaining
eges were advanced towards hatching in very dif-
ferent degrees, and one was found on dissection in the
oviduct of the bird, completely shelled, and ready
for deposition. The yolk of this was small in quan-
tity, and of a pale yellow tint. Other eggs in the
ovary were from the size of large shot downward.
About the middle of October, my notice was
drawn to some Owls, which were said to make
nightly visits to a certain tree in a provision ground
at Belmont. I visited the spot the next evening,
after sunset; it was a large cotton-tree, with a
spur more than usually immense and uncouth.
The rounded top of this spur was the scene of
the Owls’ gambols: as I approached, I heard them
uttering the same harsh sound, half hiss, half
scream, that had characterized the young one. As
it was nearly dark, their white forms were indistinct,

32 ACCIPITRES.—STRIGID.

and before I could get within range, they, whose
senses were now vigilant and acute, perceived me,
and flew to a neighbouring tree, whence they pre-
sently removed to a distance. On the following
evening I took care to be on the watch soon
after sunset: presently I heard the well-known
cry kep, kep; and the bird, arriving on noiseless
wing, took up its station on one of the lofty limbs
of the cotton tree. It called in this manner for
a minute or two, when the other came flying from
another direction, uttering the same sound, and
likewise alighted on a limb not far from the former.
As it was growing dark, and I was anxious to
procure specimens, I fired at one, and brought
it down with the wing wounded. It retreated into
one of the dark recesses of the spurs, and fought
bravely before I could get hold of it, snapping
the beak, and trying to bite. When brought to
the house, its attitudes and motions were exactly
the same as those of the young above described:
it would stand for hours on the same spot, gazing
intently with its large liquid eyes, at any one
before it: swaying slowly from side to side, with
the head depressed and protruded, as if to get a
better view of the object of its attention. If ap-
proached, it opened and snapped the beak; but
if pressed, it fell backward on the tail, presenting
both feet to clutch: which it did with effect.

Mr. Hill mentions to me a third species of Owl,
small in size, and of a brown hue, but I know
not any of its generic or specific characters.

NIGHT-HAWK. 83

OrpER.—PASSERES. (Perchers.)
Fam.—CA PRIMULGID &.—(The Falcons.)

NIGHT-HAWK.*
(Piramidig.— Musquito-hawk.)
Chordeiles Virginianus.

Caprimulgus Americanus, Wus.—<Aud., pl. 147.
Caprimulgus Popetue, VIEILL.
Chordeiles Virginianus, Bon.

TuEseE birds are doubtless migratory, for we see
nothing of them from September to April. They
probably winter with the Grey Petchary and the
Red-eyed Vireo, in Central America, as they appear
with those species about the beginning of April.
We can scarcely fail to recognise the period of their
arrival ; for their manners and voice are so singu-
lar, that they force themselves upon our attention.
About an hour before the sun sets, we hear a loud,
abrupt, and rapid repetition of four or five syllables
in the air above our heads, resembling the sounds,
ptramidig, or gi me a bit, or perhaps still more, witta-
wittawit. On looking up we see some two or three
birds, exceedingly like swallows in figure and flight,

: Length 83 inches, expanse 20, tail 4, flexure 74, rictus 44, tarsus
xa» middle toe 4.

34 PASSERES.—CAPRIMULGID.

but considerably larger, with a conspicuous white
spot on each wing. They winnow, however, rather
more than swallows, and more frequently depress
one or the other side; and the body and tail behind
the wings is rather longer. Their general appear-
ance, their sudden quick doublings, their rushing,
careering flight, and their long, narrow, arcuated
wings, are so like those of swallows, that after being
familiar with them, I have often been unable to
determine at the first glance, whether a particular
bird were a caprimulgus or a swallow. Like them
the Piramidig is pursuing flying insects; and though
the prey, from its great height, and probably its
minute size, 1s invisible from the earth, we may very
often observe that it is captured, by a sudden arrest-
ing of the career, and by the swift zigzag dodgings, or
almost stationary flutterings, that ensue. I do not
think the prey is ordinarily larger than minute
diptera, hymenoptera, and coleoptera; for I have
not been able to detect anything flying where these
birds were hawking, even when their flight was suffi-
ciently low to allow of insects as large as a bee
being distinctly seen. ‘‘ Mosquito hawk,” is one of
the appellations familiarly given to the bird,
and doubtless not without ground. I am con-
firmed in this supposition, by the fact that swallows,
whose prey is known to be minute, are usually
hawking in the same region of the air, and in com-
pany with the Piramidigs. By the term “‘ company,”
however, I must not be understood as implying any-
thing like association, which does not seem to ex-
ist even between these birds themselves; they are

NIGHT-HAWK. 35°

usually solitary, except inasmuch as several, hawk-
ing over the same circumscribed region, must often
come into close proximity; but this seems, in gene-
ral, neither sought nor avoided ; each swoops on its
own course, regardless of his momentary neighbour.
Yet the tender passion sets aside even the most
recluse solitariness in any animal; and to this I
attribute it that now and then I have seen one Pira-
midig following another in close and pertinacious
pursuit, ever and anon uttering its singular cry, and
evidently desiring to come into contact with, but
not to strike or hurt its coy companion. I would
not assert from hence that the nuptials of this
species are performed upon the wing, because the
premises are too slight to decide so important a fact;
but it is known that it is so with the European
Swift, a bird whose manners greatly resemble those
of our Night-hawk.

It is when the afternoon rains of the season have
descended plentifully, that these birds are most
numerous, and most vociferous; and they continue
to fly till the twilight is beginning to fade into dark-
ness. After this, they appear for the most part to
retire, and the strange and startling voices, that
before were sounding all around and above us, are
rarely heard by the most attentive listening. A lad
informed me that when out fishing during the night,
not far from the shore, the canoe is often surrounded
by bats, which make a great noise. But my assis-
tant, Sam, who heard the statement, assured me that
these were not bats, but Piramidigs, (with some
bats, however, in the company), and that these

36 PASSERES.—CAPRIMULGID&.

birds, when the moon is at or near the full, continue
on the wing through the night.* On dark rainy
days, such as we get sometimes in May, I have
seen and heard two or three abroad even in the
middle of the day, careering just as at nightfall.

Early in the morning, before the grey dawn has
peeped over the mountain, I have heard over the
pastures of Pinnock Shafton, great numbers of these
birds evidently flying low, and hawking to and fro.
Their cries were uttered in rapid succession, and
resounded from all parts of the air, though it was
too dark to distinguish even such as were apparently
in near proximity. Now and again, the hollow
booming sound, like blowing into the bung-hole of a
barrel, produced at the moment of perpendicular
descent, as described by Wilson, fell on my ear.

The articulations or syllables, if I may so say,
which make up the note, are usually four, but some- *

* I may be permitted here to record a tribute of affection to this faith-
ful servant, Samuel Campbell, whose name may often appear in this work.
A negro lad of about eighteen, with only the rudiments of education, he
soon approved himself a most useful assistant by his faithfulness, his tact
in learning, and then his skill in practising, the art of preparing natural
subjects, his patience in pursuing animals, his powers of observation of
facts, and the truthfulness with which he reported them, as well as by
the accuracy of his memory with respect to species. Often and often,
when a thing has appeared to me new, I have appealed to Sam, who on
a moment’s examination would reply, “No, we took this in such a
place, or on such a day,” and I invariably found on my return home
that his memory was correct. I never knew him in the slightest degree
attempt to embellish a fact, or report more than he had actually seen.
He remained with me all the time I was in the island, and was of great
service tome. Many of the subjects of this work were obtained by him,
when I was not myself with him, and some which I believe to be
unique.

a ————-

NIGHT-HAWK. 37

times five, or six, uttered as rapidly as they can
be pronounced, and all in the same tone. The
Chuck-will’s-widow and the Whip-poor-will of the
northern continent derive these names from a rapid
emission of certain sounds not very dissimilar to those
of the bird under consideration. The cry is uttered
at considerable intervals, but without anything like
a regular recurrence or periodicity.

Whither the Piramidig retires after its twilight
evolutions are performed, or where it dwells by
day, I have little evidence. The first individual
that fell into my hands, however, was under the
following circumstances. One day in the beginning
of September, about noon, being with the lads shoot-
ing in Crab-pond morass, Sam called my attention to
an object on the horizontal bough of a mangrove-
tree, which he could not at all make out. I looked
long at it, also, in various aspects, and at length con-
cluded that it was a sluggish reptile. It was lying
lengthwise on the limb, close down, the head also
being laid close on the branch, the eyes wide open,
and thus it remained immovable, though three of
us were talking and pointing towards it, and walking
to and fro under it, within a few yards. The form,
in this singular posture, presented not the least like-

ness to that of a bird. At length I fired at it, and

it fell, a veritable Night-hawk! The reason of its
seeking safety by lying close, rather than by flight,
was probably the imperfection of its sight in the
glare of day, from the enormous size of its pupils:
but the artifice showed a considerable degree of
cunning.

38 PASSERES.—CAPRIMULGIDZ.

An intelligent person has stated to me that early
in the morning, where a perpendicular face of rock
about twenty feet high rises from the hilly pastures
of Mount Edgecumbe, he has seen these birds leave
what seemed to be nests, built in the manner of
some swallows, on the side of the rock, near the top.
But I strongly suspect he is mistaken in the identity
of the bird. One day, at the end of July, as I and
Sam were following Baldpate Pigeons on some
very stony pasture at Pinnock Shafton, much
shaded with pimento and cedar-trees, we roused
a bird of this family, and, I think, of this
species, which started from the ground near
our feet, and fluttered in an odd manner, invit-
ing our attention. I was aware of her object and
began to search carefully among the loose stones
for a young bird, or an egg, but could discover nei-
ther, though I have no doubt either the one or
the other was not far off. I have been told that it
habitually chooses for its place of laying, the centre
of a spot where a heap has been burned off in
clearing new ground; perhaps on account of its
dryness.

In some “ Notes of a Year,” published in the Com-
panion to the Jamaica Almanack, Mr. Hill had used
the term, “‘ triangular,” in connexion with the flight
of this bird. In reply to a question of mine, on the
subject, he thus writes: ‘‘ I send you a diagram of
the flittings about of the Goatsucker. It illustrates
my allusion to the triangular flight of the bird.
This peculiar cutting of triangles struck my atten-
tion, when I was watching the morning flight of

NIGHT-HAWK. 39

some three or four Goatsuckers, just at day-dawn,
while I strolled through the pastures of a pen in St.
Andrew’s, where I was visiting. The morning twi-
_ light had spread a clear glassy gloom over the whole
cloudless expanse around and above me; and as no
direct ray shone on the woods and fields, which lay
silent and sombre beneath,—the flitting birds were
seen distinctly, like dark moving spots against the
grey sky. I was struck with the sudden shifts by
triangles which they were seen to make. They
never moved very far from one to another direction,
but darted backward and forward over a space of
some five hundred yards, preserving a pretty con-
stant horizontal traverse, over some trees in a
near pasture, whose honeyed fragrance on the morn-
ing air told that they were in blossom. Occasionally
only, they rose and sank so as suddenly to change
their elevation above the clumps of foliage. Yarrell
observes that Goatsuckers are remarkable for beat-
ing over very circumscribed spaces; but I have not
found any one who notices their cutting in and out
by triangular shifts. It is not so perceptible in the
obscurity of the evening, but in the perspicuous-
ness of day-dawn it is plainly visible ; and I made
a note of it, and dotted in the angular appearance
at the time.”

In some parts of Jamaica this bird bears the
appellation, most absurdly misapplied, of “ Turtle-
dove :” it is occasionally shot for the table, being
usually fat and plump. It is a very beautiful bird.
The stomach, protuberant below the sternum,
is a large globular sac ; the other viscera are small.

40 PASSERES.—CAPRIMULGIDZ.

Of one which I dissected, shot in its evening ca-
reer, the stomach was stuffed with an amazing num-
ber of insects, almost (if not quite) wholly con-
sisting of small beetles of the genus Bostrichus :
there were probably not fewer than two hundred of
these beetles, all of one species, about a quarter of
an inch long.

The primaries, which are long and narrow, have a
peculiar downy surface, like the nap of cloth, ex-
tending down the inner vanes, and covering the
outer two-thirds of their breadth; this is visible
only on the upper surface. It does not exist in
our Nyctibius.

There is in my possession, presented to me by
Mr. Hill with many other interesting objects, an
egg of much beauty, which, when brought to him,
was reported to be that of a Caprimulgus. It
certainly belongs to this family, but not, as I think,
to this species, judging from Wilson’s description.
Its dimensions are 1 ,%; inch, by -8,, of a very regular
oval, polished, and delicately and minutely marbled
with white, pale blue grey, and faint olive.

4]

POTOO.*
Nyctibius Jamaicensis.

Caprimulgus Jamaicensis, GMEL.
Nyctibius Jamaicensis, VIEILL.
Nyctibius pectoralis, Gou Lp, Ic. Av.

Botu the Whip-poor-will and the Chuck-will’s-
widow have been assigned to Jamaica; neither of
these vociferous and unmistakable birds, however,
have fallen under my observation there. It is not
improbable that the present bird has been mistaken

* Length 16 inches, expanse 333, tail 73, flexure 11}, rictus 23, breadth
of beak at base measured within 2,2, tarsus 4,, middle toe 1,3,.

Irides hazel, orange-coloured, or brilliant straw-yellow ; feet whitish,
scurfy ; beak black. Interior of mouth violet, passing into flesh-colour.
Plumage mottled with black, brown, grey, and white ; the white pre-
vailing on the tertiaries, tertiary-coverts, and scapulars, the black upon
the primaries and their coverts; the tail-feathers barred transversely
with black on a grey ground, which is so mottled as to bear a striking
resemblance to the soft pencilling of many Sphingide ; tail broad, very
slightly rounded. The feathers of the head lax, and fur-like. Inner
surface of the wings black, spotted with white. A streak of black runs
on each side the throat, nearly parallel with and close to the gape; a
bay tint prevails on the breast ; and some of the feathers there have
broad terminal spots of black, which are arranged in somewhat of a
crescent-form, having irregular spots above it. Under parts pale grey
unmottled. Every feather of the whole plumage is marked with a black
stripe down the centre. Tongue sagittiform, wide at the horns, slender
towards the tip, fleshy ; reverted barbs along the edges. The volume of
brain excessively small. Intestine 103 inches; two caca 1Z in. long, di-
lated at the ends.

42 PASSERES.— CAPRIMULGIDZ2.

by careless observers for the Chuck-will’s-widow,
though comparatively a silent species.

The Potoo is not unfrequently seen in the evening,
taking its station soon after sunset on some dead tree
or fence-post, or floating by on noiseless wing, like
an owl, which the common people suppose it to be.
Its plumage has the soft puffy, unwebbed character
which marks that of the owls, and which prevents
the impact of its wings upon the air from being
audible, notwithstanding the power and length of
those organs. Now and then it is seen by day;
but it is half concealed in the bushy foliage of
some thick tree, which it can with difficulty be
induced to quit, distrustful of its powers by day.
As it sits in the fading twilight it ever and anon
utters a loud and hoarse ho-hoo, and sometimes
the same syllables are heard, in a much lower tone,
as if proceeding from the depth of the throat.

The first specimen that fell under my observation
was shot in October. On several evenings in suc-
cession a large bird had been observed sitting on
a particular post near Bluefields Tavern, where it
remained undisturbed by passers looking at it,
though it was not half a stone’s cast from the
road-side. At length Sam shot at it, and blew out
many feathers, but it flew slowly off to the woods;
uttering, the instant after it was shot, a low croak-
ing. The next evening he watched again, and
about sunset the bird returned to the same post,
when he secured it. It is interesting to observe
the similarity in habit to the Flycatchers in select-
ing a prominent station, and returning again and

POTOO. 43

again to it, even after such annoyance. It was
one out of many posts of a rail-fence, yet the bird
uniformly chose the same. Another was given me
a few weeks afterwards, which had been struck
down with a stone, as it was sitting on a tree in
the yard around a negro’s house. It had been in
the habit of stationing itself there every evening,
and its cries, which were described to me as resem-
bling the mewing of a cat in pain, were so plaintive,
that they seem to have acted on the good woman’s
superstition, who begged her husband to kill it. I
incline to think, however, that the voice here men-
tioned was not that of the Potoo, but of an
Eared Owl which may have been near it, but in
the darkness unobserved. ‘This specimen lived a
day or two in the house, after it was knocked
down, and when it died it was brought to me.
I found its stomach, a muscular gizzard, distended
with large beetles, (Megasoma titanus,) disjointed.
That of the former contained two specimens of a
black Phaneus.

Another, a male, shot in the day time, in Fe-
bruary, had the stomach hard stuffed with frag-
ments of insects, which, on being dispersed in
water, I found to consist wholly of beetles, among
which limbs of J/amellicorns were conspicuous,
probably Phaneus. In this case the stomach was
more membranous; the oesophagus very wide and
substantial as in the Owls, but there was no dila-
tation or proventriculus.

About the same time a living and uninjured spe-
cimen was given me, taken in a wooded morass.

44. PASSERES.—CAPRIMULGID2.

This I kept some days. It would sit anywhere
that it was placed, across the finger, or across a
stick; never lengthwise, though I repeatedly tried
it so. Its position in sitting was quite perpen-
dicular, (that is, from head to tail,) the plumage
a little puffed out, the head drawn in, the eyes
usually shut. When pushed, however, it length-
ened the neck to retain its balance, and opened
its eyes, which being so large, and the irides of
a brilliant yellow, combined with the wide gape
to give it a most singular physiognomy. Usually
it seemed absolutely blind by day, for when the
eyes were wide open, the approach of any object
within a line of the pupil, and the moving of it
to and fro, produced, in general, not the slightest
effect. Once or twice, however, I observed that
when the pupil was greatly dilated, as it always
was when the lids were first unclosed, the sudden
motion of my hand towards the eye, caused the
pupil to contract with singular rapidity to less
than one fourth of its former dimensions. After-
wards by candle-light, I observed the extraordinary
rapidity and extent of this contractility more fully.
When the candle was little more than a yard dis-
tant, the pupil was dilated to about #ths of an
inch diameter, occupying the whole visible area
of the eye, the iris being reduced to an imper-
ceptible line; on bringing the candle close to the
pupil, it contracted to a diameter of two lines, and
that completely within the period required to con-
vey the candle by the most rapid action of my hand
practicable.

POTOO, 45

As night approached I expected that it would |
become animated; but it did not stir, nor shew
any sign of vivacity, though I watched it till it
was quite dark. Several times in the evening I
went into the room, up to ten o’clock, but it was
where I had left it. About three in the morning
I had occasion to go in again with a candle; the
Potoo had not altered his position, and when the
day came, there he was unmoved, nor do I believe
he had stirred during the whole night. Thus he
remained during the next day; I put his beak
into water, and let fall drops upon it, but he
refused to drink: I then caught beetles (Tene-
brionide) and cockroaches, but he took no notice
of them; and though I repeatedly opened his
beak and put the insects into his broad and slimy
mouth, they were instantly jerked out by an im-
patient toss of his head. ‘Towards this evening,
however, he began to glower about, and once or
twice suddenly flew out into the midst of the
room, and then fluttered either to the ground, or
to some resting place. Many little Zinee were
flitting around my dried bird-skins, and I con-
jectured that he might be capturing these, es-
pecially as when at rest his eye would now and
then seem to catch sight of some object, and glance
quickly along, as if following its course. The
statement of Cuvier, that “ the proportions of the
Nyctibius completely disqualify it from rising from
a level surface,” I saw disproved; for notwith-
standing the shortness of the tarsi, (and it is, in-
deed, extreme,) my bird repeatedly alighted on,

46 PASSERES.—CAPRIMULGIDZ.

and rose from, the floor, without effort. When
resting on the floor, the wings were usually spread ;
when perching, they about reached the tip of the
tail. If I may judge of the habits of the Potoo
from what little 1 have observed of it when at
liberty, and from the manners of my captive spe-
cimen, I presume that, notwithstanding the power-
ful wings, it flies but little; but that sitting on
some post of observation, it watches there till
some crepuscular beetle wings by, on which it
sallies out, and having captured it with its cavern-
ous and viscid mouth, returns immediately to its
station. Mr. Swainson appears to consider that
the stiff bristles, with which many Caprimulgide
are armed, have a manifest relation to the size
and power of their prey, beetles and large moths,
while these appendages are not needed in the swal-
lows, their prey consisting of “ little soft insects.”
(Class. Birds.) But here is a species, whose prey
is the hardest and most rigid beetles, of large size,
and often set with formidable horns,—which has no
true rictal bristles at all!

Finding that my Potoo would not eat, and feel-
ing reluctant to starve it, I killed it for preparation.
In depriving it of life, I first endeavoured to stran-
gle it by pressure on the trachea, but I found
that with all the strength of my fingers, I could
not compress it so as to prevent the admission of
air sufficient for respiration. I was obliged, there-
fore, to apply one or two smart blows on the
head with a stick. While giving it these death-
blows, much against my feelings, it uttered, on

POTOO. 47

being taken up by the wings, a short, harsh croak-
ing. With this exception, it was absolutely silent
all the time I had it; never resenting any moles-
tation, save that when irritated by the repeated pre-
sentation of any object, as the corner of a hand-
kerchief, it would suddenly open its immense
mouth, apparently for intimidation; yet it made
no attempt to seize anything. The stomach, not-
withstanding three or four days’ fast, was crammed
with fragments of beetles, among which were the
horns of a large Dynastes, that I had not met
with. J may mention that the sclerotic ring of
the eye consists of distinct plates (see Pen. Cye.
xvi. 225,) thirteen in number, varying in dimen-
sions, and not perfectly regular in form.

I afterwards kept a living Potoo for ten days;
but its manners were exactly the same as above,
pertinaciously refusing to eat. Mr. Hill, however,
had one which greedily ate large cockroaches that
were thrown to it.

It is remarkable that among a people whose most
striking feature is the great development of the
mouth, the Potoo has become a proverb of ugliness.
The ‘‘ most unkindest cut of all” that a negro can
inflict upon another, on the score of personal plain-
ness, is “ Ugh! you ugly, like one Potoo !”

I have seen that which serves this bird for a nest :
it is simply a round, flat mat, about five inches wide,
and little more than one thick, composed of the
fibrous plant called Old man’s beard (Tillandsia
usneotdes). It was found on the ground on a spot
whence the Potoo had just risen: it is in the pos-

48 PASSERES.—CAPRIMULGID&,

session of Mr. Hill, to whom I am indebted for the
following interesting observations.

** White’s conjecture of the purpose to which the
serrated toe of the Nightjar is applied, namely, the
better holding of the prey which it takes with its
foot while flying, would have been more than ren-
dered highly probable by an inspection of the foot of
the Nyctibius. The inner front toe and the back
toe are spread out by the great extension of the en-
veloping flesh of the phalanges, to such a breadth as
to give the foot the character and form of a hand;
while the movement of these prehensile organs is so
adjusted that the back toe and the three front toes,
pressed flat against one another, can enclose any-
thing as effectually as the palms of the hands. The
[claw of the] middle toe, which is serrated in the
Caprimulgus, is simply dilated in the Nyctibius, a
peculiarity also of the swallows. Whatever defi-
ciency of prehension this may give it, when com-
pared to the power of the serrated nail of the Capri-
mulgus, is amply compensated for in the Nyctibius,
by the palm-like character of the foot, by the ex-
traordinary expansion of the toes, and by the quan-
tity of membrane connecting them together. All
this would be a mere waste of power if it did not
perform some function like that which White as-
signed to the foot of the Nightjar.

“The feathers of the head, but especially those
around the dilated gape, are of a peculiar structure.
The covering of this part appears at first sight a
mixture of hair and feathers, but upon close inspec-
tion, it is found to be composed of a loosely woven

_ WHITE-HEADED POTOO. 49

plumage, in which the shaft of each feather is pro-
longed into a pliant filament of great length. It is
this texture which gives the character of inter-
mingled hairs to the feathers around the mouth.
This tendency in the shafts and in some of the webs
also to terminate in filaments is very prevalent in
the plumage of the Nyctibius, each of the feathers
of the tail having this sort of termination.”

The Potoo is a permanent inhabitant of Jamaica ;
it is common in the lowlands of the south side, and
probably is generally distributed in the island: it is
found also in Brazil, for I am quite satisfied that
Mr. Gould’s NV. Pectorals is not specifically distinct

from ours.

WHITE-HEADED POTOO.*
Nyctibius pallidus.—MIu1.

Tue description below I have quoted (somewhat
abridged) from Robinson’s MSS., who has given

* “Tength 11 inches, expanse 22, rictus 15, beak from feathers to tip
&, flexure 6, tail 39.

“The nostrils prominent, tubulated, and covered with a membrane ;
from the nostrils runs a deep groove or furrow towards the tip. The
beak was bent like the end of an Owl’s, and when closed was longer
than the under mandible ; the latter was of a subulated form, shorter
and bending in a contrary direction to the upper one: it was broader
than the upper; its margins were inverted, and received the upper one
exactly, when closed. There were no bristles on the angle of the mouth.
The tibize [tarsi ?] or shank-bones are shortened into a heel, so that the
measure of what is usually called the leg, from the bend of the knee to the

D

50 PASSERES.—CAPRIMULGIDZ.

an elaborately coloured figure of the species in his
drawings. I have never met with it, but I think
Mr. Hill has; for he has assured me of the ex-
istence of two true Nyctibii in Jamaica, besides the
common Potoo; and two Caprimulgi, besides the
Piramidig. I knew not exactly which species are
alluded to in the following extract from a letter
of Andrew Gregory Johnston, Esq., of Portland
parish, a mountain region, to Mr. Hill. ‘* We have
two birds called Patoo ; one white, the other brown.
The first resembles the Scritch-Owl of Europe; the
last is smaller; it is dark brown, and makes a noise
by night, (and occasionally by day) half guttural,
half pectoral or ventral, sounding the monosyllable
wow, at short intervals. I have seen a brown Patoo

first joint of the middle toe is only 2 of an inch. The length of that
part which ought to be called the leg, [tibia ?] is 14 inch, and the bone
of the thigh ] inch. Toes four, three before, one behind ; covered with
ash-coloured scales, very flat beneath, and all connected by narrow
membrane. Claws brown, strong, gently curved and compressed ; mid-
dle claw thinned to an edge on the inner side, but not serrate. Tail of
ten feathers, equal, broad, rounded, barred with blackish and grey, and
these bars again marked with less black bars. Wing quills coloured
chiefly like the tail, but deeper ; secondaries edged with clay-colour ;
winglet and long coverts immediately beneath it, black, with a few
whitish bars; greater coverts black, edged with clay-colour ; the next
row of coverts whitish, with black shafts; the next row black, making
a large triangular black spot in the expanded wing. Eyes very large,
. irides bright yellow. Head, neck, and throat white, with black shafts ;
above each eye some black and white streaked feathers in an erect po-
sition, forming two small roundish rings. On the breast, clay-coloured
feathers with black shafts, and black spots. Sides, belly, and vent,
white with black shafts. A line of black feathers down the middle of
the back ; rump ashy, with narrow black shafts. On shoulders a mixture
of ash and clay-colour, with black shafts. Plumage very loose. Weight
3 02, 7 sc,”

RINGED GOWRIE. 51

taken by a negro boy in mid-day from a branch
of a mango tree, with a noose fastened to a short
stick. It was young, but a flier. Its mother came
to look for it, and we caught her, and kept her some
days. When liberated she would not move off many
yards from the house, but was seen daily for a few
weeks. When a prisoner it would eat cockroaches
thrown down to it, and if handled was cruel and
spiteful, otherwise quiet and apparently very gentle.
There are plenty of them here. I listen to their
sulky wow, often in the watches of the night.”

Perhaps the present species may be “ the small
wood Owle” of Sloane, ii. 296.

Fam.—_H IRUNDINIDA.—(The Swaillows.)
RINGED GOWRIE.*
Acanthylis collaris ?

2 Cypselus collaris, Pr. Max.—Temm. Pl. col. 195.

** As this bird seldom alights, it is furnished with
two supernumerary bones, which are placed on the
superior and exterior part of the leg; the skin that
covers them is of an obscure flesh-colour; they are
of an oblong ovated form, one fourth of an inch

* “ Length 82 inches, expanse 20, wings reaching 23 beyond the tail,
tail 3, rictus $, beak from feathered part to tip 3, tarsus §, middle toe 3,
claw 2, inner toe equal to the middle one.

“ Trides deep hazel [“ blacker than the pupil,” Mr. Johnston ;] beak
black, polished, a little hooked ; nostrils large, oval: eyes large, deep

D2

52 PASSERES.—HIRUNDINID&.

long; and as the bird hangs upon a wall, rock, &c.,
by his claws, these bones are pressed close to it,
and the leg thereby secured from harm.

“The tail consisted of ten feathers, which, when
expanded, formed a large segment of a circle, some-
what pointed at their ends; the innermost ones
broadest. It is remarkable in this bird, that the
tail-feathers have naked shafts after the manner of
the woodpeckers, and adapted to the same use; for
the shafts, being remarkably strong and elastic, even
to their points, help to support the birds in their
pendent situation, till they get fast hold by their
claws, if there is any to be got: if not, they can,
by means of their tail, fling themselves back, and
recover their wings quickly, which might be difficult
for them to do were the shafts of the tail less
strong. The points are not only naked but sharp.

‘Mr, Long had this bird alive. I set it upon the
floor ; it crept along with its legs bent, leaning upon
the aforesaid bones, but was not able to raise itself
upon its feet ; its legs were not so thick as those of
our great English Swift. It was remarkably broad-
shouldered, measuring two inches from pinion to
pinion; its head was one inch broad between the
eyes. It resembled the Caprimulgus of Edwards

sunk in the head, with remarkably large eyebrows; toes three before
and one behind, covered as well as the tarsi with blackish purple scales ;
claws black, polished, hooked, and compressed ; tibia feathered to the
tarsus» Head, throat, wings, tail, and belly brown; the back and tail
more inclining towards black, as also the long quill-feathers. The breast
partly white, which was continued round the neck, like a ring: the
head large, like that of Edwards’s Whip-poor-will. Fore part of the
eyebrows tipt with white.”

RINGED GOWRIE. 53

in the form of its beak and body, as also in the
largeness of its eyes. Its feathers were all glossy.

** When the tail is half-spread it forms a straight
line at the end; when more, a curve like a fan.
When by any accident this bird falls to the ground,
it creeps or scrambles to some rock or shrub, where
bending its tail and expanding its wings, it elevates
its body, and at the same time throwing its legs
forward, catches hold of the rock, &c., with its claws,
and climbing up to a proper height, throws itself
back and recovers its wings.

*‘ This bird was brought to me March 5th, 1759;
it had fallen from a tree by some accident, and
was taken up by a negro, before it could recover.”

The above notes in some degree arranged, and
slightly abridged, 1 quote from Robinson’s valua-
ble MSS., who was evidently much interested in
the bird he has so minutely described. That in-
terest I myself felt in no small degree, on reading
his notes, as there appear manifest indications of
an intermediate link between the diurnal and noc-
turnal Fissirostres. It was therefore with very
much pleasure that I saw on the 4th of last April,
what I believe to have been the present species.
At Content, in St. Elizabeth, as evening ap-
proached, after a little rain, swallows of three
species were careering around the mountain: the
White bellied Swallow and the Palm Swift were
numerous, and among them was a very large black
species, with a white collar, rather less numerous,
prodigiously rapid in flight. I vainly endeavoured
to shoot it. A fortnight afterwards, about half an

5A PASSERES.—HIRUNDINIDZ.

hour before sunset, after rain, the Piramidigs which
first appeared were presently joined by the great
collared Swift, which careered with them in num-
bers. Again, about 11 o’clock in the forenoon, in
May, three of these birds swept overhead, heavy rain
already falling on the mountain, and beginning to
reach the spot where I was. My lad Sam, one day
about noon, observed as many as a dozen passing
in a flock, in straight and rapid course, when black
clouds, already gathered round the mountain brow,
threatened rain, which however passed away to leeward.
A few days after, a little earlier in the day, and i
exactly similar weather, or rather amidst the first
large drops of a heavy rainstorm, he saw three
flying so low as nearly to skim the ground; two
' pursuing in mazy course a third, from which pro-
ceeded, now and then, a singular vibratory sound,
which Sam imitated by the word “churr.” This
singular sound, which again reminds one of the
Goatsuckers, was also uttered by two, which, about
the same season and hour, and in similar weather,
were careering swiftly over Bluefields towards the
mountain peaks.

Having mentioned the occurrence of this bird
to my notice, in a letter to Mr. Hill, he favoured
me with the following interesting account of his
own acquaintance with the species. “* * * The
month was March, the early part of March, when
the bleak northerly winds of February had ex-
hausted and blighted all vegetation, and the lower
range of the St. Andrews mountains, with their
steep and angular declivities walling in the plains,

RINGED GOWRIE. 55

were looking as seared as if a simoom had blasted
them. The pastures below were destitute of herb-
age, but the adjacent cane-fields were sufficiently
green to relieve the arid aspect of the mountains,
and give the air of cultivation to the plain. My-
self and the friend with whom I travelled had
waited in Kingston till an afternoon shower had
fallen. The sun was just setting when we had
got within the last mile of our journey. We
had completely headed the extremity of the Long
mountain, and were quite within the plain, en-
circled, as it there seems, by hills and uplands.
The air was pleasant and fresh;—the earth sent
up its reeking odour, musky and strong;—the
road was splashy, and here and there stood puddles
in the grassless savannas. Lighted by the level
sunbeams the whole landscape was brilliant, and
the masses of recent rain-clouds that were up-
rolled, but gathered low on the mountains before
us, were luminously golden and crimson. The
deep, desert bed of the Hope river was right in
our view. Here, all of a sudden, we found our-
selves coursing our way through a hundred of the
White-collared Martin, and they seemed to spread
all over this corner of the plain in similar numbers.
The extraordinary size of the birds, the easy but
rapid glide of their flight, just over the cane-fields
and savannas, not at a greater height than just
above our horse, when they crossed and re-crossed
the road, sweeping so near to us as to tempt us
to strike at them with the chaise-whip, were very
remarkable incidents in a first acquaintance with

56 PASSERES.—HIRUNDINIDZ.

them. I was able to see the whole character of
their form and colouring, ‘great black Martins,
with a white collar,’ as your letter delineates them.
They continued quartering over the fields, till the
sunlight had left the plains, or was only reflected
by the mountains and their piles of roseate clouds.
The rain had brought all insect-life to the moist
surface of the earth, and these birds were follow-
ing their congregated swarms to the wet savannas.
They sometimes stooped to the puddles, and shot
past with a twitter that very much reminded one
of the summer play of their smaller sized con-
geners.

“J have seen the same bird twice or thrice
since, but in threes or fours only, and, always,
only near rocky and unfrequented hills. Another
friend, who drew my attention to them in conse-
quence of their numbers after rains, in his neigh-
bourhood, lived among large open savannas and
salt-ponds, near the low range of rocky and sterile
mountains, which our maps call the Healthshire
hills. He told me he had traced them to the
caverns in those mountains, in which he felt as-
sured they nestled in hundreds. This is the nearest
to any precise information, I ever could get of
their haunts and habitations.”

I am not alone in thinking these birds difficult
to shoot; a gentleman who resides near Kingston,
having observed them at his residence one evening,
the last spring, and kindly wishing to supply me
with a specimen, though an expert shot, fired five
times unsuccessfully at them. Yet I am not without

RINGED GOWRIE. 57

hope of obtaining specimens, particularly through
the politeness of Mr. A. G. Johnston of Port-
land. In answer to some observations of Mr.
Hill’s, this gentleman writes, “ The ring-necked
Swallow abounds here, and flies all day, just as
the other Swift does. Flocks of a hundred or two
of each, wheel and scream about us before a shower.
I have a specimen before me, which I stuffed
sixteen years ago, pretty perfect yet, but I pro-
pose to shoot you some fresh birds. I find no
difficulty in bringing them down, but I never saw
one alight or perch anywhere.”

It is with doubt that I identify this bird with
the *‘ White-necked Martin” of Temminck, found
by the Prince de Nieuwied in his voyage to Brazil.
He states it to be very common in the environs of
Rio Janeiro, and in all the districts of that pro-
vince, where ‘‘ it is found among rocks.” Perhaps
it is Hirundo 3, of Browne.

When the above was just going to press, I re-
ceived from Mr. Hill information that a specimen
of this bird had been obtained by Mr. Johnston.
A careful drawing of the left foot accompanied it,
with the following note. ‘ The legs are curiously
constructed: the tarsus cannot extend further than
here represented, [viz. forming an angle with the
tibia, of 28°] nor can it be straightened, so that
it corresponds with the tail feathers, and keeps
the bird in an upright position against vertical
rocks and trees.” Mr. J. ascertained that from
this formation, the bird cannot stand erect on the

ground, nor can it apparently walk; and he has
dd

58 PASSERES.——-HIRUNDINIDZ.

been told that cattle-boys and fishermen in Portland
both say that they have taken young ones of this
species clinging to the vertical honey-comb rocks,
against whose base the sea dashes. As the specimen
thus procured is kindly destined for me, I hope to
speak still more definitely, if it arrive in time,
in an appendix. Perhaps it may form a new
genus.

Mr. Johnston’s little boys, familiar with Peter
Wilkins’s story, have been accustomed to call these
birds Gowries; because of the rushing noise they
make with their wings; a noise that is heard even
when they sweep by, far overhead. I have adopted
this appellation.

PALM SWIFT.*
Tachornis pheenicobia.—MinI.

Tuts delicately-formed little Swift, conspicuous
even in flight, from the broad belt of white across

* TacHornis, Generic Character.—Bill very short, depressed, gape
very wide, the sides suddenly compressed at the tip, which is curved ;
the margins inflected: nostrils, large, longitudinal, placed in a mem-
branous groove, the margins destitute of feathers. Wings very long and
narrow ; first quill tapered to a point: second longest. Tail slightly
forked, a little emarginated. Tarsi rather longer than middle toe, fea-
thered. Toes all directed forwards, compressed, short, thick, and
strong, with compressed claws. Sternum immarginate, but with three
foramina, one through the ridge, and one on each side.

Length 4,3, inches, expanse 9-4,, flexure 4, reach of wings beyond
the tail ,%, tail, outer feathers 1,4,, uropygials 1,3,, rictus 33, beak 3,
tarsus 3, middle toe rather less than 3.

PALM SWIFT. 59

the black body, is a very common species in Jamaica,
where it resides all the year. Over the grass-pieces
and savannas of the lowlands, the marshy flats at
the seaward mouths of the valleys, as well as the
pens of the mountain slopes, this swift-winged sylph
daily urges its rushing course in parties of half-a-
dozen to fifty or a hundred, often mingled with
other Swallows, performing mazy evolutions, circling
and turning, crossing and recrossing, now darting
aloft, now sweeping over the grass, till the eye is
wearied with attempting to follow them. The
length of its wings, which is scarcely less than that
of the whole bird,—renders it a fleet and powerful
flier ; an attentive observation will be able to identify
it, when mingling in aerial career, by a more frequent
recurrence of the rapid vibration of the wings, the
momentary winnowing, by which a fresh impetus
is gained. There is a very interesting structure in
the sternum of this bird, which as far as I know is
unprecedented. The sternum, though void of emar-
ginations, possesses two oblong foramina of large
size, one on each side of the middle of the ridge,
and a round one perforating the ridge itself near

Irides dark hazel ; beak black ; feet purplish flesh-colour ; claws horn-
colour ; inside of mouth, flesh-colour, tinged in parts with bluish. Head
smoke brown, paling on the sides; back, wings, tail-coverts, and tail,
sooty-black, unglossed, or with slight greenish reflections on the tail.
Across the rump a broad band of pure white, the black descending into
it from the back, in form of a point; sometimes dividing it. Chin and
throat silky white, the feathers brown at the base ; sides smoky-black,
meeting in a narrow, ill-defined line across the breast ; medial belly
white. Thighs, under tail-coverts, and inner surface of wings smoky-
black,

60 PASSERES.—HIRUNDINIDZ.

the front margin. As all three are closed by the
usual membrane, the object may be, the decrease of
weight by the abstraction of bone, while the surface
for the attachment of the muscles of flight remains
undiminished. It would be interesting to know
whether this structure is found in the Collocaliz
of the Indian Archipelago, to which the present
bird bears a strong outward resemblance.

The stomach of one, a female, which I dissected,
shot while hawking among many others over Blue-
fields’ grass-piece, in April, was distended almost
to bursting with minute insects, which on being
dispersed in water, and examined carefully with a
lens, proved, I believe exclusively, the winged
females of a small species of ant, exceedingly
numerous, all more or less comminuted.

On the 20th of March -last, visiting in company
with Mr. Hill the estate called Dawkins’ Saltpond,
the residence of the Spanish Admiral, at the time of
the conquest,—I observed several small Swallows
flying above some cocoa-nut palms; they uttered,
as they flew, a continued twittering warble, shrill
but sweet, which attracted my attention. I com-
menced a careful search, with my eye, of the under
surface of the fronds and spadices of one, and at
length discerned some masses of cotton projecting
from some of the spathes, which I concluded to be
their nests. This conjecture proved correct; for
presently I discovered a bird clinging to one of these
masses, which I shot, and found to be this White-
rumped Swift. On my lad’s attempt to climb the
tree, eight or ten birds flew in succession from

PALM SWIFT. 61

various parts, where they had been concealed before.
The tree, however, was too smooth to be climbed,
and as we watched beneath for the birds to return,
one and another came, but charily, and entered their
respective nests. Although several other cocoa-nuts
were close by, I could not discern that any one
of them was tenanted but this, and this so nume-
rously, whence I inferred the social disposition of
the bird. At some distance we found another tree,
at the foot of which lay the dried fronds, spadices,
and spathes, which had been, in the course of growth,
thrown off, and in these were many nests. They
were formed chiefly in the hollow spathes, and were
placed in a series of three or four in a spathe, one
above another, and agglutinated together, but with
a kind of gallery along the side, communicating with
each. The materials seemed only feathers and
silk-cotton (the down of the Bombax); the former
very largely used, the most downy placed within,
the cotton principally without; the whole felted
closely, and cemented together by some slimy fluid,
now dry, probably the saliva. With this they were
glued to the spathe, and that so strongly, that in
tearing one out, it brought away the integument
of the spathe. The walls of the nests, though for
the most part only about a quarter of an inch
thick, were felted so strongly, as to be tenacious
almost as cloth, Some were placed within those
spathes that yet contained the spadices; and in this
case the various footstalks of the fruit were en-
closed in a large mass of the materials, the walls
being greatly thickened. All the nests were evi-

62 PASSERES.—HIRUNDINIDZ.

dently old ones, for the Bombax had not yet
perfected its cotton, and hence I infer that these
birds continue from year to year to occupy the
same nests, until they are thrown off by the growth
of the tree. The entrance to the nests, which were
subglobular, was near the bottom.

Near the middle of May, my servant Sam, being
engaged at Culloden, in Westmoreland parish, cut-
ting the fronds of the palmetto (Chamerops) for
thatching, found these little birds nestling in abun-
dance, and procured for me many nests of the
present season. Their recent construction, and
perhaps the diversity of their situation—for instead
of the hollow of a spathe, these were attached to
the plaited surface of the fronds,—gave them a
different appearance from the former specimens.
Many of these I have now in my possession. They
have a singularly hairy appearance, being composed
almost exclusively of the flax-like cotton of the
Bombax, and when separated, are not unlike a
doll’s wig. They are in the form of those watch-
fobs, which are hung at beds’ heads, the backs
being firmly glued by saliva to the under surface
of the fronds, the impressions of the plaits of which
are conspicuous on the nests when separated. The
thickness is slight in the upper part, but in the
lower it is much increased, the depth of the cup
descending very little below the opening. The
cotton is cemented firmly together as in the case of
the others, but externally it is allowed to hang
in filamentous locks, having a woolly, but not al-
together a ragged appearance. A few feathers are

BLACK SWIFT. 63

intermixed, but only singly, and not in any part
specially. One specimen is double, two nests having
been constructed so close side by side, that there
is but a partition wall between them. Many nests
had eggs, but in throwing down the fronds all were
broken but one, which I now have. It is pure
white, unspotted, larger at one end, measuring 43
inch by ~;. The average dimensions of the nests
were about 5 inches high, and 33 wide.

The genus Tachornis seems intermediate between
Cypselus and Collocalia, with considerable general
resemblance to the latter. This species is perhaps
Hirundo 1, of Browne.

BLACK SWIFT.*
Cypselus niger.
Hirundo nigra, GMEL.

THE description below is made from a dried skin
in very poor order, but assisted by one of Mr. Hill’s
exquisite drawings, executed when the bird was
recent. It was shot in 1843, near Spanish-town, in
company with many others. I conclude it to be the

* Length 63 inches, expanse — ? flexure 64, reaching about 1 inch
beyond the tail, tail outmost feather 23, uropygials 2, rictus 3, beak
from forehead 2,, tarsus 3, middle toe ;4,, lateral toes sub-equal, hallux
opposite. Outmost tail-feathers sub-rounded, the rest elegantly emargi-
nated. First and second quills equal, the rest graduated rapidly.

Irides ? beak and feet black. Whole plumage black, very
slightly glossed with raven-grey, and greenish ; head and under parts ap-
proaching to smoke brown. The feathers of the forehead tipped with
whitish ; a grey spot just behind the lower eyelid.

64 PASSERES.—HIRUNDINID&.

nigra of Gmelin and Latham, as the latter ornitho-
logist attributes that species to St. Domingo as well
as Guiana.

CAVE SWALLOW."
Hirundo peciloma.—miutl.

Mature consideration convinces me that this
species is quite distinct from the H. fulva of Vieillot
though closely allied to it. The present may be at
once recognised by the conspicuous mottling of its
shoulders and back with white and blue black, a
character which, as far as I have examined, is in-
variable. The form of its nest also differs greatly
from the bottle-like structures of the interesting bird
of the Rocky Mountains.

The Cave Swallow does not appear to be in any
degree migratory in Jamaica, being abundantly

* Length 54 inches, expanse 11, flexure 4, tail 144, rictus $4, beak
along culmen -3,, tarsus 55, middle toe 55, lateral toes =4;, equal.

Irides dark brown; beak black, feet dark grey. Forehead dark
chestnut; crown and hind head black, glossed with greenish-blue ;
cheeks, chin, and throat paler chestnut, separated from that of the fore-
head by the black passing over each eye to the nostrils ; the chestnut
of the throat runs up in a narrow collar round the neck ; back variegated
with blue-green, and white, each feather being white, with a dark tip ;
rump chestnut, the feathers sometimes having pale tips ; tail-coverts and
tail brownish black, the former having pale tips; tail nearly even ;
wings brownish black, the tertiaries in some, edged and tipped with
white ; breast and sides pale chestnut, the colour deepening in a crescent-
shaped band across the breast ; medial belly, white ; under tail-coverts
pale chestnut. First and second quills equal. Legs feathered to the
tarsal joint. The sexes exactly alike.

Intestine 4 inches ; two minute caeca $ of an inch from cloaca.

CAVE SWALLOW. 65

common at all seasons. It delights in the neigh-
bourhood of caverns and overhanging rocks, in the
hollows of which it builds its ingenious nest. About
a mile from Bluefields, the sea washes a precipitous
rock of no great height, on the summit of which is
an old fort, with some great guns, which tradition
ascribes to the old Spanish settlers, but now dis-
mantled, and within and without overrun with
spiny pinguins and logwood bushes, and tangled
with creepers. I have no doubt that this was the
site of the Spanish town Oristana, some remains
of the houses of which may yet be seen in
the provision ground of a negro peasant adjoining.
The foot of the cliff is girt with irregular masses of
honey-combed rock, between which the incoming
tide rolls, and frets, and boils, in foaming confusion ;
and the front is hollowed into caves, some of which
are long passages with an opening at each end, and
others are merely wide-mouthed, but shallow hol-
lows. In one of these I counted forty nests of this
species of Swallow, each consisting of a half cup,
built with little pellets of mud, retaining, in so damp
a situation, and where the rock itself is covered with
a slimy mouldiness,—their original humidity. Each
was thickly lined with silk-cotton. If we imagine
a pint basin divided perpendicularly through the
middle, and the one-half stuck against a wall, we
shall perceive the form of these nests; some, how-
ever, were both larger and deeper than this. In
many instances advantage was taken of a slight hol-
low in the rock, which increased the capacity. In
one, (it was about the middle of July,) I found three

66 PASSERES.—HIRUNDINIDZ.

eggs; in some others the callow young, and in one
two full fledged birds, which lay quietly in the nest,
side by side, while their black eyes watched my
motions. The parent birds flew about in affright,
occasionally coming close up to the nests, and
hovering as if about to alight, but scarcely one
ventured in. The eggs measure about = inch
long, and 41 wide ; they are white, studded with dots
and spots of dull red; but in many eggs which I
have examined there is much variation in size, form,
and colour. The young birds scarcely differed from
the adult.

In May, my kind friend Mr. Aaron Deleon, took
me to a curious cavern, situated on the estate called
Amity, some few miles from Savannah le Mar, but
inland. Through its dark recesses a subterraneous
river flows, so still and so perfectly transparent, that
although two or three feet deep, I did not perceive
that there was a drop of water there, but took the
atoms floating on its surface, to be lodged in in-
visible spiders’ webs, stretched across. Numerous
Swallows were flying in and out, and the roof was
studded with nests similar to those above described.

Though this little Swallow manifests a decided
predilection for cavernous recesses, it does not con-
fine itself to situations so recluse. In that part of
the “ King’s House,” at Spanish town, which is
called the Arcade, where clerks are writing, and
public business is transacted every day, great num-
bers of these nests are affixed to the beams and
joists, and the birds are continually flying to and
fro. Before the year 1838, they had built in the

CAVE SWALLOW. 67

Secretary’s Office, from time immemorial; but it
was not in consequence of any molestation there,
that in the Year of Freedom, they chose the vice-
regal abode. Did they then recognise the adminis-
trator of England’s power as the friend of Jamaica ?

In December, January, and February, the birds,
though they fly in and out of the august abode
without reserve, as if to maintain their right of way,
do not make use of the nests; but all the rest of the
year, these mud habitations are occupied.. In March
the old birds begin to repair and tenant their former
nests; but the young, having no home ready made,
are compelled’ to wait until the May rains have
moistened the earth in the roads, to afford them
mud for their structures.

But as soon as these seasonal changes have taken
place, these birds may be seen congregated on the
roads, in groups of fifty together, huddled at the
edges of the pools formed by the daily rains, and in
those places where the power of the morning sun has
already evaporated the water, and the mud has
begun to acquire a stiffness of consistence, which
probably is more suitable for moulding to their
nests. As they alight to pick up the pellets, their
wings are held nearly perpendicularly over the back,
and they are incessantly fluttering about, apparently -
hindering one another by their crowding. Many
may be seen engaged, where the pools are a little
wider, or where the streams that cross the road
dilate into a broad surface, in sweeping backward
and forward over the water, which at every turn
they just kiss with their beaks. I know not whether
they are drinking, or capturing minute surface insects.

68 PASSERES.—HIRUNDINIDA.

GOLDEN SWALLOW."

Hirundo euchrysea.—Mt1nt.

Tuis exceedingly lovely little Swallow, whose
plumage reflects the radiance of the Humming
birds, is found, as I am informed by Mr. Hill, in
the higher mountains formed by the limestone
range of the very centre of the island, as in Man-
chester, and St. Ann’s. It is not until we ascend
this central chain, that we meet with this sweet bird,
occasionally in the more open dells, but principally
confined to the singular little glens called cock-
pits.

The description is from a dried specimen in my
possession, kindly presented by Mr. Hill.

* Length 4,5, expanse —? flexure 4,4, tail 1,5, rictus 4, beak
along culmen -2,, (nearly,) tarsus 4, middle toe ;=5,, (nearly,) lateral toes
+> equal.

Irides ——? beak black ; feet purplish-black. Whole upper parts
metallic green, most splendidly glossed with golden as in many Hum.
ming-birds, Wing quills and tail have less gloss, and the inner webs
are dull black. The tertials and the greater coverts have a well defined
band along the outer edge, of rich golden red, and the middle and smaller
coverts have a ribbon-like border of emerald green. The green of the
head descends around the rictus to the chin. Throat, breast, belly, vent,

and under tail-coverts, pure white, soft and downy. First quill longest.
Leg feathered to the tarsus. Tail slightly forked.

GREAT BLUE SWALLOW. 69

GREAT BLUE SWALLOW.*
Progne Dominicensis.

Hirundo Dominicensis, Linn.
Hirundo albiventris, VrzILL. . Ois. Am. pl. 28.

As closely allied to the Purple Martin, in
manners, as in form and colouring, I long mis-
took the present bird for that well-known species,
as I think others have done also. The white belly
is, however, a sufficient mark of distinction. It is
very common, at least in the lowlands and inferior
mountain ranges, during the summer; some remain
with us through the winter, but as there is a very
marked diminution of their numbers, I conclude
that a large body of them migrate on the approach
of that season, probably to Central America. About
the end of March we see them in great numbers,
assembled early in the morning on the topmost
branches of the lofty cotton trees, which at that
season are leafless. On these they crowd so closely,
side by side, that I have known five to be killed at
one discharge. In the autumn we observe exactly the
same habit. Perhaps we may trace some analogy
- here to those periodical congregations of other
_ species which are known to be connected with
migration.

* Length 8 inches, expanse 1543, flexure 54, tail 2, rictus 38, beak
along culmen ;5,, tarsus 33, middle toe 33, hind toe 54, outer toe slighter’
longer than inner.

Irides dark hazel.

70 PASSERES.—HIRUNDINIDZ.

It is a remarkable fact, that of the seven species
of Swallows and Swifts which summer in North
America, all of which are stated to migrate to the
southward before winter, not one should have
occurred to me in Jamaica. Although every day
through the winter months, my almost undivided
attention was given to birds; and though from
August to April about thirteen hundred specimens
of birds fell into my hands, more than one thousand
of which were shot by myself and my servants, not
a single individual of a North American species
was observed among them. I simply state the fact,
leaving any one to draw his own inferences.

At the same time, I should observe, that Mr.
Hill thinks that Acanthylis pelasgia visits Jamaica in
its periodical migration. Referring to an incident
which he had mentioned to me before, he says,
“The migratory hirundines, whose squadrons moving
in circles, I gave you a sketch of in March last, as
seen by me at that time passing over us from south
to north, (and I have observed them yearly either in
that month or in April,) I conclude to be flocks
of pelasgia on their passage to their summer homes
northward, after wintering in the tropics. The
circular movement of the migratory retinue; the
direction of their flight; their known wintering on
the neighbouring intertropical shores ; their associa-
tion at all times in multitudinous numbers; and the
cry with which they announce their passage, as
they leisurely course round,—tsippee, tsippee, tsippee,
seem to me so many identifications of this species.”

The Blue Swallow has the same propensity to

~

GREAT BLUE SWALLOW. rat

bring up his family in darkness, as his purple
brother. ‘The stipe of an old palm, whose porous
centre decays, while the iron fibres of the exterior
remain strong, is his ordinary resort. At the begin-
ning of April, I observed several pairs flying in and
out of holes, bored I suppose by the Woodpecker,
in the stipe of a dead Cocoa-nut still tall and erect,
but a mere leafless post, tottering in the breeze and
ready to fall. At the middle of May, Sam observed
several pairs entering a round hole, about two
inches in diameter, beneath the eaves of Belmont
house.

Near the end of June, when on my way in a
coasting boat from Bluefields to Kingston, I was
lying wind-bound in Starvegut Bay. There the
inhospitable shore is strewn with immense frag-
ments of limestone rock, honey-combed and fretted
into holes, through which the surf breaking furiously,
finds vent in perpendicular jets and spouts of water,
or in columns of spray resembling steam from an
engine-pipe, accompanied with crashing roar. Yet
I observed with interest, that the Blue Swallows
were frequenting these rocks, and_I noticed one
repeatedly going in and out of a small hole near the
summit of a rugged mass, separated from the shore,
and completely isolated by the boiling surf. Lans-
down Guilding, in some notes on the Zoology of the
Caribbean Islands, (Zool. Jour. III. 408,) observes,
* We have but few of this family in St. Vincents:
among them is a Swallow, which roosts, and 1
believe builds, in the rock of the sea-shore. Itis
curious,” he adds, ‘to observe the bird in calm

72 PASSERES.—TODIDZ.

weather skimming patiently along the sea in search
of insects, evidently ignorant of the fact that they
are confined to fresh water, and do not sport on the
surface of salt waters.” I cannot agree, however,
with this accomplished naturalist here: that the
Swallows do occasionally skim over the sea, is
undeniable; and that gnats and other minute insects
are also in the habit of frequenting the salt water,
though not in such numbers as over the fresh ponds
and rivers, is no less certain, at least in Jamaica.

Fau.—TODID H.—(The Todies.)
GREEN TODY.*
Todus viridis.

Todus viridis, Linn.—Nat, Lib. (Flyc.) vign,
? Todus multicolor, LAFPRESN.-

In all parts of Jamaica that I have visited, the
Tody is avery common bird. On the summit of

* Length 4} inches, expanse 63, tail 1,5,, flexure 1,5, rictus 38, tar-
sus 4, middle toe 55.

Irides very pale grey ; pupils very large; beak above horny red, be-
neath pale crimson ; legs and feet reddish brown ; sometimes flesh-co-
lour, or purplish-horn. The sexes exactly alike.

I doubt much if Todus multicolor of Lafresnaye, figured in D’Orbig-
ny’s Birds of Cuba, is specifically different from this ; the slight dis-
tinctions of hue being scarcely more than variations which I have found
in Jamaican specimens ; some of which, in my possession, display the
pale blue on the sides of the throat, and the orange on the flanks,

GREEN TODY. lo

Bluefields mountain, about three thousand feet from
the level of the sea, and particularly where the
deserted provision-grounds are overgrown with a
thicket, almost impenetrable, of jointer, or joint-
wood (Piper geniculatum), it is especially abundant.
Always conspicuous from its bright grass-green coat,
and crimson-velvet gorget, it is still a very tame
bird; yet this seems rather the tameness of indif-
ference than of confidence; it will allow a person
to approach very near, and, if disturbed, alight on
another twig a few yards distant. We have often
captured specimens with the insect net, and struck
them down with a switch, and it is not uncommon
for the little boys to creep up behind one, and
actually to clap the hand over it as it sits, and
thus secure it. It is a general favourite, and has
received a favourite name, that of Robin Redbreast.
There is little resemblance, however, between the
West Indian and the European namesakes. I have
never seen the Tody on the ground; but it hops
about the twigs of low trees, searching for minute
insects, occasionally uttering a querulous, sibilant
note. But more commonly it is seen sitting patiently
on a twig, with the head drawn in, the beak pointing
upwards, the loose plumage puffed out, when it
appears much larger than it is. It certainly has
an air of stupidity when thus seen. But this abs-
traction is more apparent than real; if we watch it,
we shall see that the odd-looking grey eyes are
glancing hither and thither, and that, ever and anon,
the bird sallies out upon a short feeble flight, snaps
at something in the air, and returns to his twig
E

74: PASSERES.—TODIDZ.

to swallow it. It is instructive to note by how
various means the wisdom of God has ordained a
given end to be attained. The Swallow and the
Tody live on the same prey, insects on the wing;
and the short, hollow, and feeble wings of the
latter, are as effectual to him, as the long and
powerful pinions are to the Swallow. He has no
powers to employ in pursuing insects, but he waits
till they come within his circumscribed range, and no
less certainly secures his meal.

I have never seen the Tody eating vegetable food;
but I have occasionally found in its stomach, among
minute coleopterous and hymenopterous insects, a
few small seeds. One, which I kept in a cage,
would snatch worms from me with impudent auda-
city; and then beat them violently against the
perch or sides of the cage to divide, before he
swallowed, them.

One, captured with a net in April, on being
turned into a room, began immediately to catch
flies, and other minute insects that flitted about,
particularly little destructive Zinmeade that infested
my dried birds. At this employment he continued
incessantly, and most successfully, all that evening,
and all the next day from earliest dawn to dusk.
He would sit on the edge of the tables, on the lines,
on shelves, or on the floor, ever glancing about,
now and then flitting up into the air, when the
snap of his beak announced a capture, and he re-
turned to some station to eat it. He would peep
into the lowest and darkest corners, even under

the tables, for the little globose, long-legged spiders,

GREEN TODY. 75

which he would drag from their webs and swallow.
He sought these also about the ceiling and walls,
and found very many. I have said that he con-
tinued at this employment all day without inter-
mission, and, though I took no account, I judged
that, on an average, he made a capture per minute.
We may thus form some idea of the immense
number of insects destroyed by these and similar
birds; bearing in mind that this was in a room,
where the human eye scarcely recognised a dozen
insects altogether; and that, in the free air, insects
would doubtless be much more numerous. Water
in a basin was in the room, but I did not see him
drink, though occasionally he perched on the brim;
and when I inserted his beak into the water, he
would not drink. Though so actively engaged in his
own occupation, he cared nothing for the presence
of man; he sometimes alighted voluntarily on our
heads, shoulders, or fingers; and when sitting, would
permit me at any time to put my hand over him and
take him up; though, when in the hand, he would
struggle to get out. He seemed likely to thrive,
but incautiously settling in front of a dove-cage,
a surly Baldpate poked his head through the wires,
and with his beak aimed a cruel blow at the pretty
green head of the unoffending and unsuspecting
Tody. He appeared not to mind it at first, but
did not again fly; and about an hour afterward,
on my taking him into my hand, and throwing
him up, he could only flutter to the ground, and
on laying him on the table, he stretched out his

little feet, shivered, and died.
E 2

76 PASSERES.—TODIDZ.

The inhabitants of Jamaica are not in the habit of
domesticating many of the native birds; else this is
one of the species which would become a favourite
pet. In a state of liberty, however, it attracts
the admiration, even of the most unobservant, and
an European is charmed with it. As it sits on
a twig in the verdure of spring, its grass-green coat
is sometimes undistinguishable from the leaves in
which it is embowered, itself looking like a leaf;
but a little change of position bringing its throat
into the sun’s rays, the light suddenly gleams as
from a glowing coal. Occasionally, too, this crimson
plumage is puffed out into a globose form, when its
appearance is particularly beautiful.

The tongue is fleshy for but a small part of its
length, the remainder consisting of a flat, or slightly
concave, transparent, horny lamina; just like a cut
from the side of a quill; it is seen, under a lens,
to be snipped at the edges, into very minute and
close-set barbs pointing backwards. The skin is
exceedingly thin, and so tender, as'to render it a
very difficult task to prepare a specimen.

The Tody, as has been long known, builds in
holes in the earth, in the manner of the King-
fisher. Near Scott’s Cove, I was shown, by the
side of the deep road, holes in the clay, which were
said to be the nesting holes of the ‘‘ Robin.” _ And
near Spanish Town, a friend pointed out a hole
in a bank in his own garden, in which a Tody was
then building, in March. But, as I have never seen
the nest or eggs, I am indebted to the notes of
Mr. Hill for a detailed description.

GREEN TODY. V7

** The Green Tody is a bird of peculiar structure,
and peculiar habits. It is exclusively an insect
feeder, and burrows in the earth to breed. The
banks of ravines, and the scarps of dry ditches,
are excavated by its feeble feet, in which two
out of three of its front toes are united together,
leaving only the terminal joint free, and hence the
feet of this kind of birds are called syndactylous.
The hole runs into the banks some eight inches
or a foot: at the extremity of this subterranean
lodging, it nestles in secrecy and security.

** As the subterranean nest is made wherever there
is friable mould easy of excavation, — ravines and
gullies, whose banks are earthy, and where the
water passes off rapidly from the surface-soil, are
generally selected for breeding. These gullies are
sheltered from exposure to the drift rain by
opposing banks, or they are covered by over-hang-
ing shrubs. The excavation is made by means
of the beak and claws. It is a winding gallery,
rounded at the. bottom, and terminating in a suffi-
ciently wide lodging, lined with pliant fibres,
and dry moss and cotton, placed with some .atten-
tion to arrangement. Four or five grey, brown-
spotted eggs are laid, and the young are fed within
_ the cave till they are full-fledged.

‘* The combination of circumstances that make up
a fit nestling place for it, may be well understood
from the following selection of a burrow, by a pair
of birds, in the garden of a friend. A box filled
with earth had been placed on tressels within water,
for growing lettuces from seed, or rather for saving

78 PASSERES.—TODID&.

the seed, whilst vegetating, from the depredations of
ants. The box had performed its office ; — the
lettuces had been transplanted, and the mould re-
mained in undisturbed fallow. The box having a
knot-hole in the side, through this hole a pair of
Todies burrowed a gallery into the heart of the
mould, built a nest, and reared a family of young
ones. ‘They were assiduous sitters, the male and
female relieving each other. Though they attracted
a good deal of attention, and were not unfrequently
disturbed by the curiosity of visitors, they stead-
fastly pursued their family affairs, and showed
surprising vigilance and caution in escaping out of
their cavern, when they were either watched, or
attempts were made to catch them. They never
failed to profit by the moment when attention was
withdrawn from them, either to come from out of
their cave, or to dart into it. On opening the
earth after the young had fled, there was found
a capacious winding gallery into the centre of the
box, ending in a circular lodging, in which was
contained the nest, composed of fibrous roots and
cotton. .

** There is such an obvious similarity between the
Kingfisher and the Tody, particularly the brilliant
blue and green European Kingfisher, that few who
are acquainted with both fail to recognise their
affinity. The brilliant plumage of the two birds;
the patient watchfulness with which they both sit
on some exposed twig to await the vagrant prey;
their short flight from station to station; and their
repeated return to the same spot; — independent

GREEN TODY. 79

of that intimate resemblance in the structure of
their extremities, which led Brisson, Latreille, and
Cuvier, to arrange the Halcyons in company with
the Todies, would induce one to conclude that there
was some propinguity in their natures, without
any great knowledge of Natural History. The
difference of the element in which they severally
seek their food, does not widen the affinity between
them, for the Jacamars of America, and the Martin-
chasseurs of Africa, or King-hunters, as they are
called, to distinguish them, in their pursuit of
a terrestrial or aérial prey, from the Kingfishers
or Martin-pecheurs, which seek theirs only in the
water,—are placed in no less near a relationship of
habits and structure. The similarity is remarkably
increased, when we go on to the habit of burrowing,
which prevails alike among all these birds, and to
the syndactyle form of the feet. These resem-
blances remove all doubt about their classification.

“The Spaniards of Hispaniola call the Green
Tody by a very appropriate name, the Barrancali,
from the barrancas or earthy ravine-cliffs in which
it builds; barranca being the appellation for the
deep breaks and gullies made by the mountain-
floods.”

A nest is in my possession, attributed to the
Tody, which, if rightly appropriated, is a remarkable
deviation from a general habit. A person of in-
telligence informed me, about the middle of May,
that he knew of a “ Red-breast” building in a
tree; at which he was surprised, knowing its habit
of burrowing to breed. I assured him that he must

80 PASSERES.—TODDI&.

be in error; but he was confident of the fact, how-
ever anomalous, as he had seen the bird actually in
the nest. In a few days he sent me the twig with
the nest upon it. It was certainly one to which
I could assign no probable ownership, but that
he ‘had mentioned. It was built on a small shrubby
tree, in the fork formed by one of the principal
branches, and a twig that it sent forth, being rather
wider than a right angle. As the main branch
is not thicker than one’s little finger, and the nest
is stretched from the one to the other, the out-
line of the rim forms a long oval about 14 inch
by 2; and 2 inch deep. It is a thin, very frail
structure, formed of spiders’ webs stretched along,
in which are profusely inlaid the shining, brown
perules of some leaf-buds; with the addition of a
little silk-cotton, this is the whole: it looks un-
finished. To set against the improbability of this
being the nest of a Tody, there are these two
considerations :— First, the direct evidence of an
intelligent and observant man, who, I feel sure,
would not willingly deceive me, and to whom the
Tody was too familiar for him to mistake its iden-
tity. Secondly, the nest is too small for any other
known Jamaican bird, except the Humming-birds ;
and I have specimens of the nests of all our known
species, not one of which it resembles at all. I
have no doubt that.the report is correct, and that it
is an aberration of habit.

BELTED KINGFISHER. 81

Fam.—ALCEDINIDA. (The Kingfishers.)
BELTED KINGFISHER.*
Ceryle Alcyon.

Alcedo aleyon, Linn.—Aud. pl. 77.
Ceryle alcyon, Boz.

On my arrival in Jamaica in December, I used
frequently to see this well-known bird sitting on
the bushes that overhang the romantic river of
Bluefields, or shooting along on swift wing, over
its rapid course. As the spring came on, however,
and merged into summer, I ceased to see it, there or
elsewhere, no doubt because it had migrated to the
north; the very individuals that I had seen in
Jamaica being, perhaps, now in Canada. About
the beginning of September it again appeared,
rather numerously for a solitary bird,. scarcely a
morning passing without our seeing one or more
along the sea-side. Where the mangrove or the
sea-grape stretches its branches down to the water’s
edge, stopping the way along the yellow beach,
the Kingfisher delights to resort, sitting on a pro-
jecting twig; here he waits patiently for the ap-
proach of some small fish, on which he drops perpen-
dicularly, and having seized it in his powerful beak,

* Length 132 inches, expanse 214, flexure 64, tail 33, rictus 2%,
tarsus =3,, middle toe 58.

82 PASSERES.—ALCEDINIDA.

emerges from the wave, and returns to his former
station to swallow it. It is a very shy and recluse
bird; I have found scarcely any more difficult of
approach: the posts of observation which he chooses
are mostly such as command a wide view; and it
is very wary; long before the gunner can creep
within shot, the bird takes alarm, and darts away
to a distant tree. Often as it sits watching, and
sometimes at the moment of flying, it utters a loud
rattling churr.

Though in general a solitary bird, it is not un-
usual to observe two playing together, chasing each
other from tree to tree. A pair which I obtained
soon after their autumnal appearance, were thus
engaged. I watched them a long while, endeavour-
ing to get a shot at them, but owing to their wari-
ness, was long unsuccessful. They took a wide
round, including, as alighting places, three high
cotton-trees, one or two mangroves, and a sea-grape,
returning to these in succession, though not with
perfect regularity. As they flew they called to
each other, with the usual harsh cry; now and
then they paused to mark the shoals of small fishes
that were swimming beneath, and plunged down upon
them; and I noticed that at such times the bird
went wholly under water. Once both birds seized
the same fish, nearly at the same moment, and rising
with it into the air, each tugged in contrary direc-
tions, until the grasp of one gave way. At last
my assistant, Sam, taking advantage of a dense
and matted withe near one of the alighting trees,
concealed himself in it, whence he shot them both.

BELTED KINGFISHER. 83

The first was only wounded, and falling into the
water swam out sea-ward, striking out boldly, the
wings, however, partially opened. On being seized
he proved very fierce, erecting the long crest, and
endeavouring to strike with his pointed beak. He
got hold of my thumb, and squeezed so powerfully,
that the cutting edge of the upper mandible sliced a
piece of flesh clean out. He was tenacious of life,
for though I pressed the trachea until motion ceased,
he repeatedly revived.

The form of the body of this bird, in conjunction
with the head and beak, is wedge-shaped, the tip of
the latter being the point. This form is admirably
suited for its sidden and impetuous plunges upon its
fishy prey ; as the powerful texture, great size, sharp
point, and cutting edges of the beak, are for holding
it. The feathers of the throat and breast are of
the closest texture, and lie on. each other like
scales, preventing the access of any water to the
body, while, from their glossy, satiny surface, the
water is thrown off instantly on emersion, as from
the plumage of a duck. The feet again, though
small, are muscular, the tarsus very short, the toes
united into a broad, flat palm, and the claws unusual-
ly strong, short, and sharp. When one remembers
that the Kingfisher digs his own cave out of the
clayey or gravelly cliffs to the depth of several
feet, we shall see the use of his strong and broad
feet, as we may see it also in the Mole. Beautiful
proofs of our God’s consummate wisdom in forming
his creatures!

$4. PASSERES.—NECTARINIADA.

Fam.—NECTARINIAD A.—(The Honey-suckers.)
BLACK AND YELLOW CREEPER.*
Banana Quit.
Certhiola flaveola.
Certhia flaveola, Linn,—Edw. 122.

Nectarinia Antillensis. Luss.
Certhiola flaveola, SuNDEV.

Scarcety larger than the average size of the
Humming-birds, this little Creeper is often seen
in company with them, probing the same flowers,
and for the same purpose, but in a very different
manner. Instead of hovering in front of each
blossom, a task to which his short wings would
be utterly incompetent, the. Quit alights on the
tree, and proceeds, in the most business-like manner,
to peep into the flowers, hopping actively from twig

* Length 42 inches, expanse 63, flexure 2,5, tail 14, rictus 55, tar-
sus 33, middle toe 55.

Male. Irides dark hazel ; beak black, very acute; feet slate-grey :
tongue bifid, penicillate. Upper parts black, except the rump, which is
bright yellow, well-defined. Outer web of the primaries white at base,
which then runs down along the edge ; secondaries, tertials, and tail fea-
thers very slightly tipped with white : on the outmost tail-feather the white
tip is very much increased. Over the eye a broad arched stripe of white.
Throat dull, dark grey. Under parts yellow, deepest on the breast, di-
vided from the grey by a transverse line, very pale or white on under
tail-coverts. Inner surface of wings white ; edge of shoulder brilliant
yellow.

Female, and young of years Upper parts blackish olive ; band over
eye, rump, and whole under parts dull, pale yellow ; wing quills dull
black, bases white ; tail black, tips whitish. Colours ill-defined.

=~ © - ==

BLACK AND YELLOW CREEPER. 85

to twig, and throwing the body into all positions,
often clinging by the feet with the back downwards,
the better to reach the interior of a blossom, with
his curved beak, and pencilled tongue. The minute
insects which are always found in the interior of
flowers, are the object of his search, and the reward
of his perseverance. Unsuspectingly familiar, these
birds often resort to the blossoming shrubs of gar-
dens and yards. A large Moringa tree, that is
all through the year profusely set with fragrant
spikes of bloom, is.a favourite resort both of these
and the Humming-birds. One within a few feet
of my window, is, while I write this note, being
carefully scrutinised by two active little creatures,
that pursue their examination with a zeal perfectly
undisturbed by, my looking on, while the same
blossoms are rifled on one side by a minute Hum-
ming-bird, and on the other by that gorgeous
butterfly Urania-Sloaneus: an interesting associa-
tion! The Quit often utters a soft, sibilant note,
as it peeps about.

The nest of this bird is very frequently, perhaps
usually, built. in those low trees and bushes, from
whose twigs depend the paper nests of the Brown
Wasps, and in close contiguity with them. The
Grass Quits are said to manifest the same predilec-
tion: it is a singular exercise of instinct, almost of
reason; for the object, is doubtless the defence af-
forded by the presence of the formidable insects ;
but upon what terms the league of amity is con-
tracted between the neighbours, I am ignorant.

It is in the months of May, June, and July, that

86 PASSERES.— NECTARINIADZ.,

this Creeper performs the business of incubation.
On the 4th of May, as I was riding to Savanna le
Mar, I observed a Banana Quit with a bit of silk-
cotton in her beak; and on searching, found a nest
just commenced in a sage-bush (Lantana camara).
The structure, though but a skeleton, was evidently
about to be a dome, and so far, was constructed of
silk-cotton. Since then I have seen several com-
pleted nests. One now before me, is in the form of
a globe, with a small opening below the side. The
walls are very thick, composed of dry grass, inter-
mixed irregularly with the down of Asclepias, It
appeared to have been forsaken, from my having
paid it too much attention. It was fixed between
the twigs of a branch of a Bauhinia, that projected
over the high road, near Content, in St. Elizabeths.
Another which I found at the end of June, in a
sage-bush, was of the same structure; in this were
two eggs, greenish-white, thickly but indefinitely
dashed with reddish, at the larger end. Robinson
states the dimensions thus :—* the length about 34
eighths, the diameter about 24 eighths,” but I find
my specimens much larger than this: accurate
measurement giving # inch by rather less than 4
inch.

An exceedingly interesting memoir, from the pen
of Mr. Hill, on the prevalence of domed nests
within the tropics, and the connexion of this fact
with electricity, will be found in the Zoological
Transactions for September 14th, 1841.

SPOTTED CREEPER. 87

SPOTTED CREEPER.*
(Cape May Warbler.—Wi1s, )
Certhiola maritima.

Sylvia maritima, Wits.—Aud. pl. 414.
Sylvicola maritima, Sw.

Ir is with hesitation that I place this species in
the genus Certhiola. The extreme slenderness of
the beak, its curved form, and acute tip, the form
of the wings, the length of the tarsi, and above all,
the pencil of hairs which forms the termination of
the tongue, have guided me in this decision. It
appears to be so rare in the United States, that
but a single specimen occurred to the indefatigable
Wilson, and but one to the Prince of Canino. [
found it rather less scarce in Jamaica, having ob-
tained some four or five specimens in the course
of the autumn and winter. The character of its
plumage is certainly that of the Warblers, as is its
seasonal change: of its manners I regret that I
have no notes. When it arrives with us in October,
the crown of the male, instead of being deep black,
is ashy-grey, tinged here and there with yellow, and
studded with black spots, the feathers having black
disks with ashy borders. In February, by the
growth of the feathers, and the wearing off of the
edges, the black spots have become confluent, form-

* Length 43 inches, expanse 8.2,, flexure 24, tail 1,8, rictus =4, tarsus
35, middle toe 33.

88 PASSERES.—TROCHILIDZ.

ing an unbroken black surface, which is its summer
character. The fat of this species is of a deep
fulvous hue, almost orange.

Fam.—TROCHILIDA. (The Humming-birds.)
MANGO HUMMING-BIRD.*
Lampornis Mango.

Trochilus mango, LINN,
Lampornis mango, Swalins.

For what reason Linnzus applied the trivial
name of Mango to this Humming-bird I have no
knowledge; that it could have no connexion with
the mango tree is evident, since that tree was not
introduced into the western world till long after his
time. It was perhaps a native name. It is not
confined to Jamaica, but seems more widely spread
than most of these tiny birds. Lesson says, ‘* The
Mango inhabits Jamaica, and, as it appears, not
only the greater Antilles, but also Terra Firma, and
even, it is said, Brazil and Guiana.” Hence it
has long been familiar to naturalists. It is the
Largest or Blackest Humming-bird of Sloane.
Lesson, in ‘‘ Les Colibris,” has given no less than
four figures of this species in different ages, pl. xiii.
to xv., but I cannot say much in their praise.

* Length 5 inches to 54, expanse 73, tail 13, rictus 1,4,, flexure 24,
tarsus 4, middle toe 34.

Irides, dark hazel ; beak and feet black.

MANGO HUMMING-BIRD. 89

The Polythmus Meswxicanus and Polythmus Jamai-
censis of Brisson, both refer, without doubt, to the
present bird. It is le plastron noir of Buffon.
Whether Trochilus gramineus of St. Domingo,
which has been supposed to represent this species
in that sister island, is really any thing more than
a variety, I have no means of determining. My
valued friend Mr. Hill, in writing to me observes,
** Buffon makes his ‘ plastron noir’ of Jamaica, com-
mon to Brazil and St. Domingo. The compensa-
tory bird in St. Domingo is much more green than
Jamaica specimens ; 1. e., with a less disposition to
assume the violet and purple in the changes of
light, and with decidedly a less prevalence of what
Buffon designates the ‘ beau noir velouté.’”

I may add that both the birds alluded to have
been familiar to my friend, from personal observa-
tion in both islands.

The appellation by which the Mango Humming-
bird is familiarly known to the negroes in the
colony, is that of “ Doctor bird,” which, however, -
is sometimes applied also to Polytmus. It is thus
explained by Mr. Hill:—‘‘In the old time, when
costume was more observed than now,—the black
livery among the gayer and more brilliant Tro-
chilide represented the Doctor. It might with
equal propriety have been the parson; but parsons
were less known than doctors, in the old times of
the colony.”

Though. occurring. at all seasons, I have not
found the Mango abundant at any; it is, indeed,
far less common than either Polytmus or Humilis.

90 PASSERES.—TROCHILIDZ.

It affects the lowlands in preference to the moun-
tains, and open places rather than the deep woods ;
yet it is rarely seen to suck the blossoms of herbs
or shrubs, as Humilis does, but like Polytmus
hovers around blossoming trees. The bunch of
blossom at the summit of the pole-like papaw-tree
(Carica papaya) is a favourite resort of this species,
particularly at sunset. This habit I observed and
took advantage of very soon after my arrival, for
there was a fine male papaw tree in profuse bloom
close to the door at Bluefields, which the Mango
frequented. Wishing to, keep these birds in cap-
tivity, I watched at the tree one evening with a gauze
ring-net in my hand, with which I dashed at one,
and though I missed my aim, the attempt so
astonished it, that it appeared to have lost its
presence of mind, so to speak, flitting hurriedly
hither and thither for several seconds before it flew
away. The next evening, however, | was more
successful. I took my station, and remained quite
still, the net being held up close to an inviting
bunch of blossom: the Humming-birds came near
in their course round the tree, sipped the surround-
ing blossoms, eyeing the net; hung in the air fora
moment in front of the fatal cluster without
touching it, and then, arrow-like, darted away.
At length one, after surveying the net, passed
again round the tree; on approaching it the second
time, perceiving the strange object to be still un-
moved, he took courage, and began to suck. I
quite trembled with hope: in an instant the net
was struck, and before I could see anything,

MANGO HUMMING-BIRD. 91

the rustling of his confined wings within the
gauze told that the little beauty was a captive.
I brought him in triumph to the house and caged
him; but he was very restless, clinging to the sides
and wires, and fluttering violently about. The next
morning, having gone out on an excursion for a few
hours, I found the poor bird on my return, dying,
having beaten himself to death. I never again took
this species alive.

The sustenance of the Humming-birds is, I feel
assured, derived almost exclusively from insects.
That they seek the nectar of flowers I readily admit,
and that they will eagerly take dissolved sugar or
diluted honey in captivity I also know; but that
this would maintain life, or at least vigour, I have
great reasons for doubting, which I shall mention
in the history of the following species. I have
dissected numbers of each of our species, and have
invariably found the little stomach distended with a
soft black substance, exactly like what we see in the
stomachs of the Warblers, which being put into
clear water, and examined with a lens, proves to be
entirely composed of minute insects. The interior
of flowers is almost always inhabited by very small
insects, and it is I believe principally to pick out
these that the Humming-birds probe the tubular
nectaries of blossoms. Wilson has mentioned his
having observed the Ruby-throat (Z. Colubris)
pursuing flies on the wing. I also have witnessed
the same thing in our species, many times. I have
seen the Mango, just before night fall, fluttering
round the top of a tree on which were no blos-

92 PASSERES.—TROCHILID&.

soms, and from the manner in which it turned
hither and thither, while hovering in a perpendi-
cular position, it was manifest that it was catch-
ing minute insects. This species when flying often
flirts and flutters the tail in a peculiar manner,
throwing it in as he hangs perpendicularly in mid
air, when the appearance of the broad lustrous fea-
thers, expanded like a fan, is particularly beautiful.

The pugnacity of the Humming-birds has been
often spoken of ; two of the same species can rarely
suck flowers from the same bush without a rencontre.
Mango, however, will even drive away another
species, which I have never observed the others to
do. I once witnessed a combat between two of the
present species, which was prosecuted with much
pertinacity, and protracted to an unusual length.
It was in the month of April, when I was spending
a few days at Phoenix Park, near Savanna le Mar,
the residence of my kind friend, Aaron Deleon,
Esq. In the garden were two trees, of the kind
called the Malay apple (Eugenia Malaccensis), one
of which was but a yard or two from my window.
The genial influence of the spring rains had
covered them with a profusion of beautiful blos-
soms, each consisting of a multitude of crimson
stamens, with very minute petals; like bunches
of crimson tassels; but the leaf-buds were but
just beginning to open. A Mango Humming-bird
had, every day, and all day long, been paying his
devoirs to these charming blossoms. On the morn-
ing to which I allude, another came, and the manceu-
vres of these two tiny creatures became highly

MANGO HUMMING-BIRD. 93

interesting. They chased each other through the
labyrinth of twigs and flowers, till, an opportunity
occurring, the one would dart with seeming fury
upon the other, and then, with a loud rustling of
their wings, they would twirl together, round and
round, until they nearly came to the earth. It
was some time before I could see, with any dis-
tinctness, what took place in these tussles; their
twirlings were so rapid as to baffle all attempts at
discrimination. At length an encounter took place
pretty close to me, and I perceived that the beak of
the one grasped the beak of the other, and thus
fastened, both whirled round and round in their
perpendicular descent, the point of contact being
the centre of the gyrations, till, when another
second would have brought them both on the
ground, they separated, and the one chased the
other for about a hundred yards, and then returned
in triumph to the tree, where, perched on a lofty
twig, he chirped monotonously and pertinaciously
for some time;—JI could not help thinking, in
defiance. In a few minutes, however, the banished
one returned, and began chirping no less provok-
ingly, which soon brought on another chase, and
another tussle. I am persuaded that. these were
hostile encounters, for one seemed evidently afraid
of the other, fleeing when the other pursued, though
his indomitable spirit would prompt the chirp of
defiance; and, when resting after a battle, I noticed
that this one held his beak open, as if panting.
Sometimes they would suspend hostilities to suck
a few blossoms, but mutual proximity was sure

94 PASSERES.—TROCHILIDZ.

to bring them on again, with the same result.
In their tortuous and rapid evolutions, the light
from their ruby necks would now and then flash
in the sun with gem-like radiance; and as they
now and then hovered motionless, the broadly ex-
panded tail, — whose outer feathers are crimson-
purple, but when intercepting the sun’s rays trans-
mit orange-coloured light,— added much to their
beauty. A little Banana Quit, that was peeping
among the blossoms in his own quiet way, seemed
now and then to look with surprise on the com-
batants; but when the one had driven his rival
to a longer distance than usual, the victor set
upon the unoffending Quit, who soon yielded the
point, and retired, humbly enough, to a neighbour-
ing tree. The war, for it was a thorough cam-
paign, a regular succession of battles, lasted fully
an hour, and then I was called away from the post
of observation. Both of the Humming-birds ap-
peared to be adult males. I have alluded to the
preference which different species appear to mani-
fest, for different blossoms; I may add that I have
observed Mellisuga humilis come and suck the
flowers of a Cashew tree (Anacardium), without
noticing those of the Malay apple close by, while
Mango seems to despise the former for the latter.
The lustrous glow reflected from the sides of
the neck of the adult male, may be unperceived on
a careless examination. In such Humming-birds
as I have examined, (perhaps in all,) the iridescence
of those portions of the plumage that are change-
able, is splendid in the ratio of the acuteness of

MANGO HUMMING-BIRD. 95

the angle formed by the incident ray and the re-
flected one. Thus the plumes of the neck of
Mango appear to advantage in a room with a single
_ light, only when the beholder stands with his back
to the window, and has the bird before him and
facing him. Then the perpendicular band down
the throat and breast, which seems composed of
the richest black velvet, is bounded on each side
by a broad band of glowing crimson, mingled with
violet. It must be borne in mind, that some of
the brilliant hues of Humming-birds are permanent,
not changeable colours.

I have never met with the nest of this species;
but Sam informed me in June that he had ob-
served one near Morgan’s Bridge, in Westmore-
land. It was ona dead tree, and was placed upon
a twig, but being full fifteen feet from the ground
he could not examine it. He, however, saw the
Mango Humming-bird fly out of it, and presently
return. A nest, presented to me by my friend
Mr. Hill, ticketed as that of Mango, is now before
me. It has evidently been constructed to stand
upon a horizontal twig, which the bottom has em-
braced. It is cylindrical externally, the botton
being nearly flat. Its height is 13 inch; its ex-
ternal diameter a little more; its internal diameter
about 1 inch; the hollow, which is a little over-
hung by the margin, is cup-shaped, about 4 inch
deep. It is composed almost entirely of the down
of the gigantic silk-cotton tree, (Eriodendron anfrac-
tuosum) intermixed at the bottom with a little true
cotton. The sides are tightly banded round with

96 PASSERES.—TROCHILIDZA.

the threads of spiders’ webs, very neatly put on,
and the whole exterior is studded with a minute
whitish lichen, so profusely as almost entirely to
conceal the down, without at all injuring the sym-
metry of the form, It is a most compact and beau-
tiful little structure.

The down of the cotton-tree is the material or-
dinarily chosen by all our _Humming-birds for the
construction of their nests. The tree attains a
giant size and diameter, and throws out to a vast
distance its horizontal limbs, each equalling in its
dimensions an ordinary forest tree. It is one of
the few in those tropical islands, which are deci-
duous: the fierce blasts called ‘ norths,” which
prevail in January and February, pouring down
from the mountains, quickly lay it bare. I have
seen an enormous tree in full foliage, almost leaf-
-less in an hour; the leaves filling the air, like flakes
of snow in a driving storm. While it is yet de-
nuded, the pods appear at the ends of the branches,
resembling green walnuts: these ripen before the
leaves bud, and opening, give freedom to a mass
of fine silky filamentous down, which is borne away
upon the wind. The filaments are so fine, that
at this season, April and May, they are imbibed
with the air we breathe, being almost impalpable,
and are considered to aggravate pulmonary affec-
tions. The tufts so scattered, the Humming-birds
and others of the feathered tribes, diligently collect,
and that not only on the ground. I have been
amused to observe a Mango Humming-bird sus-
pending himself in the air, over against a puff of

woe rr

LONG-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. 97

down, which was slowly borne along upon a gentle
breeze, picking at it and drawing filaments from
it, doubtless with a view to nest-building.

LONG-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD.*
Trochilus polytmus.

Trochilus polytmus,. Linn.
Ornismya cephalatra, Lzss.—Ois. M. xvii.

Tuts is the gem of Jamaican Ornithology. Its
slender form, velvet crest, emerald bosom, and
lengthened tail-plumes, render it one of the most
elegant even of this most brilliant family. Though
peculiar, as far as I am aware, to Jamaica, it has long
been known, though it would seem from received

* Male. Length 103 inches, expanse 63, tail, longest feather 73,
outmost feather 13, flexure 2-&, rictus 1, tarsus ;3,, middle toe =3..

Trides black ; beak coral-red, the tip black ; feet purplish-brown, soles
paler. Crown, hind head, and nape deep velvety black, very slightly
glossed ; back, rump, wing and tail-coverts, rich golden-green ; wings
purplish-black, the outer edge of the first primary whitish ; second
primary longest ; tail deep black, with bluish gloss, the uropygials, and
the outer edges of the others glossed with golden-green, varying in in™
tensity. The tail is slightly forked, the feathers regularly graduating
from the uropygials outwards, save that the outmost but one is exceed-
ingly lengthened. Throat, breast, and belly gorgeous emerald-green, ex-
tending to the thighs ; vent and under tail-coverts, purpled black. The
plumage of the hind head long and loose, descending in two lateral tufts
upon the nape, which are to some extent erectile.

Female, 42 inches, tail 1,5, flexure 22;. Irides dark brown ; beak
dull reddish-brown, black at edges and tip; feet nearly black. Front
and crown dusky brown, scaled, gradually becoming green on the hind
head, whence the whole upper plumage is. rich golden-green. Tail blue

F

98 PASSERES.—TROCHILIDZA.

figures and descriptions very imperfectly, Edwards
long ago gave a figure of it, which is recognisable.
Lesson’s figure and description are alike bad. The
attitude is that never assumed by a Humming-bird ;
the back of the neck is made green instead of black;
the scaly emerald plumage is diminished to a mere
gorget instead of extending over the whole breast
and belly ; the beak and feet are both made yellow,
whereas the former should have been crimson, the
latter purple-black. He makes ‘Les Polythmus”
his tenth Race, which he thus defines: ‘* Beak short,
straight: the external tail-feathers terminated by
two long blades or filaments (brins).” Here every
character is incorrect. The beak, though not long,
is certainly not short; it is not straight, but per-
ceptibly curved, particularly in the female; the
curvature, it is true, varies in individuals, but I
possess several females whose beaks are more curved
than that of Mango; it is not the external tail-
feather that is lengthened, but the second from the
outside; lastly, this feather is not terminated by a
filament, or by any structure varying from the
other part ; it is simply produced in length.

Mr. Swainson writes as if he were unacquainted
with this species, for in speaking of the tendency
of the lengthened external feathers of the tail in
certain families of birds to turn outwards towards
black, the exterior two feathers on each side broadly tipped with white :
uropygials golden green ; the feathers graduate uniformly. Wings as in
the male, Under parts white, the feathers having round tips of metal-
lic green on the sides of the neck, and being mingled with green ones

on the sides of the body. The plumage on each side of the nape,
erectile, as in the male, but somewhat shorter,

LONG-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. 99

their tips, he observes, “there is one solitary
instance where these long exterior feathers are
turned znwards instead of outwards: this occurs in
a Humming-bird figured by Edwards, as a native
of Jamaica, but we have never yet seen it, nor is a
specimen known to exist at this time in any
museum.” (Class. Birds, I. 105.) This is no other
than Polytmus; the long tail-feathers of which do
bend inwards so as to cross each other when the bird
is resting. I may add here that these long feathers
have the inner edge prettily waved, not by actual in-
dentation, but by a puckering of the margin, like a
frill.

The Long-tail is a permanent resident in
Jamaica, and is not uncommonly seen at all
Seasons and in all situations. It loves to fre-
quent the margins of woods and road-sides, where
it sucks the blossoms of the trees, occasionally
descending, however, to the low shrubs. There is
one locality where it is abundant, the summit of
that range of mountains just behind Bluefields, and
known as the Bluefields ridge. Behind the peaks
which are visible from the sea, at an elevation of
about half a mile, there runs through the dense
woods a narrow path, just passable for a horse,
overrun with beautiful ferns of many graceful forms,
and always damp and cool. No habitation occurs
within several miles and no cultivation, save the
isolated provision grounds of the negroes, which are
teeming with enormous Arums: and these are hid-
den from view far up in the thick woods.

The refreshing coolness of this road, its unbroken
F 2

100 PASSERES.—TROCHILIDA.

solitude, combined with the peculiarity and luxu-
riance of the vegetation, made it one of my favo-
rite resorts. Not a tree, from the thickness of
one’s wrist up to the giant magnitude of the
hoary figs and cotton trees, but is clothed with
fantastic parasites: begonias with waxen flowers,
and ferns with hirsute stems climb up the trunks;
enormous bromelias spring from the greater forks,
and fringe the horizontal limbs; various orchidez
with matted roots and grotesque blossoms droop
from every bough, and long lianes, like the cord-
age of a ship, depend from the loftiest branches,
or stretch from tree to tree. Elegant tree-ferns,
and towering palms are numerous; here and there
the wild plantain or heliconia waves its long flag-
like leaves from amidst the humbler bushes, and
in the most obscure corners over some decaying
log, nods the noble spike of a magnificent limo-
dorum. Nothing is flaunting or showy; all is so-
lemn and subdued; but all is exquisitely beauti-
ful. Now and then the ear is startled by the
long-drawn measured notes, most richly sweet, of
the Solitaire, itself mysteriously unseen, like the
hymn of praise of an angel. It is so in keeping
with the solitude, and with the scene, that we
are unconsciously arrested to admire and listen.
The smaller wood consists largely of the plant called
Glass-eye berry, a Scrophularious shrub, the blossoms
of which, though presenting little beauty in form
or hue, are pre-eminently attractive to the Long-
tailed Humming-bird. These bushes are at no
part of the year out of blossom, the scarlet ber-

LONG-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. 101

ries appearing at all seasons on the same stalk as
the flowers. And here at any time one may with
tolerable certainty calculate on finding these very
lovely birds. But it is in March, April, and May,
that they abound: I suppose I have sometimes seen
not fewer than a hundred come successively to rifle
the blossoms within the space of half as many
yards in the course of a forenoon. They are,
however, in no respect gregarious; though three or
four may be at one moment hovering round the
blossoms of the same bush, there is no associa-
tion; each is governed by his individual prefer-
ence, and each attends to his own ‘affairs. It is
worthy of remark that males compose by far the
greater portion of the individuals observed at this
elevation. I do not know why it should be so,
but we see very few females there, whereas in
the lowlands this sex outnumbers the other. In

March, a large number are found to be clad in
the livery of the adult male, but without long
tail-feathers; others have the characteristic feathers
lengthened, but in various degrees. These are,
I have no doubt, males of the preceding season.
It is also quite. common to find one of the long
feathers much shorter than the other; which I
account for by concluding that the shorter is re-
placing one that had been accidentally lost. In
their aerial encounters with each other, a tail-
feather is sometimes displaced. One day several
of these ‘‘ young bloods” being together, a regu-
lar tumult ensued, somewhat similar to a sparrow-
fight :—such twittering, and fluttering, and dart-

102 PASSERES.—TROCHILIDA.

ings hither and thither! I could not exactly make
out the matter, but suspected that it was mainly
an attack, (surely a most ungallant one, if so)
made by these upon two females of the same spe-
cies, that were sucking at the same bush. ‘These
were certainly in the skirmish, but the evolutions
were too rapid to be certain how the battle went.
The whirring made by the vibrating wings of
the male Polytmus is a shriller sound than that
produced by the female, and indicates its proximity
before the eye has detected it. The male almost
constantly utters a monotonous quick chirp, both
while resting on a twig, and while sucking from
flower to flower. They do not invariably probe
flowers upon the wing; one may frequently observe
them thus engaged, when alighted and sitting with
closed wings, and often they partially sustain them-
selves by clinging with the feet to a leaf while
sucking, the wings being expanded, and vibrating.
The Humming-birds in Jamaica do not confine
themselves to any particular season for nidifica-
tion. In almost every month of the year I have
either found, or have had brought to me, the
nests of Polytmus in occupation. Still as far as
my experience goes, they are most numerous in
June; while Mr. Hill considers January as the
most normal period, It is not improbable that
two broods are reared in a season. In the latter
part of February, a friend showed me a nest of
this species in a singular situation, but which
I afterwards found to be quite in accordance with
its usual habits. It was at Bognie, situated on

LONG-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. 103

the Bluefields mountain, but at some distance
from the scene above described. About a quarter
of a mile within the woods, a blind path, choked
up with bushes, descends suddenly beneath an
overhanging rock of limestone, the face of which
presents large projections, and hanging points, en-
crusted with a rough, tuberculous sort of stalactite,
At one corner of the bottom there is a cavern,
in which a tub is fixed to receive water of great
purity, which perpetually drips from the roof, and
which in the dry season is a most valuable resource.
Beyond this, which is very obscure, the eye pene-
trates to a larger area, deeper still, which receives
light from some other communication with the air.
Round the projections and groins of the front,
the roots of the trees above have entwined, and
to a fibre of one of these hanging down, not
thicker than whipcord, was suspended a Humming-
bird’s nest, containing two eggs. It seemed to
be composed wholly of moss, was thick, and attached
to the rootlet by its side. One of the eggs was
broken. I did not disturb it, but after about three
weeks, visited it again. It had been apparently
handled by some curious child, for both eggs were
broken, and the nest was evidently deserted.

But while I lingered in the romantic place,
picking up some of the landshells which were scat-
tered among the rocks, suddenly I heard the whirr
of a Humming-bird, and, looking up, saw a female
Polytmus hovering opposite the nest, with a mass
of silk-cotton in her beak. Deterred by the sight
of me, she presently retired to a twig, a few paces

104 PASSERES.—TROCHILIDZ.

distant, on which she sat. I immediately sunk down
among the rocks as quietly as possible, and remained
perfectly still. In a few seconds she came again, and
after hovering a moment disappeared behind one
of the projections, whence in a few seconds she
emerged again and flew off. I then examined the
place, and found to my delight, a new nest, in
all respects like the old one, but unfinished, affixed
to another twig not a yard from it. I.again sat
down among the stones in front, where I could
see the nest, not concealing myself, but remain-
ing motionless, waiting for the petite bird’s re-
appearance. I had not to wait long: a loud whirr,
and ‘there she was, suspended in the air before
her nest: she soon espied me, and came within
a foot of my eyes, hovering just in front of my
face. I remained still, however, when I heard
the whirring of another just above me, perhaps
the mate, but I durst not look towards him lest
the turning of my head should frighten the female.
In a minute or two the other was gone, and she
alighted again on the twig, where she sat some little
time preening her feathers, and apparently clear-
ing her mouth from the cotton-fibres, for she now
and then swiftly projected the tongue an inch
anda half from the beak, continuing the same
curve as that of the beak. When she arose, it
was to perform a very interesting action; for she
flew to. the face of the rock, which was thickly
clothed -with soft dry moss, and hovering on the
wing, as if before a flower, began to pluck the
moss, until she hada large bunch of it in her

LONG-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. 105

beak; then I saw her fly to the nest, and having
seated herself in it, proceed to place the new ma-
terial, pressing, and arranging, and interweaving
the whole with her beak, while she fashioned the
cup-like form of the interior, by the pressure of
her white breast, moving round and round as she
sat. My presence appeared to be no hindrance to
her proceedings, though only a few feet distant;
at length she left again, and I left the place also.
On the 8th of April I visited the cave again, and
found the nest perfected, and containing two eggs,
which were not hatched on the Ist of May, on
which day I sent Sam to endeavour to secure
both dam and nest. He found her sitting, and had
no difficulty in capturing her, which, with the nest
and its contents, he carefully brought.down to me.
I transferred it, having broken one egg by acci-
dent, to a cage, and put in the bird; she was
mopish, however, and quite neglected the nest,
as she did also some flowers which I inserted;
sitting moodily on a perch. The next morning
she was dead.

On the 7th of May, a lad showed me another
nest of the same species, containing two young
newly hatched. It was stuck on a twig of a sea-
side grape tree, (Coccoloba), about fifteen feet
above the ground, almost above the sea, for the
tree grew at the very edge of the shore, and the
branches really did stretch over the sea. The bird
was wary, and would not return to the nest while
I staid there, or Sam, whom I stationed in the
tree to catch her; but on our receding a few

106 PASSERES.—TROCHILIDA.

minutes, we found her on the nest. Sam watched
sometime vainly with the insect-net; but as I
thought, if I could secure her in a cage with her
nest, the claims of her young would probably
awaken her attention more than the mere un-
hatched eggs had done the former one, we pro-
ceeded to the tree at night with a lantern, The
noise and shaking of the tree, however, had again
alarmed her, (at least so we concluded,) for she was
not on the nest when reached. The next morning
Sam had occasion to pass twice by the grape-tree,
but at neither time was the bird onthe nest. Still
suspecting nothing, we went after breakfast, to
set a noose of horse-hair on the nest, a common
artifice of the negro boys, to capture small birds
when sitting. On mounting to set it, however,
Sam discovered that the nest was quite empty, no
trace of the unfledged young being left. It is pro-
bable that the bird, annoyed at being watched, had
removed them in her beak, a thing not without
precedent. Sam assured me, that if a Bald-pate
Pigeon be sitting on a nest containing young, and
be alarmed by a person climbing the tree, so as
to be driven from the nest, twice in succession,
you may look for the young the next day, in vain.
In June I found a nest of the same species on a
shrub or young tree in the Cotta-wood. It con-
tained one egg; I looked at it, and went a little
way farther. In a few minutes I returned; the
bird was sitting, the head and tail oddly projecting
from the nest, as usual. I hoped to approach with-
out alarming it, but its eye was upon me, and

LONG-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. 107

when I was within three or four yards, it flew.
I looked into the nest, but there was no egg: on
search, I found it on the ground beneath, much
cracked, but not crushed. How could it have
come there? The bush, to the main stem of which
it was attached, was too strong for the rising of
the bird to have jerked it out; beside which, such
result was not likely to happen from an action tak-
ing place many times every day. It must, I think,
have been taken out by the bird. I replaced the
cracked egg, and a day or two afterwards, visited
it again: the nest was again empty, and evidently
deserted.

On the 12th of November, we took, in Blue-
fields morass, the nest of a Polytmus, containing
two eggs, one of which had the chick considerably
advanced, the other was freshly laid. The nest
was placed on a hanging twig of a black-mangrove
tree, the twig passing perpendicularly through the
side, and out at the bottom. It is now before me.
It is a very compact cup, 12 inch deep without,
and 1 inch deep within; the sides about 4 inch
thick, the inner margin a little overarching, so as
to narrow the opening: the total diameter at top,
14 inch; 1 inch in the clear. It is mainly com-
posed of silk-cotton very closely pressed, mixed
with the still more glossy cotton of an asclepias,
particularly around the edge; the seed remaining
attached to some of the filaments. On the outside
the whole structure is quite covered with spiders’
web, crossed and recrossed in every direction, and
made to adhere by some viscous substance, evi-

108 PASSERES.—TROCHILIDZ.

dently applied after the web was placed, probably
saliva. Little bits of pale-green lichen, and frag-
ments of thin laminated bark, are stuck here and
there on the outside, by means of the webs having
been passed over them. The eggs are long-oval,
pure white, save that when fresh, the contents
produce a reddish tinge, from the thinness of the
shell. Their long diameter +4 inch; short +.
The above may be «considered a standard sample
of the form, dimensions, and materials of the nest
of this species. \ Variations, however, often occur
from local causes.. Thus, inthe one from Bognie
cave, only moss is used, and the base is produced
to a lengthened point; one of exceeding beauty
now before me, is composed wholly of pure silk-
cotton, bound profusely with the finest web, un-
distinguishable except on» close examination; not
a fragment of lichen mars the beautiful uniformity
of its appearance. Others are studded all over
with the lichens, and these, too, have a peculiar
rustic prettiness. The situations chosen for nidifi-
cation, as will have been perceived, are very various.

I have attempted to rear the young from the
nest by hand, but without complete success. A
young friend found a nest in June, on a twig of
a wild. coffee-tree, (Zetramerium odoratissimum,)
which. contained a young bird. He took it, and
fed it with sugar and water for some days, but
when it was full fledged, and almost ready to leave
the nest, it died and was partially eaten by ants.
It was, however, a male, and formed an important

link in the evidence by which I at length dis-

LONG-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. 109

covered the specific identity of the female. Latham,
it is true, long ago describes it conjecturally as
the female of Polytmus; but Lesson, in his ‘‘ Ois.
Mouches,”. has treated the supposition as ground-
less.. I may observe that> to satisfy myself I was
in the habit of dissecting my specimens, and in-
variably found, with one exception, the green-
breasted to be males, the white-breasted to be
females.* But to return. On the 20th of May
of the present year (1846), Sam brought me the
nest of a Polytmus, which had been affixed to a
twig of sweet-wood (Laurus). It contained one
young, unfledged, the feathers just budding, I
began to feed it with sugar dissolved in water, pre-
sented in a quill, which it readily sucked many
times a-day. Occasionally I caught musquitoes,
and other small insects, and putting them into the
syrup, gave them to the bird; these it seemed
to like, but particularly ants, which crowded into
the sweet fluid and overspread its surface. The
quill would thus take up a dozen at a time, which
were sucked-in by the little bird with much relish.
It throve manifestly, and the feathers grew apace,
so that on the 29th, after having been in my pos-
session nine days, it was almost ready: to leave
the nest. But on that day it died. Another I
reared under similar circumstances, and in a similar
way, until it was actually fledged. When nearly
full grown, it would rear itself up, touching the

* The exception is, that a specimen obtained on the 6th of May, in
female livery, displayed on dissection two indubitable testes, in the or-
dinary situation.

110 PASSERES.—TROCHILIDZ.

nest only with its feet, on tiptoe, as it were, and
vibrate its wings as if hovering in flight, for minutes
together. At length it fairly took its flight out
at the window. Both these were females.

The young male, when ready to leave the nest,
has the throat and breast metallic-green as above,
the belly-feathers blackish, with large tips of green;
the tail black with green reflections, untipped.
A male which I obtained in May, and which I
take to be the young of the preceding winter,
has the green on the head, mingled with black,
the disks of the feathers being green with a black
border. The emerald green of the breast is partial
in its extent, reaching to the belly only in isolated
feathers, separated by large spaces of brownish-
drab ; while on the throat and breast, the feathers
have merely large round disks of the emerald-colour,
with narrow edges of brown.

The tongue of this species, (and doubtless others
have a similar conformation,) presents, when recent,
the appearance of two tubes laid side by side,
united for half their length, but separate for the
remainder. Their substance is transparent in the
same degree as a good quill, which they much
resemble: each tube is formed by a lamina rolled
up, yet not so as to bring the edges into actual
contact, for there is a longitudinal fissure on the
outer side, running up considerably higher than
the junction of the tubes; into this fissure the
point of a pin may be inserted and moved up and
down the length. Near the tip the outer edge of
each lamina ceases to be convoluted, but is spread

LONG-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. 111

out, and split at the margin into irregular fimbria,
which point backward, somewhat like the vane of a
feather; these are not barbs, however, but simply
soft and flexible points, such as might be pro-
duced by snipping diagonally the edge of a strip
of paper. I conjecture that the nectar of flowers
is pumped up the tubes, and that minute insects
are caught, when in flowers, in these spoon-like
tips, their minute limbs being perhaps entangled
in the fimbriz, when the tongue is retracted into
the beak, and the insects swallowed by the or-
dinary process, as doubtless those are which are
captured with the beak in flight. I do not thorough-
ly understand the mode by which liquids are taken
up by a Humming-bird’s tongue, though I have
carefully watched the process, If syrup be pre-
sented to one in a quill, the tongue is protruded
for about half an inch into the liquor, the beak
resting in the pen, as it is held horizontal: there
is a slight but rapid and constant projection and
retraction of the tubes, and the liquor disappears
very fast, perhaps by capillary attraction, perhaps
by a sort of pumping, certainly not by licking.

All the Humming-birds have more or less the
habit when in flight of pausing in the air, and
throwing the body and tail into rapid and odd
contortions; this seems to be most the case with
Mango, but perhaps is more observable in Polytmus
from the effect that such motions have on the beau-
tiful long feathers of the tail. That the object of
these quick turns is the capture of insects I am
sure, having watched one thus engaged pretty close to

112 PASSERES.—TROCHILID.

me; I drew up and observed it carefully, and
distinctly saw the minute flies in the air, which
it pursued and caught, and heard repeatedly the
snapping of the beak. My presence scarcely dis-
turbed it, if at all.

The neck in these birds is very long; but
appears short, because it forms a sigmoid curve
downward, which is concealed by the feathers of
the. breast: the trachea is therefore long, and
its appearance is singular, because the dilatation
from which the bronchi divide, is near the middle
of the whole length, the bronchi being full half
an inch in length; they run down side by side,
however, and are in fact soldered together for
about half of their length: though the tubes are
still distinct, as appears by a transverse section.
Our two other species I have proved to have the
same conformation.

When I left England, I had laid myself out for
the attempt to bring these radiant creatures alive
to this country: and after a little acquaintance
with the Jamaican species, Polytmus seemed, from
its beauty, its abundance, its size, its docility,
and .its mountain habitat, to be the species at
once most likely to succeed, and most worthy of
the effort. My expectations were disappointed:
yet as the efforts themselves made me more fa-
miliar with their habits, the reader, I trust, will
pardon some prolixity of detail in the narration
of these attempts. Very many were caught by
myself and my lads: the narrow path on Bluefields
peak already mentioned, was the locality to which

LONG-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. 113

we resorted on these expeditions. A common gauze
butterfly-net, on a ring of a foot in diameter and
a staff of three or four feet, we found the most
effective means of capture. The elaborate traps
recommended by some authors, I fear would suit
the natural history of the closet, better than that
of the woods. We often found the curiosity of these
little birds stronger than their fear; on holding
up the net near one, he frequently would not fly
away, but come and hover over the mouth, stretch-
ing out his neck to peep in, so that we could
capture them with little difficulty. Often too, one
when struck at unsuccessfully, would return im-
mediately, and suspend itself in the air just above
our heads, or peep into faces, with unconquerable
familiarity. Yet it was difficult to bring these sweet
birds, so easily captured, home; they were usually
dead or dying when we arrived at the house, though
not wounded or struck. And those which did arrive
in apparent health, usually died the next day. At my
first attempt in the spring of 1845, I transferred
‘such as I succeeded in bringing alive, to cages
immediately on their arrival at the house, and
though they did not beat themselves, they soon
sunk under the confinement. “Suddenly they
would fall to the floor of the cage, and lie mo-
tionless with closed eyes; if taken mto the hand,
they would perhaps seem to revive for a few mo-
ments; then throw back the pretty head, or toss
it to and fro as if in great suffering, expand the
‘wings, open the eyes, slightly puff up the feathers
of the breast, and die: usually without any con-

114 PASSERES.—TROCHILIDA.

vulsive struggle. This was the fate of my first
attempts.

In the autumn, however, they began to be nu-
merous again upon the mountain, and having, on
the 13th of November, captured two young males
sucking the pretty pink flowers of Urena lobata,
I brought them home in a covered basket. The
tail-feathers of the one were undeveloped, those
of the other half their full length. I did not
cage them but turned them out into the open
room in which the daily work of preparing speci-
mens was carried on, having first secured the doors
and windows. ‘They were lively, but not wild;
playful towards each other, and tame with respect
to myself, sitting unrestrained for several seconds
at a time on my finger. I collected a few flowers
and placed them in a vase on a high shelf, and
to these they resorted immediately. But I soon
found that they paid attention to none but As-
clepias curassavica, and slightly to a large Lpomea.
On this I again went out, and gathered a large
bunch of Asclepias, and was pleased to observe
that on the moment of my entering the room, one
flew to the nosegay, and sucked while I held it
in my hand. The other soon followed, and then
both these lovely creatures were buzzing together
within an inch of my face, probing the flowers so
eagerly, as to allow their bodies to be touched
without alarm. These flowers being placed in
another glass, they visited each bouquet in turn,
now and then flying after each other playfully
through the room, or alighting on various objects.

LONG-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. 115

Though occasionally they flew against the win-
dow, they did not flutter and beat themselves at
it, but seemed well content with their parole.
_As they flew, I repeatedly heard them snap the
beak, at which times, they doubtless caught minute
flies. After some time, one of them suddenly
sunk down in one corner, and on being taken up
seemed dying: it had perhaps struck itself in fly-
ing. It lingered awhile, and died. The other
continued his vivacity; perceiving that he had ex-
hausted the flowers, I prepared a tube, made of
the barrel of a goose-quill, which I inserted into
the cork of a bottle to secure its steadiness and
upright position, and filled with juice of sugar-
cane. | then took a large Ipomea, and having
cut off the bottom, I slipped the flower over the
tube, so that the quill took the place of the nec-
tary of the flower, The bird flew to it m a
moment, clung to the bottle rim, and bringing
his beak perpendicular, thrust it into the tube.
It was at once evident that the repast was agree-
able, for he continued pumping for several seconds,
and on his flying off, I found the quill emptied.
As he had torn off the flower in his eagerness for
more, and even followed the fragments of the co-
rolla, as they lay on the table, to search them,
I refilled the quill and put a blossom of the Mar-
vel of Peru into it, so that the flower expanded
over the top. The little toper found it again,
and after drinking freely, withdrew his beak, but
the blossom was adhering to it as asheath. This
incumbrance he presently got rid of, and then, (which

116 PASSERES.—TROCHILID®.

was most interesting to me,) he returned immediate-
ly, and inserting his beak into the bare quill, finished
the contents. It was amusing to see the odd posi-
tion of his head and body as he clung to the bottle,
with his beak inserted perpendicularly into the cork,
Several times, in the course of the evening, he
had recourse to his new fountain, which was as
often replenished for him, and at length about
sunset betook himself to a line stretched across
the room, for repose. He slept, as they all do,
with the head not behind the wing, but slightly
drawn back on the shoulders, and in figure re-
minded me of Mr. Gould’s beautiful plate of Z’ro-
gon resplendens, in miniature. In the morning,
I found him active before sunrise, already having
visited his quill of syrup, which he emptied a
second time. After some hours, he flew through
a door which I had incautiously left open, and
darting through the window of the next room, es-
caped, to my no small chagrin.

Three males, captured on Bluefields peak on the
22nd of April, were brought home alive. They
at once became familiar on being turned into the
room, and one, the boldest, found out immediately
a glass of sugar-syrup, and sipped repeatedly at
it. One of them disappeared in the course of the
next day, doubtless by falling into some obscure
corner behind the furniture. The others, however,
appeared quite at home, and one soon became so
familiar, even before I had had him a day, as to
fly to my face, and perching on my lip or chin,
thrust his beak into my mouth, and suck up the

LONG-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. 117

moisture. He grew so bold, and so frequent in
his visits, as at length to become almost annoying ;
and so pertinacious as to thrust his protruded
tongue into all parts of my mouth, searching between
the gum and cheek, beneath the tongue, &c. Oc-
casionally, I gratified him by taking into my mouth
a little of the syrup, and inyiting him by a slight
sound, which he learned to understand; and this.
appeared. to please his palate. Bouquets of fresh
flowers they did not appear much to regard; but
one or two species of Lantana seemed more at-
tractive than the rest. I expected that the honey-
ed and fragrant bunches of blossom of the Mo-
ringa, which on the tree is perpetually visited by
them, would tempt my captives, but after a brief
trial, they disregarded them. Perhaps it was be-
cause they could sate their appetite more freely
and fully at the syrup glass, which they frequently
visited, but only sipped. They always clung to
the glass with their feet, and very often to the
flowers also. Each selected his own places of
perching; there were lines stretched across. the
room, for drying bird-skins; and from the first
each took a place on one of the lines, distant
from the other, where he then invariably roosted,
and rested. Each selected also one or two other
stations for temporary alighting, but each adhered
to his own, without invading his neighbour’s. So
strong was this predilection, that on my driving
one away from his spot, he would flutter round
the room, but return and try to alight there again,
and if still prevented, would hover round the place,

118 PASSERES.—TROCHILID.

as if much distressed. ‘This preference of a parti-
cular twig for alighting is observable in. freedom, and
will suggest an analogy with the Flycatchers, I have
not observed it in our other species. It gave us a
means of capturing many, in addition to the net;
for by observing a spot of resort, and putting a little
birdlime on that twig, we could be pretty sure of
a bird in a few minutes. The boldest was rather
pugnacious, occasionally attacking his gentler and
more confiding companion, who always yielded and
fled; when the assailant would perch and utter a
succession of shrill chirps, “ screep, screep, screep.”
After a day or two, however, the persecuted one
plucked up courage, and actually played the tyrant
in his turn, interdicting his fellow from sipping
at the sweetened cup. ‘Twenty times in succession

would the thirsty bird drop down upon the wing

to the glass,—which stood at the edge of a table
immediately beneath that part of the line, where
both at length were wont to perch,—but no sooner
was he poised in front and about to insert his
tongue, than the other would dart down with in-
conceivable swiftness, and wheeling so as to come
up beneath him, would drive him away from his
repast. He might fly to any other part of the
room unmolested, but an approach to the cup was
the signal for an instant assault. The ill-natured
fellow himself drank long and frequent draughts.
I noticed that no sooner had this individual reco-

vered his boldness than he recovered his voice’

also, and both would sereep pertinaciously and
shrilly, almost without intermission. When they

LONG-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. 119

were accustomed to the room, their vivacity was
extreme, manifested in their upright posture,
and quick turns and glances when sitting, which
caused their lovely breasts to flash out from dark-
ness into sudden lustrous light like rich gems ;—
and no less by their dartings hither and thither,
their most graceful wheelings and evolutions in the
air; so rapid that the eye was frequently baffled
in attempting to follow their motions. Suddenly
we lose the radiant littke meteor in one corner,
and as quickly hear the vibration of his invisible
wings in another behind us: or find him hovering
in front of our face, without having seen, in the
least, how he came there. It is worthy of obser-
vation that Polytmus in flying upward, keeps the
feathers of the tail closed, but in descending they are
expanded to the utmost, at which time the two
long feathers, quivering with the rapidity of their
motion, like a streamer in a gale, form about a right
angle. I cannot tell why there should be this
difference, but I believe it is invariable.

From that time to the end of May, I obtained
about twenty-five more, nearly all males, and with
one or two exceptions captured on the Bluefields
ridge. Some were taken with the net, others with
bird-lime ; but though transferred to a basket or
to a cage immediately on capture, not a few were
found dead on arrival at home. ‘This sudden death
I could not at all account for: they did not beat
shemselves against the sides, though they frequently
clung to them: from the wild look of several that
were alive when arrived, sitting on the bottom of

120 PASSERES.—TROCHILID

the cage, looking upwards, I suspect terror, at
their capture and novel position, had no small
influence. Many of those which were found alive,
were in a dying state, and of those which were
turned out into the room, several more died in
the first twenty-four hours; generally, because, not
observing the lines which the domesticated ones
used as perches, they would fly against the per-
pendicular walls, where, after fluttermg awhile
suspended, they would at length sink, exhausted,
perpendicularly downwards, the wings still vibrat-
ing, and alight on the object that intercepted their
downward course. If this was the floor, they would
presently rise on the wing, only again to flutter
against the wall as before; but often it would
happen that they would sink behind some of the
many boxes with which the shelves were lumbered ;
in which case the space being too narrow for the
use of their wings, they soon died unobserved,
and were found dead only upon searching. This
was the fate of many; so that out of the twenty-
five, only seven were domesticated. These, how- :
ever, became quite at home; and I may -here

observe that there was much difference in the

tempers of individuals; some being moody. and

sulky, others very timid, and others gentle and

confiding from the first. I have noticed this in

other birds also; Doves, for instance, which mani-
fest individuality of character, perhaps as much
as men, if we were competent to appreciate it.
My ordinary plan of accustoming them to the
room, and teaching them to feed, was very simple.

LONG-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. 121

On opening the basket in which one or more newly-
caught Humming-birds were brought home, they
would fly out, and commonly soar to the ceiling,
rarely seeking the window; there for awhile, or
against the walls, as above mentioned, they would
flutter, not beating themselves, but hanging on ra-
pidly vibrating wings, lightly touching the plaster
with the beak or breast, every second, and thus
slightly rebounding. By keeping a strict watch
on them while so occupied, we could observe when
they became exhausted, and sunk rapidly down to
alight; commonly, they would then suffer them-
selves to be raised, by passing the finger under the
breast, to which they would apply their little feet.
Having thus raised one on my finger, and taken
a little sugar into my mouth, I inserted its beak
between my lips. Sometimes it would at once begin
to suck eagerly; but at other times it was needful
to invite it thus many times, before it would notice
the sugar: by persevering, however, they commonly
Jearned. And when one had once fed from the
mouth, it was always ready to suck afterwards, and
frequently, as above narrated, voluntarily sought my
lips. Having given one his first lesson, I gently
presented him to the line, and drawing my finger
from under him, he would commonly take to it,
but if not, the proceeding had to be repeated: and
even when perched, the repetition of the feeding
and placing on the line was needful to induce the
habit. If the bird’s temper were kindly, it soon
began to perch on the line of its own accord; when
I ceased to feed it from my lips, presenting to it,
G

122 PASSERES. — TROCHILIDZ.

instead, the glass of syrup. After it had sucked
_ thus a time or two, it found it as it stood at the
edge of a table; and I considered it domesticated.
Its time was now spent in incessant short flights
about the room, alternating with momentary rests
on the line; often darting to another on the wing,
when the most rapid and beautiful evolutions would
take place, in which the long tail-feathers whisked
about in a singular manner, I believe these ren-
contres were all amicable, for they never appeared
to come into actual contact, nor to suffer any in-
convenience from them. After close observation to
ascertain the fact, I was fully convinced that the
object of their incessant sallies on the wing was the
capture of minute insects; so minute that they were
generally undistinguishable to the human eye. Yet
the action of the bird shewed that something was
pursued and taken, and though from the extreme
rapidity of their motions, I could not often see the
capture, yet several times I did detect the snap of
the beak, and once or twice witnessed the taking of
some little fly, just large enough to be discerned in
the air. Moreover, the flights were sometimes very
short; a leap out upon the wing to the distance of
a foot or two, and then a return to the perch, just
as the true Fly-catchers do; which indeed the Hum-
ming-birds are, to all intents and purposes, and
most accomplished ones. I judge, that, on a low
estimate, each captured on the wing at least three
insects per minute, and that, with few intervals,
incessantly, from dawn to dusk. Abroad I do not
think quite so many would be taken in the air, the

ee

LONG-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. 123

more normal way being, I presume, the securing
of the minute creatures that inhabit the tubes of
flowers; yet we perpetually see them hawking even
at liberty. My captives would occasionally fly to
the walls, and pick from the spiders’ webs, with
which they were draped. When they rested, they
sat in nearly an upright posture, the head usually
thrown a little back, and the crimson beak pointing
at a small angle above the horizon, the feet almost
hidden, the belly being brought into contact with
the perch, the tail somewhat thrown in under the
body, and the long feathers crossing each other near
their middle. Their ordinary mode of coming down
to drink was curious. I have said that their little
reservoir of syrup was placed at the edge of a table,
about two feet beneath them. Instead of flying -
down soberly in a direct line, which would have
been far too dull for the volatile genius of a Hum-
ming-bird, they invariably made a dozen or twenty
distinct stages of it, each in a curve descending a
little, and ascending nearly to the same plane, and
hovering a second or two at every angle; and some-
times when they arrived opposite the cup more
quickly than usual, as if they considered it reached
too soon, they would make half a dozen more hori-
zontal traverses before they would bring their tiny
feet to the edge of the glass and insert their sucking
tongue. They were very frequently sipping, though
they did not take much at a time; five birds about
emptied a wine-glass per diem. Their fecal dis-
charges were altogether fluid, and exactly resem-
bled the syrup which they imbibed. They were

G2

124 PASSERES. — TROCHILID®.

rather late in retiring to roost, frequently hawking
and sporting till dusk; and when settled for the
night, were restless, and easily disturbed. The en-
trance of a person with a candle, at any hour, was
liable to set one or two upon the wing; and this was
always a matter of regret with me, because of the
terror which they seemed to feel, incapacitating
them from again finding the perching line. On
such occasions they would again flutter against the
walls, and sink down, as when first captured, with
the same danger of accident, if not closely watched,
and picked up when exhausted. After having in-
habited my specimen-room for some time, (those,
first caught almost four weeks,) I transferred them,
five in number, all males, to a large cage with a
wired front, and two transverse perches; I had
much dreaded this change, and therefore did it in
the evening, hoping that the intervening night
would calm them. I had in some measure pre-
pared them for the change by placing the cage
(before the front was affixed) upon the table some
days previously, and setting their syrup-cup first
close to the cage, then a little within, then a
little farther, until at length it stood at the remotest
corner. And I was pleased to observe that the
birds followed the cup every day, flying in and
out of the cage to sip, though at first very shyly
and suspiciously, many times flying in and suddenly
darting out without tasting the fluid. After I had
shut them in, they beat and fluttered a good deal ;
but by the next day I was gratified to find that all
had taken their places quietly on the perches, and

LONG-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. 125

sipped at the syrup, though rather less than usual.
I had now high hopes of bringing them alive to
England, thinking the most difficult task was over ;
especially as within a day. or two after, I added to
them two more males, one of which presently learn-
ed both to perch and to find the cup, and also a
female. The latter interested me much, for on the
next day after her introduction, I noticed that she
had seated herself by a long-tailed male, on a perch
occupied only by them two, and was evidently court-
ing his caresses. She would hop sideways along
the perch by a series of little quick jumps, till she
reached him, when she would gently peck his face,
and then recede, hopping and shivering her wings,
and presently approach again to perform the same
actions. Now and then she would fly over him, and
make as if she were about to perch on his back, and
practise other little endearments; to which, how-
ever, I am sorry to say, he seemed most ungallantly
indifferent, being, in fact, the dullest of the whole
group. I expected to have them nidificate in the
cage, and therefore affixed a very inviting twig of
lime-tree to the cage wall, and threw in plenty of
cotton, and perhaps should have succeeded, but for
the carelessness of my servant. for he having
incautiously left open the cage door, the female
flew out and effected her escape.

But all my hopes of success were soon to be
quashed; for after they had been in cage but a
week, they began to die, sometimes two in a day;
and in another week, but a solitary individual was
left, which soon followed the others, I vainly en-

126 PASSERES.— TROCHILIDA.

deavoured to replace them, by sending to the moun-
tain; for where the species was so numerous two
months before, they were now (beginning of June)
scarcely to be seen at all. The cause of the death
of my caged captives, I conjecture to have been
the want of insect food; that, notwithstanding their
frequent sipping at the syrup, they were really
starved to death. I was led to this conclusion, by
having found, on dissecting those which died, that
they were excessively meagre in flesh, and that
the stomach, which ordinarily is as large as a pea,
and distended with insects, was, in these, shrunken
to a minute collapsed membrane, with difficulty
distinguished. If I had an opportunity of trying
the experiment again, with the advantage of this
experience, I would. proceed rather differently.
I would have a very capacious cage, wired on every
side, in the bottom of which a supply of decaying
fruit, such as oranges or pines, should be constantly
kept, but covered with wire. that the birds might
not defile their plumage. This, as I have proved,
would attract immense numbers of minute flies,
which, flitting to and fro in the cage, would pro-
bably afford sufficient sustenance to the birds in
conjunction with the syrup. The birds, however,
should be caged as short a time as possible before
sailing, which might be early in May; and by a
steamer, which calling at St. "Thomas, Bermuda, and
the Azores, large bunches of fresh flowers, and even
herbage, might be obtained at short intervals on
the voyage, with which, of course, a multitude of
insects would be introduced. Thus, I still think,

VERVAIN HUMMING-BIRD. 127

these lovely birds might be introduced into our
conservatories and stoves, where there would be
no difficulty in preserving them. Mr. Yarrell has
suggested to me, that possibly young ones fed from

the nest upon syrup alone, wie: be able to live
without insect food.

VERVAIN HUMMING-BIRD.*
Mellisuga humilis. —m1nt.
Ornismya minima, Luss. Ois. M. 79. (nec auct.)

Tuat this is the species of which M. Lesson has
figured the female in his Oiseaux Mouches, pl. 79,
there can be no doubt. His figure is a very fair
representation; though it is too slender, and the
white mark behind the eye I cannot find: this, how-
ever, I do not wonder at, if, as is most probable,

* Male. Length 2%, inches, expanse 33, flexure 13, rictus 3%,
(nearly,) tail 53, tarsus rather above 35, middle toe =4,, claw ++.

Irides, beak, and feet black. Whole upper parts metallic-green ;
wings purplish-black ; tail deep-black ; chin and throat, white speckled
with black; breast white; sides metallic-green; belly whitish, each
feather tipped with green; vent white; under tail-coverts white, tipped
faintly with green.

Female. Rather less; of a yellower green above, which descends
half-way down upon the tail. Whole under parts pure white, un-
spotted, untinged with green ; tail-feathers, except the uropygials, tipped
with white.

Intestine 125 inch: no czca.

128 PASSERES.—TROCHILID&.

his figure was taken from a dried specimen. He
says, “‘it is beyond contradiction the smallest of
all those yet known, and without doubt is the
‘very little Humming-bird’ of voyagers. Its length
is 2 inches and 4 lines.” But that it is the T'o-
chilus minimus of Linneus, Buffon, Edwards, and
Latham, who can imagine, that puts any faith in
testimony? Edwards’ figure, which is said to be
“of its natural bigness,” measures 14 inch; that
in the Pl. Enl. 276. fig. 1, is about 12; and
Latham, who says expressly, “I have received this
from Jamaica,” gives its total length 1} inch, and that
of its beak, 3} lines. It is true the description
as to colouring, &c., bears a very close resemblance
to mine, but no one accustomed to the precision of
science could mistake 24 inches for 14!* Neither is
it possible that these minute specimens can be the
young of the present species; for nestling Humming-
birds, even when not half-fledged, are very little less
in size than the adult, and, when able to leave the
nest, are scarcely to be distinguished as to dimen-
sions. Moreover, having reared this species I can
speak positively. But Mr. Bullock records haying
obtained in Jamaica a species whose body was but
half an inch in length; this. specimen is understood
to have become the possession of the late George
Loddiges, Esq., and I have been assured by an

* Yet Sloane describes his “ Least Humming-bird,” (Jam. 308) as
“about 14 inch long, from the end of the bill to that of the tail,” while
of his figure the biflpalone measures 3% inch, and the whole bird 28,
As the worthy Doctor, however, is said to have taken his admeasure-
ments with his thumb-nail, this slight variation is the less surprising,

VERVAIN HUMMING-BIRD. 129

ornithological friend, who has seen it, that it is no
larger than the species of the old naturalists. Under
these considerations, Lesson’s name being manifestly
misapplied, I have ventured to give to the present
species, a new appellation, derived from its habit of
buzzing over the low herbaceous plants of pastures,
which our other species do not. The West Indian
vervain (Stachytarpheta) is one of the most common
weeds in neglected pastures, shooting up everywhere
its slender columns, set round with blue flowers, to
the height of afoot. About these our little Humming-
bird is abundant during the summer months, probing
the azure blossoms a few inches from the ground.
It visits the spikes in succession, flitting from one to
another, exactly in the manner of the honey-bee,
and with the same business-like industry and ap-
plication. In the winter, the abundance of other
flowers and the paucity of vervain-blossoms, induce
its attentions to the hedgerows and woods.

I have sometimes watched, with much delight,
the evolutions of this little species at the moringa
tree already spoken of. When only one is present,
he pursues the round of the blossoms soberly enough,
sucking as he goes, and now and anon sitting quietly
on atwig. But if two are about the tree, one will
fly off, and, suspending himself in the air a few yards
distant, the other presently shoots off to him, and
then, without touching each other, they mount
upward with a strong rushing.of wings, perhaps
for five hundred feet. Then they separate, and each
shoots diagonally towards the ground, like a ball
from a rifle, and wheeling round, comes up to the

é 5

130 PASSERES.—TROCHILIDZ.

blossoms again, and sucks, and sucks, as if it had not
moved away atall. Frequently one alone will mount
in this manner, or dart on invisible wing diagonally
upward, looking exactly like a humble-bee. Indeed,
the figure of the smaller Humming-birds on the wing,
their rapidity, their arrowy course, and their whole
manner of flight, are entirely those of an insect;
and one who has watched the flight of a large beetle
or bee, will have a very good idea of the form of
one of these tropic gems, painted against the sky.
I have observed all our three species at one time
engaged in sucking the blossoms of the moringa
at Content; and have noticed that whereas Polytmus
and Mango expand and depress the tail, when
hovering before flowers, Humilis, on the contrary,
for the most part, erects the tail; but not invariably.

The present is the only Humming-bird that I am
acquainted with, that has a real song. Soon after
sunrise in the spring months, it is fond of sitting on
the topmost twig of some mango or orange tree,
where it warbles, in a very weak but very sweet tone,
a continuous melody, for ten minutes at a time: it
has little variety. The others have only a pertina-
cious chirping.

The season of nidification seems to be as pro-
tracted in this, as in the former species; nor does
the structure itself differ, except in being of about
half the size. The small bushes of Lantana,
so common by roadsides, and always covered with
orange and yellow blossom, are favourite situations
for the domestic economy of this minim bird. The
smooth twigs of the bamboo also are not unfrequent-

VERVAIN HUMMING-BIRD. 131

ly chosen. It is not an uncommon thing in Jamaica,
for a road up a mountain to be cut in zig-zag
terraces to diminish the steepness; and, to prevent
the lower side of such a road from crumbling away,
stems of green bamboo are cut and laid in a shallow
trench along the edge. Shoots spring from every
joint, and presently a close row of living palisades
are growing along the margin of the road, whose
roots, as they spread, effectually bind together the
mountain-side, and make the terrace perpetual;
while, as they increase in height and thickness, they
throw their gracefully-waving tufts over the way,
like gigantic ostrich plumes, affording most refresh-
ing shadow from the heat. Such a bamboo-walk, as
it is called, winds up the steep side of Grand Vale
mountain in St. Elizabeth’s, and here the nests of the
Vervain Humming-bird are frequently met with.
One day in June, being up this road, I found
two nests attached to twigs of bamboo, and one
just commenced. Two parallel twigs were connected
together by spiders’ webs, profusely but irregularly
stretched across, and these held a layer of silk-
cotton, which just filled up the space (about an
inch square) between them. This was the base.
The others were complete cups of silk-cotton ex-
ceedingly compact and neat, ornamented outside
with bits of grey lichen, stuck about. Usually the
nest is placed on a joint of a bamboo branch, and
the diverging twigs are embraced by the base. The
nest is about the size of half a walnut-shell, if
divided not lengthwise, but transversely. To see
the bird sitting in this tiny structure is amusing.

132 PASSERES.—TROCHILIDA.

The head and tail are both excluded, the latter
erect like a wren’s: and the bright eyes glance in
every direction. One of these contained two eggs,
the other a single young nearly fledged, which, with
the nest, I carried to Content to rear.

It is interesting to observe the cleanliness of
animals; the dung of young birds would greatly
inconvenience them in the nest, and probably cause
disease; it is therefore wisely ordained that there
should be some mode of getting rid of it. Swallows
carry out the excrement of their young in their
beaks; and this they are able to do, as at that
early season it is enclosed in a tenacious jelly. I
observed with admiration, and with adoration, of
the tender mercy of God in directing such minutiz
as these, for the comfort of His creatures, that this
little Humming-bird, while I was carrying it, ele-
vating its body above the edge of the nest, in the
bottom of which it ordinarily lay, ejected the alvine
discharge in a forcible jet, to the distance of several
feet.

This little nestling I attempted to rear, and had
every prospect of succeeding, for it eagerly re-
ceived the juice of sugar-cane, which I adminis-
tered to it in a small quill, many times in the day,
sometimes adding small insects, as in a former case.
But on the third day I was necessitated to return to
Bluefields, and rode fifteen miles with the bird in
my hand, enclosed in an open box. I took every
care of it; but whether from too long fasting, or
from the shaking, or exposure to the sun, I know
not, but it was dying when I arrived, and a few

VERVAIN HUMMING-BIRD. 133

minutes put an end to its sufferings and my ex-
pectations.

Several times I have enclosed a nest of eggs in
a gauzed cage, with the dam, taken in the act of
sitting; but in no case did she survive twenty-
four hours’ confinement, or take the slightest
notice of her nest. When engaged in the attempt
to domesticate a colony of Polytmus, an opportunity
offered to add this minute species to my aviary.
For at that time two large tamarind-trees very near
the house were in full blossom, and round them the
Vervain Humming-bird was swarming. I never saw
so many of this tribe at once; they flocked together,
as Sam truly observed, * like bees,” and the air re-
sounded with their humming, as if in the neigh-
_ bourhood of a hive. We caught several with the
net, but could make nothing of them; they were
indomitably. timid. When turned into the room,
they shot away into the loftiest angle of the ceiling,
and there hovered motionless, or sometimes slowly
turning as if on a pivot, their wings all the time
vibrating with such extraordinary velocity as to
be visible only as a semicircular film on each side.
The fact that the extent of the vibration reached
180°, (or so nearly that it seemed to me such,) shews
the immense power of the small muscles by which
the wings are put in motion. Neither of our other
species approaches either the rapidity or extent of
this oscillation; and hence with this bird alone does
the sound produced by the vibration of the wings
acquire the sharpness of an insect’s hum. ‘The
noise produced by the hovering of Polytmus is a

134 PASSERES.—CERTHIADZ.

whirring exactly like that of a wheel put into rapid
revolution by machinery; that of Humilis is a hum,
like that of a large bee.

The spirit of curiosity is manifested by this little
bird as well as by the larger species. When struck
at, it will return in a moment, and peep into the
net, or hover just in front of one’s face. The
stories told of Humming-birds attacking men, and
striking at the eyes with their needle-like bills,
originated, I have no doubt, in the exaggeration
of fear, misinterpreting this innocent curiosity.

| Fam.—CERTHIAD A.—(The Creepers.)
BLACK AND WHITE CREEPER.*
Mniotilta varia.

Motacilla varia, Linn.
Sylvia varia, LaTH.
Certhia maculata, Wis.
Mniotilta varia, VIEILL.
Certhia varia, Aud. pl. 90.

Tuts pretty bird, whose lot has been to oscillate
in the systems of naturalists from the Warblers to
the Creepers and from the Creepers to the Warblers,
appears to have as much ambiguity in its manners
as in its structure. One day I noticed it, and

* Length 5 inches, expanse 8}, flexure 24, tail 2, rictus +4, tarsus
+, middle toe 55.

BLACK AND WHITE CREEPER. 135

watched its proceedings, in one of the spreading
Black-withes, that form large tangled masses of
long slender branches over a clear space of mud in
the morasses, the topmost stratum of which alone
is furnished with leaves, but that dense enough,
not only with its own foliage, but also with the
drapery of convolvulus that is usually hung in pro-
fusion over it. The little bird was mounting from
the bottom hopping from twig to twig, searching
and picking as it went up; when it reached the
bushy top, it suddenly descended, apparently by
dropping perpendicularly to the bottom, where it
picked a little about the mud, then mounted gra-
dually, and dropped as before. After proceeding
thus two or three times, I secured it.

At other times it affects the trunks of trees, even
large ones, like a true Creeper, hopping diagonally
up the perpendicular bole, and when at a good
height, dropping down upon the wing, to alight
again near the root, and proceed upward in another
line. Now and then it stops to pick small insects
from the crevices of the bark: and this sort of
food I have always found in its stomach.

It is rather common in Jamaica during the win-
ter months: we first saw it on the 26th of Sep-
tember, and last on the 30th of April.

The following interesting note accompanies a very
correct drawing of this species by Robinson (Birds:
large Folio):—‘‘ Motacilla alba et nigra varia.—
It was pursued by a Hawk, and took sanctuary
in Chateau-morant House. Mr. Holladay, over-
seer at Chateau in Clarendon, made me a present

136 PASSERES.—TURDIDZ&.

of the live bird, December 24th, 1760, It was very
tame, and so hungry that it picked some feathers
out of a dead bird, and ate them. It weighed some-
what less than two drachms.”

Fam.—TURDID A.—(The Thrushes.)
HOPPING DICK.*
Twopenny Chick.
Merula leucogenys.

Turdus leucogenys, GMEL,
Merula saltator, Hi.

Tue birds on which the peasantry in any coun-
try have conferred homely abbreviations of human
names, are, I think, only such as have something
lively and entertaining in their manners, Exam-
ples of familiar birds will at once occur to an
English reader, and the subject of the present note
is by no means an exception to the rule. He is
one of the liveliest of our Jamaican birds: in woody
places his clear whistle perpetually strikes the ear
of the passenger, as he sits among the close foliage,

* Length 93 inches, expanse 144, flexure 5, tail 3%, rictus 14, tarsus
3, middle toe 14,. Irides dull orange ; beak bright orange, blackish
at tip; feet deep fulvous. Whole upper parts greyish-black ; crown
and tail deep black ; wing-quills brownish-black ; the innermost two of
the greater coverts have the edge of the outer web pure white. Under
parts ashy-grey, silky ; darkest on throat; chin uswally white ; medial
line of belly white: under tail-coverts black, tipped with white. Sexes
exactly alike.

HOPPING DICK. 137

or darts across the glade. Not unfrequently we
are startled by a shrill scream in some lonely place,
and out rushes the Hopping Dick, jumping with
rapidity across the road, almost close to our horse’s
feet. He greatly reminds me of the English Black-
bird, in his sable plumage, and bright yellow beak,
but especially when hopping along the branches
of some pimento tree, or upon the sward beneath,
in those beautiful park-like estates called pens. The
keen glancing of his eye, his quick turns and odd
gesticulations, the elevation of his long tail almost
erect, his nods and jerks, have in them an uncom-
mon vivacity, which is not belied by his loud
voice, aS he repeats a high mellow note four or
five times in rapid succession, just preparatory
to, or during, his sudden flights from tree to tree.
His notes are various: sometimes we hear him
in the lone wood, uttering, click, click, click,
without variation of tone or intermission, for many
minutes together, His song which I have heard
only in spring, is rich and mellow, much like the
English Blackbird’s: he sits in some thick tree,
or wood, particularly at earliest dawn, and pours
forth his clear notes in a broken strain, and often in
a subdued tone, as if singing only to please himself.
I happened to wound slightly two of these birds
on the same day, which I placed in a cage. They
were free and easy from the first, very clamorous,
lively and even headlong in their sudden move-
ments. I found that they would seize and devour
with eagerness cockroaches, hard beetles, worms,
and even small lizards. I gave them a bunch of

138 PASSERES.—TURDIDZ.

the ripe, but dry and insipid, berries of a species
of jicus, which they readily picked off and ate.
The fruit of this fig they are fond of in a state of
freedom; and such is their impudence that they
prevent the Baldpate Pigeons, though so much
bigger, from partaking. The Baldpates would wil-
lingly eat the little figs also, but the Hopping
Dicks scream and fly at them, and peck their backs,
so as to keep them fluttering from branch to branch,
reluctant to depart, yet unable to eat in comfort.

At the break of day, if we pass along a wooded
mountain road, such as that lonely one at Basin-
spring, in Westmoreland, particularly when the
parching winds called norths have set in, in De-
cember and January,—we see the Hopping Dicks
bounding singly along the ground in every part;
but during the day they resort in numbers to the
diminished springs and ponds which yet remain,
where, after quenching their thirst, they enjoy the
luxury of a bathe.

In the high mountains behind Spanish Town, this
bird is called the Twopenny chick; but in the pa-
rishes of Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth, I have
heard him distinguished only by the homely ap-
pellation which I have adopted. He is not confined
to any particular locality. Dr. Chamberlaine (Jam.
Alm.) has “ never seen him in the lowlands.” But
around Bluefields he is abundant, especially in the
little belt of wood that girds the sandy sea-beach
at Belmont, where one may meet with him at all
times. In the pastures of Mount Edgecumbe he
is no less common. In the highest districts, as

HOPPING DICK. 139

Bluefields Peaks, though I have sometimes seen
him, he is ehiefly represented by his congener, the
Glass-eye: in the solitudes of Basin-spring, a lower
elevation, both species are numerous.

In some “ Contributions to Ornithology,” by Dr.
Richard Chamberlaine, published in the Companion
to the Jamaica Almanack for 1842, this bird is
described. ‘The following observations are there
quoted from a letter of Mr. Hill’s to the Doctor: —
**] paid a visit the other day to the Highgate moun-
tains, a district in which our native Ouzel, the
Hopping Dick, is exceedingly abundant. On ask-
ing one morning the name of the bird, whose clear,
mellow-toned whistle I was then listening to, a
negro told me it was the Hopping Dick, and that
they ‘always hear him when the long days begin.’
The long days had not yet begun; but at early
dawn, while the distant horizon was seen but
faintly gleaming through the dull grey break of
daylight, and many of these Merles were gliding
from one thicket to another, and dashing across the
road with that bounding run from which they derive
their sobriquet of Hopping Dick, one bird anti-
cipated the season of song, by repeatedly sounding
two or three cadences of that full deep whistle
with which he salutes the lengthening year.

**The forests skirting the mountain are his fa-
vourite haunt. If he frequents the open slopes and
crests of the hills, he glides from tree to tree, just
above the surface of the grass. If he rises above
the lower branches of the pimento, or into some of
the loftier shrubs, it is to visit the Z%llandsias,

140 PASSERES.—TURDID&.

or parasitical wild-pines, to drink from within the
heart-leaves at those reservoirs of collected dews
which are the only resource of the birds in these
high mountains. His dark sooty plumage, his
brilliant orange bill, and his habit, when surprised
or disturbed, of escaping by running or flying low,
and sounding all the while his alarm scream till he
gets away into the thicket, completely identify him
with the European Blackbird.

**It was in the month of July, in 1834, that I
first heard the song of this Ouzel, which I would
call Merula Saltator, as this name preserves his dis-
tinctive sobriquet of Hopping Dick, and refers to
his characteristic length of legs, both at the tarsus
and the thighs. The shock of an earthquake had
wakened all the living tenants of the plantation at
which I was staying, when the voice of this bird,
as the alarm lulled into silence, was heard from a
small coppice of cedar-trees, clear and mellow.
Though it was less varied than the song of the Eu-
ropean Blackbird, it was very much like its tones
when it is heard over distant fields in a summer’s
morning. I had been apprised that I should hear
it there, for it had sung in that grove daily at that
season for three or four years; and though under
the disadvantage of being an anticipated song, it
was a very agreeable recognition of the melody of
the European bird.

“The next time I heard his music was in the
month of May, 1836, in the same mountains. The
rains of the season had terminated, or only mid-day
showers fell, the mornings and evenings being refresh-

HOPPING DICK. 141

ing and brilliant.. It was now not a single one of
these birds that I heard singing lonely in a seques-
tered cluster of trees, but a hundred of them far
and near, blending their voices together, or vying
with each other in rivalry of song. My frequent
weekly journeys in these districts, from this period to
the end of August, were always cheered by this
simultaneous outburst of melody from the Merula
saltator.”

I found a nest of this bird one day in the middle
of August; it was affixed to the highest perpen-
dicular limb of a rather tall pimento in Mount
Edgecumbe, and consisted of a rude cup formed
of the slender roots of pimento, and placed on a
platform of leaves and small twigs. It contained
two young, almost fledged, which flew to the
ground before they could be seized,—and one
abortive egg. The young displayed the plumage
of the adult, even to the white webs on the two
coverts; but the eyes were dark greyish-brown,
the beak blackish, and the feet, dull, horny yel-
low. The egg measures 14 inch: by ?: it is
white, thickly splashed with dark and pale reddish-
brown. Sometimes, as I have been informed, a
decaying stump is selected, or any other convenient
hollow, into which the bird carries ‘‘ plantain trash,”
or similar materials, and forms a rude. nest, laying
three or four eggs. And Mr. Hill gives me a
statement of a locality which is intermediate be-
tween these; observing, ‘‘ A friend of mine found
the nest of a Hopping Dick. It was built amid
the dry leaves that had lodged within the forks

142 PASSERES.—TURDIDZ.

of a low branch of a mango-tree. It was a struc-
ture of small sticks, loosely woven, in the centre of
which the young birds nestled among dried foliage.”

GLASS-EY E.*
Shine-eye.—Fish-eye.
Merula Jamaicensis.

Turdus Jamaicensis, Ga.—Lath. Ind. Or. i. 328.
Merula leucophthalma, HIL1.

Tuts is exclusively a mountain bird; inhabiting
the very same localities, and subsisting on the same
food as the Solitaire, presently to be described; the
pulpy berries of a Scrophularious shrub, which the
negroes thence call Glass-eye berry. I have never
found any animal substance in the stomach of this
species, numbers of which I have examined; one
in December contained many of the little scarlet
figs, from the tree on which I shot it: in February
the green pimento-berries are devoured by them;

* Length 83 inches, expanse 14, flexure 4,%, tail 33, rictus 145,
tarsus 14, middle toe 14,. Irides bluish white, somewhat pellucid ; feet
dark horn, soles yellowish ; beak black, basal half of lower mandible
sometimes yellow. Whole head dark umber-brown, except on the chin,
where it is speckled with white. Back blackish ash, tinged with brown on
wing-primaries: tail blue-black. Breast and sides dusky ash, silky ;
separated from the brown of the head by a narrow transverse band of
pure white: belly silky white; under tail-coverts black, with broad
white tips, Sexes alike in plumage and size, Intestine 12 inches ; two
ceca 4 inch long, slender.

GLASS-EYE. 143

and later in the spring, it appears, the shining fruit
of the Sweetwood (Zaurus) is attractive to them.
On the 30th of March, my lad shot a male Glass-
eye by the road-side at Cave, scarcely a stone’s
throw from the sea, and level with it; the stomach
contained the berries of this Zaurus, which is abund-
ant just there. This is the only instance in which
I ever heard of the species, except in a mountain
locality.

The common names of this bird are bestowed
in allusion to the tint of the iris of the eye: this,
as Mr. Hill observes, “is not absolutely white,
but so transparently suffused with a hue of olive,
that the eye has the look of very common glass.”

The figure, attitudes, and motions of the Glass-
eye are those of its fellow, the Hopping Dick; it
is, however, much more recluse, and jealous of
being seen. The dashing manner of flight across
the narrow wood-paths are the same in both birds,
but the loud and startling tones of the lowland bird
are wanting in this. The Glass-eye has but one
note that I have heard; a single low ‘‘ quank,”
frequently repeated as he hops from bush to bush,
or plunges into the thicket. Dr. Chamberlaine
attributes to him “the same loud sonorous chirp
as he stealthily scuds from one dark recess of the
forest to another;” but I should think him mis-
taken, were it not that Robinson, who gives a
very correct drawing of the species by the name

of Turdus capite ferrugineo, and describes it as

common in the Liguanea mountains, affirms that

‘it whistles like our English Blackbirds.” (MSS.)

144 PASSERES.—TURDIDA.

The Woodthrush of Wilson, (Zurdus mustelinus,
Gm.,) a delightful songster, is a regular annual
visitor in the neighbourhood of Spanish Town, but
T have not seen it,

MOCKING BIRD.*
“ Nightingale.”

Mimus polyglottus.

Turdus polyglottus, Linn.—Aud. pl. 21.
Mimus polyglottus, Borg,
Orpheus polyglottus, Sw.

One of the very commonest of birds in Jamaica,
bold and forward in his manners, inviting rather
than avoiding notice, of striking though not showy
colours, the Mocking-bird would be sure to attract
the attention of a stranger, even: were he destitute
of those unrivalled powers of song that have com-
manded the praise of all auditors. The faculty
of imitating the voices of other birds, which has
given to this species its ordinary appellation, has
been ably described by Wilson and others, as well
as the variety of notes, apparently original, which
it commands. The former has often caused me
no small disappointment; hearing the voice of, as
I supposed, some new bird, or some that I was
in want of, I have found, after creeping cautiously

* Length 10 inches, expanse 13, flexure 44, tail 44, rictus 1, tarsus
1,4;, middle toe 1, Intestine 8 inches, two minute, rudimentary czeca.

MOCKING-BIRD. 145

and perhaps with some difficulty to the spot, that
it proceeded from the familiar personage before us.
With respect to the latter, I have been assured
by an observant friend, George Marcy, Esq., of the
Kepp, that he, on one occasion, counted no less
than eighteen different notes, proceeding from a
Mocking-bird perched on a tree in his garden.

It is in the stillness of the night, when, like
his European namesake, he delights

2 with wakeful melody to cheer
The livelong hours,”

that the song of this bird is heard to advantage.
Sometimes, when, desirous of watching the first
flight of Urania Sloaneus, I have ascended the
mountains before break of day, I have been charmed
with the rich gushes and bursts of melody proceed-
ing from this most sweet songster, as he stood
on tiptoe on the topmost twig of some sour-sop or
orange tree, in the rays of the bright moonlight.
Now he is answered by another, and now another
joins the chorus, from the trees around, till the
woods and savannas are ringing with the delightful
sounds of exquisite and innocent joy. Nor. is the
season of song confined, as in many birds, to: that
period when courtship and incubation call forth the
affections and sympathies of the sexes towards each
other. The Mocking-bird is vocal at all seasons ;
and it is probably owing to his permanency of song,
as well as to his incomparable variety, that the
savannas and lowland groves of Jamaica are. almost
always alive with melody, though our singing birds
are so few.

H

146 PASSERES.—TURDIDZ.

“It is remarkable,” observes Mr. Hill, “ that in
those serenades and midnight solos, which have
obtained for the Mocking-bird the name of the
Nightingale, and which he commences with a rapid
stammering prelude, as if he had awaked, frightened
out of sleep, he never sings his songs of mimicry ;
his music at this time is his own. It is full of
variety, with a fine compass, but less mingled and
more equable than by day, as if the minstrel felt
that the sober-seeming of the night required a
solemnity of music peculiarly its own. The night-
song of the Mocking-bird, though in many of its
modulations it reminds us of that of the Nightingale
of Europe, has less of volume in it. There is not
more variety, but a less frequent repetition of those
certain notes of extacy, which give such a peculiar
character, and such wild, intense, and all absorbing
feeling to the midnight song of the European bird.
Though the more regulated quality of the song of
our Nightingale is less calculated to create surprise,
it is the more fitted to soothe and console; and that
sensation of melancholy which is said to pervade
the melody of the European minstrel, is sub-
stituted in the midnight singing of our bird by one
of thoughtful and tranquil delight.”

The nest of the Mocking-bird is not so elaborate
a structure as that of many birds. It is built with
little attempt at concealment in some bush or low
tree, often an orange near the dwelling-house.
One now before me, was built in a bunch of plan-
tains. It consists of a rude platform of loose twigs,
in which are interlaced many shreds of old rags ;

MOCKING-BIRD. 147

this frame supports and encloses a rather neat cup,
composed entirely of fine fibrous roots. Another
has the frame almost wholly of rags, from canvas to
lace; and the cup of thatch-threads, and horse-hair.
Three eggs are commonly laid, measuring 43 by 3%
inch, of a pale bluish-green, dashed with irregular
blotches of pale reddish-brown: they are not per-
fectly regular in form, their oval having more or
less tendency to a cylindrical shape, rather abruptly
flattened at the ends. When young are in posses-
sion, their presence is no secret; for an unpleasant
sound, half hissing, half whistling, is all day long
issuing from their unfledged throats; delightful
efforts, I. dare say, to the fond parents. At this
time the old birds are watchful and courageous. If
an intruding boy or naturalist approaches their
family, they hop from twig to twig, looking on
with outstretched neck, in mute but evident solici-
tude; but any winged visitant, though ever so
unconscious of evil intent, and though ever so
large, is driven away with fearless pertinacity. The
saucy Ani and Tinkling instantly yield the sacred
neighbourhood, the brave Mocking-bird pursuing
a group of three or four, even to several hundred
yards’ distance ; and even the John-crow, if he sail
near the tree, is instantly attacked and driven from
the scene. But the hogs are the creatures that
give him the most annoyance. They are ordinarily
fed upon the inferior oranges, the fruit being
shaken down to them in the evenings; hence they
acquire the habit of resorting to the orange-trees, to

wait for a lucky windfall. The Mocking-bird feel-
H 2

148 PASSERES.—TURDIDZ.

ing nettled at the intrusion, flies: down and begins
to peck the hog with all his might:—Piggy, not
understanding the matter, but pleased with the
titillation, gently lies down and turns up his broad
side to enjoy it; the poor bird gets into an agony
of distress, pecks and pecks again; but only in-
creases the enjoyment of the luxurious intruder,
and is at last compelled to give up the effort in
despair.

In St. Domingo the Mocking-bird is no less
common than in Jamaica: it is there called by
the French inhabitants Rosignol, which is .but a
modification of Rosignor, or lord of the rose, the
Spanish name of the Nightingale, probably of Moor-
ish origin.

BLACK-CHEEKED YELLOW-THROAT.*
Maryland Yellow-throat. Wis.
Trichas Marylandica.

Turdus trichas, Linn.

Sylvia trichas, Latu.—Aud. pl, 23.
Trichas Marylandica. Sw.

WE have now arrived at an extensive group of
birds of small size, and delicate form, mostly known
by the name of Warblers. All-of them are merely

* Length 5 inches, expanse 7, flexure 24, tail 1,4, rictus =S, tarsus
fo middle toe 33,

BLACK-CHEEKED YELLOW-THROAT. 149

winter visitants in Jamaica, the greater number re-
tiring to the Northern continent to breed and spend
the summer. To Wilson’s and Audubon’s descrip-
tions, I refer the reader, as I have scarcely any-
thing to add to their accounts of these birds.

The Yellow-throat, one of the most beautiful
of them, was first seen by me on the 8th of October,
on which day I obtained two males, in distinct
localities. I do not think the species had arrived
long, though some of the. Sylvicole had been with
us nearly two months, for I and my servants were
in the woods.every day. seeking for birds, and this
species. is too striking to be easily overlooked.
In the latter autumn months it was quite common,
particularly in marshy places: I have seen it in
some numbers hopping busily about the bulrushes
in a pond, even descending down the stems to the
very surface of the water, and picking minute
flies from. thence. The stomachs of such as I
have examined, contained fragments of beetles and
other insects.

In the spring, it.seems to linger longer than its
fellows; for the last warbler that I saw was of this
species, on the Ist of May. Yet Wilson mentions
that it habitually appears in Pennsylvania about the
middle, or last week, of April; and that it begins to
build its nest about the middle of Mav. The mi-
gration of the short-winged birds is probably per-
formed in straggling parties, and extends over a con-
siderable period of time ; individuals remaining some
time after the greater number have departed.

150 PASSERES.—TURDIDZ.

WORM-EATER,*
Vermivora Pennsylvanica.

Sylvia vermivora, LaTu.
Dacnis vermivora, Aun. pl. 34.
Vermivora Pennsylvanica, Sw.

Tuts is a scarce bird with us. Some three or
four specimens are all that have occurred to my
observation. It seems, however, to spread rather
widely over the diversities of mountain and low-
land; for, while the first was obtained on the
top of the Bluefields Peak, the next was found
close to the sea-shore. Its habits are constant:
for we have always observed it perched transversely
on the dry trunks of slender dead trees, engaged
in peeping into, and picking from, the crevices of
the bark. In the stomachs of those which I have
examined, I have found comminuted insects. Spi-
ders and caterpillars form the chief portion of its
food, according to Wilson.

It is too rare to warrant an opinion as to the
period of its arrival or departure: I first met with it
on the 7th of October.

* Length 5 inches, expanse 8}, flexure 23, tail 154, rictus ;%, tarsus
vs middle toe $3.

WATER THRUSH. 151

WATER THRUSH.*
Bessy Kick-up.—River-pink. (Rob. MSS.)
Seiurus Noveboracensis.

Motacilla Noveboracensis, Gu.—Aud, pl. 426.
Turdus aquaticus, Wits.
Seiurus Noveboracensis , Sw.

I First saw this amusing species about the end
of August, around the muddy margins of ponds in
St. Elizabeth and Westmoreland; and immediately
afterward they became so abundant, that individuals
were to be seen running here and there on the
road, all the way from Bluefields to Savanna-le-
Mar, especially along the sea-shore, and by the
edges of morasses; not at all associating, however.
They run rapidly; often wade up to the heel in
the water, or run along the twigs of a fallen tree
at the brink, now and then flying up into the
pimento and orange trees. When walking or stand-
ing, the tail is continually flirted up in the manner
of the Wagtails, whence the local name of Kick-
up, though, perhaps, none but a negro would con-
sider a motion of the tail, kicking. The resem-
blance of this bird to the Wagtail, Wilson has
noticed, and it is very striking in many respects.
It walks among the low grass of pastures, picking
here and there, wagging the tail, and uttering a

* Length 53 inches, expanse 9,4, flexure 3, tail 2, rictus =4, tarsus
5, middle toe $3.

152 PASSERES.—TURDIDZ.

sharp chip. Now and then it runs briskly, and
snatches something, probably a winged insect, from
the grass. Wilson praises its song very highly;
in its winter residence with us it merely chips mo-
notonously. ‘The stomachs of several that I have
dissected contained water-insects in fragments, and
one or two small pond shells.

There is a remarkable analogy in the Water
Thrushes to the Snipes and Plovers, in their habits
of running by the side of water, of wading, and of
flirting up the hinder parts; in the height of the
tarsi; and in the elongation of the tertials. The
Pea-Dove, which frequents water more than any
other of our Doves, has longer tertials than any.
Is there any connexion between the lengthening
of these feathers, and aquatic habits?

GOCLD-CROWNED THRUSH.*
Land Kick-up.
Seirus aurocapillus.

Turdus aurocapillus, Linn.—Aud. pl. 143.
Sylvia aurocapilla, Bonap.
Seiurus aurocapillus, Sw.

Tue speckled breast, rich fulvous crown, and
warm olive back, make this a very pretty bird.

* Length 63 inches, expanse 94, flexure 3, tail 25, rictus +4,, tarsus
1, middle toe 3.

GOLD-CROWNED. THRUSH. 153

His manners are much like those of his cousin
Bessy, running along with much wagging of the
tail, and chirping ¢sip, tsip, incessantly. He is,
however, less aquatic in his predilections. I first
observed the species about the middle of Septem-
ber; it was on a low part of the road by the side
of a morass. Its attitude struck me, as it was
running on the ground with the tail held almost
perpendicularly upwards. In the stomach, a mus-
cular gizzard, I have occasionally found various
seeds, gravel, mud-insects, caterpillars, and small
turbinate shells. I was one day amused by watch-
ing two, unassociated, walking about a place covered
with dry leaves, beneath some trees. I was unseen
by them, though quite close. The tail of each was
carried quite perpendicular as they walked, which
gave a most grotesque effect; but, as if this eleva-
tion were not sufficient, at almost every step they
jerked it up still higher, the white under-coverts
projecting in a puffy globose form.

Though this species arrives in Jamaica rather
later than the preceding, they depart together,
about the 20th of April: and soon after this their
appearance in the United States is recorded. Un-
like the preceding, the present species is said to be,
even in summer, destitute of song.

154 PASSERES.—TURDID®.

BLUE YELLOW-BACK WARBLER.*
Parula Americana.

Parus A mericanus, Linn.

Sylvia Americana, Latu.—aAud, pl. 15.
Sylvia pusilla, WILs.
Parula Americana, Bonar.

Tuts pretty little species, so much in habits and
appearance like the European Tits, arrives in
Jamaica early in September, and retires late in
April, for we last saw it on the 20th. During
the autumn and winter it was among the most
common of our warblers. In the morasses, espe-
cially, they were to be seen in numbers, yet not in
company, making the sombre mangrove-woods lively,
if not vocal. They are active and restless, hopping
perpendicularly up the slender boles, and about the
twigs, peeping into the bases of the leaves, and
crevices of the bark, for insects.

The female, identified by dissection, has all the
colours paler, but agrees with the male in their
variety and distribution. Individuals, however, were
found in September, which had the blue plumage
of the head and of the rump, tipped with yellow,
imparting a green tinge to those parts.

* Length 43 inches, expanse 7, flexure 24, tail 1,4, rictus +3, tarsus
3, middle toe 54.

YELLOW-RUMP WARBLER. 155

YELLOW-RUMP WARBLER.*
Sylvicola coronata.

Motacilla coronata, Linn.—Aud. pl. 153:
Sylvicola coronata, Sw.

I nave little to say of this changeable species. It
occurs but sparsely with us, coming rather late in
the autumn, when the plumage is undergoing its
transformation, so well detailed by Wilson. On
only one occasion have I observed them numerous;
towards the latter part of March, on the estate
ealled Dawkins’ Saltpond, near Spanish town, many
were hopping about the Cashaw trees (Prosopis juli-
flora) that abound there. All of these that I
examined, had the yellow of the crown obscured,
and some almost obliterated. One which I shot
in October did not display it at all, while one in
January had the hue very brilliant, but only at the
bases of the coronal feathers ; exposed or concealed
as in someof the Tyrants. As far as I have ob-
served, the manners of this bird are those of a Fly-
catcher, capturing minute insects on the wing, and
returning to a twig to eat them. ‘The stomach is
usually filled with a black mass of minute flies.

* Length 52 inches, expanse 92;, flexure 2%, tail 23, rictus 5§,
(nearly), tarsus 37, middle toe 34.

156 PASSERES.—TURDID&.

YELLOW-THROAT WARBLER.*
Sylvicola pensilis.
Sylvia pensilis, Latu.—<Aud. pl, 85.

Sylvia flavicollis, WIS.
Sylvicola pensilis, Bonap.

Witson has justly observed that the habits of
this lovely bird are those of a Tit or a. Creeper.
I have usually observed it creeping about the twigs
of trees, or among the blossoms. The first I met
with was thus engaged, creeping in and out, and
clinging to the beautiful and fragrant flowers that
grew in profuse spikes from the summit of a papaw-
tree. It is one of the earliest of our visitors from
the north, for this was on the 16th of August; and
it remains until, April among the sunny glades of
our magnificent island. The stomach of such as I
have examined was large, and contained caterpillars
of various sizes and species. An individual in
March, which I proved by dissection to be a female,
did not differ in intensity of colouring, or any other
appreciable respect, from the male. The eggs in
the ovary at that season, were distinguishable, but
minute,

* Length 53 inches, expanse 8, flexure 23, tail 1,9, rictus 34 (nearly),
tarsus #, middle toe 34.

_—

YELLOW RED-POLL WARBLER. 157

YELLOW RED-POLL WARBLER.*
Sylvicola cestiwa.

Sylvia estiva et petechia, Latu.—Aud. pl. 95.
Sylvia citrinella et petechia, WH.

Sylvia Childrenii (young,) Aud. pl. 35.
Sylvicola estiva, Sw.

Or this very beautiful species, which has been
described under so many names, I have specimens in
much diversity of plumage, from that in which the
chestnut crown, and spots of the breast are deep and
conspicuous, to that in which there is no trace
either of the one or the other. There is little in
their manners to distinguish them from others of
this pretty family. They arrive in Jamaica in
September, and depart in April; and, like their
fellows, hop about low trees, feeding on small
insects. In March, I observed it rather numerous,
hopping about the Cleome pentaphylla, and other
low shrubs which were then in flower, on the banks
of the new cut of the Rio Cobre, not half a mile
from the sea of Kingston Harbour. Whenever I
have seen it, it has been very near the sea.

* Length 53 inches, expanse 8,4, flexure 2,5, tail 275, rictus -&,
tarsus —%,, middle toe }.

158 PASSERES.—TURDIDZ&.

AURORA WARBLER.*
Sylvicola eoa.—MIHI.

Tue pair of singularly marked Warblers which I
describe below, were shot on the 2lst and 24th of
January at Crabpond. That the male in summer
plumage would be much more brilliant than my
specimen, I have no doubt, for the latter is inferior
to the female, and the patched character of the
plumage indicates that a seasonal change was then
proceeding. If it has been described in its nuptial
livery I have failed to recognise it. The male,
which was the first obtained, was hopping about the
mangroves, which are abundant at the marshy place
named, from the summits down to the very surface
of the water; and the female was one of a pair that
were toying, and chasing each other through the

’* Length 5 inches, expanse 755, flexure 25%, tail 1,9, rictus 4,
(nearly), tarsus =2,, middle toe 4. Irides dark hazel ; feet horn-colour ;
beak pale horn, culmen and tip darker. Male. Upper parts olive, ap-
proaching to yellow on the rump: sides of head marked with a band of
orange, extending from the ear to the beak, and meeting both on the fore-
head and on the chin. Wing quills and coverts blackish with yellowish
edges. Tail blackish olive, with yellow edges ; the outermost two fea-
thers on each side, have the greatest portion of the inner webs pale yel-
low. Under parts pale yellow. The crown, rump, tertials, belly,
and under tail-coverts, are sparsely marked with undefined patches of pale
orange. Female. Nearly as the male, but the deep orange is spread over
the whole cheeks, chin, throat, and breast. The head and back are dusky
grey, tinged with olive, and patched with the fulvous, much more
largely, but irregularly, and as if laid upon the darker hue.

RED-BACKED WARBLER. 159

branches of the same trees, At this time, the
ovary was scarcely developed, the ova being dis-
tinguishable only with a lens. The stomach, in
each case, was filled with a black mass of insects.

RED-BACKED WARBLER.*
Prairie Warbler.—W is.
Sylvicola discolor.

Sylvia discolor , VieitL.—Aud. pl. 14.
Sylvia minuta, Wis.

Ir is before the fierce heat of summer has
begun to abate in the prairies of the west, that
this little bird seeks its winter quarters. On the
18th of August I first met with it, on which day I
shot two in different localities. One was hopping
hurriedly about low bushes, and herbaceous weeds,
not a foot from the ground, examining every stalk
and twig, as it proceeded regularly but rapidly
along the road-side, for insects. The other was
differently engaged. It flew from a bush by the
way-side as far as the middle of the road, when
hovering in the air a few feet from the ground, it
fluttered and turned hither and thither, and then
flew back to nearly the same spot as that whence it
had started. Ina second or two it performed exactly
the same manceuvres again; and then a third time,

* Length 43 inches, expanse 7, flexure 2,8,, tail 1%, rictus 34, tarsus
3, middle toe 55.

160 PASSERES.—TURDID.

preventing, by the irregularity of its contortions, my
taking aim at it, for some time. I have no doubt
it was capturing some of the minute dipterous
flies which were floating in the declining sun, in
numerous swarms; but in a manner not usual with
the Warblers. The stomach, in each specimen, was
full of small fragments of insects. From that period
to April, on the 11th of which month I last saw it,
it was a very common resident in the bushes and
low woods.

Wilson describes the markings of the female
as less vivid than those of the male; but two of
that sex, which I shot in January, were in no
respect inferior to the brightest males. Some have
the red spots of the back almost, or even quite,
obliterated; but this is not a sexual distinction.

BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER.* .
Sylvicola Canadensis.

Motacilla Canadensis, Linn.
Sylvia Canadensis, Latu.—Aud. pl. 155.
Sylvia sphagnosa (young), Bonar.

In its winter residence with us, the Black-throat
prefers the edges of tall woods, in unfrequented
mountainous localities. I have scarcely met with it
in the lowlands. The summits of Bluefields Peaks,

* Length 5} inches, expanse 8, flexure 2,4, tail 2, rictus 34, tarsus
zm middle toe 54,.

BLACK-THROATED WARBLER. 161

Bognie and Rotherwood, are where I have been
familiar with it. It was there that Sam shot the
first specimen that I obtained, on the 7th of Octo-
ber, and at the same lofty elevation, I afterwards
saw it repeatedly. Three or four of these lovely
birds frequently play together with much spirit, for
half an hour at a time, chasing each other swiftly
round and round, occasionally dodging through
the bushes, and uttering, at intervals, a pebbly
chip. They often alight, but are no sooner on the
twig than off, so that it is difficult to shoot them.
I have observed one peck a glass-eye berry, and
in the stomachs of more than one, I have ob-
served many hard shining black seeds. But
more frequently it leaps up at flies and returns to
a twig. At other times I have noticed it flitting
and turning about in the woods, apparently pur-
suing insects, and suddenly drop perpendicularly
fifteen or twenty feet, to the ground, and there hop
about. Restlessness is its character: often it alights
transversely on the long pendent vines and withes,
or on slender dry trees, hopping up and down them
without a moment’s intermission, pecking at insects.
It is generally excessively fat, and what is rather
unusual, the fat is as white as that of mutton.

In the middle of March I met with it in the
neighbourhood of Spanish town, and, on the 9th of
April, Sam found it at Crabpond, for the last time,
soon after which it, no doubt, deserted its insular
for a continental residence.

The form of the beak as well as the habits,
of this bird, indicate an approach to the Fly-
catchers.

162 PASSERES.— TURDIDZ.

In the Ornithology of M. Ramon de la Sagra’s
Cuba, this species is figured, under the name of
Bijirita, which, however, appears to be common to
the Warblers. ‘Though migratory, it seems to
breed occasionally in the Antilles, for M. de la
Sagra has killed in Cuba, young ones, which were
doubtless hatched in the island.”

OLIVE WARBLER.*
Sylvicola pannosa,—MIHI.

TueE bird described below, a sombre exception
to a particularly brilliant family, I cannot refer to
any species with which I am familiar; it may, how-
ever, be the female of a recorded species. I regret
that I did not ascertain the sex of the individual
described, the only one that ever fell into my
hands. Nor can I give any information concerning
it, but that it was shot by Sam, at Basin-spring, on
the 8th of October, hopping about low bushes.

* Length 5 inches, expanse 7, flexure 2;4,, tail 1%, (nearly), rictus
+5 tarsus =%, middle toe =%. Irides dark brown ; feet dark horn; beak
black. Upper parts dull olive ; wing-quills blackish with olive edges ;
the second, third, fourth, and fifth, have a white spot at the base of the
outer web, forming a short band. Tail greyish-black. Cheeks blackish-
ash. Upper parts yellowish-white, tinged on the breast and sides with
dingy olive.

ARROW-HEADED WARBLER. 163

ARROW-HEADED WARBLER.*
Sylvicola pharetra.—MIuHl.

Tuts is another species, of which I have but a
single specimen. It was shot on the 9th of
February, in Bognie woods, on the top of Bluefields
Peak. I know nothing of its manners, but that it
was engaged, as Warblers commonly are, hopping on
trees, and peeping for insects. The specimen was
amale. Its general aspect is like that of the Black
and white Creeper, but it may be distinguished at
once by comparison; the colours in that being dis-
tributed in greater masses, and disposed in broad
stripes; in ths, in small mottlings, or thick spotting,
which difference is especially observable on the
head. The beak, also, though partly shot away in
my specimen, is decidedly that of a Sylvicola.

* Length 554; inches, expanse 8 (nearly), flexure 234, tail 2, rictus
about =%? tarsus 4, middle toe =3, Irides hazel; beak black above,
suture and lower mandible grey ; feet purplish horn, with pale soles.
Head, neck, back, less coverts, chin, throat and breast, mottled with
black and white, each feather being grey at the base, and black, bounded
on each side by white, at the tip. The black preponderates on the upper
parts, the white on the breast, where the black spots take arrow-headed
forms. Wing-quills and coverts black ; the first primaries have the
middle portion of their outer edge narrowly white, and those from the
third to the seventh inclusive have a more conspicuous white spot at the
basal part of the outer edge. The secondary greater coverts are tipped
outwardly with white, the medial coverts more broadly ; and these form
two bands, but not very notable. Plumage of rump and tail-coverts un-
webbed, brownish-grey. Tail-feathers black, with paler edges, the out-
most two or three tipped inwardly with white. Sides, thighs, and under
tail-coverts grey, with indistinct black centres. Belly greyish white.

164 PASSERES.—MUSCICAPAD®.

Fam.—MUSCICAPAD B.—(The Flycatchers.)
REDSTART FLYCATCHER.*

Setophaga ruticilla.
Muscicapa ruticilla, Linn. Aud. pl. 40.

Motacilla flavicauda, (fem.) Gmxu.
Setophaga ruticilla, Sw.

TuE great family of Flycatchers are distinguished
by their depressed beak and rictal bristles, and by.
their general habit of capturing flying insects on the
wing, and returning to a resting place to swallow
them. The species, before us, however, a bird of
remarkable elegance, both of form and colour,—
combines with this habit, those of the Warblers;
Wilson’s assertion to the contrary notwithstanding.
It is particularly restless, hopping from one twig to
another through a wood, so rapidly, that it is
difficult to keep it in sight, though conspicuous
from its brilliant contrast of colours; yet it is not
a shy bird. A good deal of its insect food it obtains
by picking it from the twigs and flowers. About
the end of the year, a male was in the habit of
frequenting the lawn of Bluefields House, day after
day. In the early morning, while the grass was yet
wet with dews, it might be seen running on the
ground, at which time its long tail being raised at a

* Length 53 inches, expanse 74, flexure 2,6, tail 2}, rictus $4, tarsus
zs» middle toe 55.

REDSTART FLYCATCHER. 165

small angle, and the fore parts of its body depressed,
it had much of the aspect of a Wagtail. It ran with
great swiftness hither and thither, a few feet at a
time, and during each run, the wings were opened
and vibrated in a peculiar flutter with great rapidity.
It was, I am sure, taking small insects, as now and
then it turned short. Sometimes, instead of run-
ning, it took a short flight, but still close to the turf.

One which was wounded in the wing, I put
into a cage; on the floor of which it sat, looking
wildly upwards, the beautiful tail being expanded
like a fan, so as so display the orange-colour on
each side. All the while it chirped pertinaciously,
producing the sharp sound of two quartz pebbles
struck together.

This was the very first of the migrant visitors
from the North that I met with, a female having been
killed in the mountains of St. Elizabeth as early as
the 10th of August. We lost sight of it again
about the 20th of April; so that this species
remains in the islands upwards of eight months.
Yet nearly four weeks before this, I observed a pair
engaged in amatory toying, pursuing each other to
and fro among the pimento trees.

On the 8th of May, 1838, being at sea in the
Gulf of Mexico, not far from the Dry Tortugas,
a young male of this lovely species flew on board.
It would fly from side to side, and from rope to
rope, as if unwilling to leave the vessel, but oc-
casionally it would stretch off to a long distance,
then turn round, and fly straight back again; it
was not at all exhausted. While I held it, it
squeaked and bit at my hand violently and fiercely.

166 PASSERES.—MUSCICAPAD2.

BUFF-WINGED FLAT-BILL*
Myiobius pallidus.—m1uit.

THERE is much resemblance between this species
and the TZyrannula megacephala of Swainson’s
Birds of Brazil, pl. 47; but they are manifestly
distinct.

In unfrequented mountain roads, bordered by
deep forests, the Flat-bill is very common, and from
its fearlessness easily obtained. In the autumn
months, the traveller may observe a dozen or more
in the course of a mile, sitting on the projecting
branches of the way-side woods. There is, how-
ever, nothing like association of one with another;
like the other Tyrants, it is quite solitary, at least
in its occupation. It flies very little, the wings
being short and hollow; but sits on a twig, and
leaps out at vagrant flies, which it catches with a
loud snap, and returns; it utters a feeble squeak
as it sits. Sometimes it emits a weak wailing cry,
as.it flits from one tree to another.

The analogies often observed between animals

* Length 64 inches, expanse 83, flexure 2,8, tail 2,5, rictus 33%,
breadth at base x, tarsus =4,, middle toe +4. Irides hazel ; feet black ;
beak very depressed, lateral margin convex, upper mandible black, lower
pale fulvous, dark at tip. Upper parts olive-brown ; wing-quills black,
third longest ; greater coverts, secondaries, and tertiaries edged with pale
brown. Tail blackish, emarginated. Throat ashy, tinged with yellow.
Breast, belly, sides, and under tail-coverts, yellowish-brown. Under
wing-coverts dull-buff.

BLACK-BILLED FLAT-BILL. 167

possessing no affinity, is curious. The flat, weak
bill, darker above than below, the general form, the
hollow wings, the loose plumage, and the habit of
sitting on a low twig unmoved by the presence of
man, this species possesses In common with the

Tody.

BLACK-BILLED FLAT-BILL.*

Myiobius tristis.—MIHI.

A vERY common species, frequenting the edges
of high woods and road-sides, like the preceding,
the manners of these birds being nearly the same.
It is a skilful fly-catcher, and a voracious one. I
have taken a Libellula of considerable size from the
stomach of one, which not only filled that organ, but
extended through the proventriculus to the cesopha-
gus: the head was downward, which position was
of course the most favourable for being swallowed.

When taken in the hand, it erects the crown-

* Length 63 inches, expanse 94, flexure 2,8, tail 23, rictus 37,
breadth at base +4, tarsus 3, middle toe 33. Irides dark hazel ; beak
black above, dark brown beneath, formed as that of the preceding. Feet
greyish black. Crown deep bistre-brown, softening on the back to a
paler hue, slightly tinged with olive ; tail-coverts dark umber. Wings
black ; greater and mid coverts, and secondaries edged with pale umber ;
the tertials have still paler edges. Tail smoky black, each feather nar-
rowly edged with umber. Sides of head and neck, pale bistre. Chin,
throat, and fore neck, ashy-grey, blending on the breast with the pure
straw-yellow, which is the hue of the belly, sides, vent, and under tail-
coverts. Edge of shoulder pale buff.

168 PASSERES.—MUSCICAPADZ,

feathers, and snaps the beak loudly and often,
uttering shrill squeaks also, at intervals. Its note is
one of the very earliest; even before the light of
day has begun to dim the brilliancy of the morning
star, this little bird is vocal. A single wailing note,
somewhat protracted, is his ordinary voice, particu-
larly sad to hear, but sometimes followed by one or
two short notes in another tone.

I have never met with the nest of either this or
the preceding species, but Robinson (MSS. ii. 98,)
describing this bird as ‘‘the Lesser Loggerhead of
Jamaica,” says, “‘ they have three young, generally
reared in any hollow place of a tree in June.” He
adds, ‘‘ they have no note;” but in this he was in

error.

FOOLISH PETCHARY,*
Little Tom-fool.
Myiobius stolidus.— MIuI.

For a time I considered this to be the Pewee of
Wilson, but its superior size, grey throat, and

* Length 73 inches, expanse 1043, flexure 34, tail 3, rictus 1, tarsus 8,
middle toe $4. Irides dark hazel ; beak black ; feet blackish grey. Upper
parts bistre-brown, rather paler on the back. Wing primaries have the
basal part of their outer edge, narrowly chestnut ; greater and mid coverts,
secondaries and tertiaries, edged and tipped with whitish. Tail even,
the: feathers broadly edged inwardly with chestnut. Cheeks grey, mot-
tled ; chin, throat, and fore-breast, greyish white ; breast, belly, vent

—— =” |) 2 ae
b ire

GREY PETCHARY. 169

rufous edges of the wing and tail, have convinced me
that it is quite distinct. I have little information to
give concerning it that would distinguish it from the
other Tyrants. It resides in Jamaica permanently,
and is of rather common occurrence, at the edges of
woods ; it manifests, perhaps, less fear of man than
even its congeners, often pursuing its employment
of catching insects though a person stand beneath
the twig which it has chosen asa station. If it does
remove it usually perches again a few yards off, and
sits looking at the stranger.

I have not found its nest; but near the end of
August, I met some negro boys who had three
young ones of this species, which they had just
taken from the nest, situated, as they described, in
a hollow stump.

GREY PETCHARY.*

Tyrannus Dominicensis.

Muscieapa Dominicensis, Linn.—Aud, pl. 170.
Tyrannus griseus, VreiLt. Ois. de l’Am. 46.
Tyrannus Dominicensis, Bonap.

Tue history of this bird shall be mainly told by

under-tail-coverts, and interior of wings pale yellow. Head feathers
erectile. Female has the primaries and tail-feathers edged with whitish,
instead of chestnut. Two minute ceca.
* Length 93 inches, expanse 144, tail 3,8, flexure 48, rictus 14, tar-
sus =9,, middle toe 3. Irides dark hazel. Intestine 8 inches: two
; I

170 PASSERES.—MUSCICAPADZ.

my valued friend Mr. Hill. ‘ It is along the sea-side
savannas and pastures, and among the adjacent hills
and valleys, that the migratory flocks of the Grey
Petchary swarm at the beginning of September.
Occasional showers have given a partial freshness
to the lowland landscape; the fields have begun
to look grassy and green, and the trees to brighten
with verdure, when numbers of these birds ap-
pear congregated on the trees around the cattle
ponds, and about the open meadows, hawking the
insect-swarms that fill the air at sun-down. No
sooner do the migrant visitors appear on our shores,
than the several birds of the species, that breed with
us, quit their nestling trees, and disappear from their
customary beat. They join the stranger flocks, and
gather about the places to which the migratory
visitors resort, and never resume their ordinary
abodes till the breeding season returns.

“On their return in spring, they do not appear
among us many days before they become exceed-
ingly fat: they are then eagerly sought after by the
sportsman, who follows the flocks to their favourite
haunts, and slaughters them by dozens. The Pet-
chary is not exclusively an insect-feeder ;—the sweet
wild berries tempt him. In September the pimenta
begins to fill and ripen, and in these groves the
birds may always be found, not so much gathered in
flocks as thickly dispersed about. It is, however,
at sunset that they exclusively congregate; when
insect life is busiest on the wing. Wherever the

ceca very minute, about } inch long, and no thicker than a pin, at 1
inch from the cloaca. Sexes exactly alike.

aa

GREY PETCHARY. 171

stirring swarms abound, they may be seen ranged
in dense lines on the bare branch of some advan-
tageous tree. By the end of September, the migrant
Petcharies quit us, leaving with us most of those
which bred with us.”

““The Petchary is among the earliest breeders of
the year. As early as the month of January the
mated pairs are already in possession of some
lofty and commanding tree, sounding at day-dawn
that ceaseless shriek, composed of a repetition of
some three or four shrill notes, very similar to the
words pecheery—pecheery—fe-chéér-ry, from which
they receive their name. ‘To this locality they
remain constant till the autumn. They then quit
these haunts, and congregate about the lowland
ponds. At some hour or two before sunset, they
assemble in considerable numbers to prey upon the
insects that hover about these watering-places.
They are then observed unceasingly winging upward
and downward, and athwart the waters, twittering
and shrieking, but never flying far. They dart off
from some exposed twig, where they had sat eight
or ten in a row, and return to it again, devouring
there, the prey they have caught. Their evolu-
tions are rapid; their positions of flight are con-
stantly and hurriedly changing; they shew at one
while all the outer, and at another all the inner
plumage; and they fly, checking their speed sud-
denly, and turning at the smallest imaginable
angle. There are times when the Petchary starts
off in a straight line from his perch, and glides

with motionless wings, as light and buoyant as a
12

172 PASSERES.—MUSCICAPADZ.

gossamer, from one tree to another. When he
descends to pick an insect from the surface of
the water, his downward course is as if he were
tumbling, and when he rises in a line upward,
he ascends with a curious lift of the wings, as if
he were thrown up in the air, and were endeavour-
ing to recover himself from the impetus.

‘“* The congregated flocks disappear entirely before
the month of October is out. It is only in some
five or six weeks of the year that they are recon-
ciled to association in communities. At all other
times they restrict their company to their mates,
and permit no other bird to divide with them
their solitary trees.

* From the window of the room in which I am
writing, I look out upon a very lofty cocoa-nut
tree, in the possession of a pair of Petcharies.
Long before the voice of any other bird is heard
in the morning, even when daylight is but faintly
gleaming, the shrill unvarying cry of these birds is
reiterated from their aerie on the tree-top. Perched
on this vantage-height, they scream defiance to every
inhabitant around them, and sally forth to wage
war on all the birds that venture near. None but
the Swallow dares to take the circuit of their
nestling tree. At a signal from one of the birds,
perhaps the female, when a Carrion Vulture is
sweeping near, or a Hawk is approaching, the mate
flings himself upwards in the air, and having gained
an elevation equal to that of the bird he intends
to attack, he starts off in a horizontal line, with
nicely balanced wings, and hovering for a moment,

GREY PETCHARY. 173

descends upon the intruder’s back, shrieking all
the while, as he sinks and rises, and repeats his
attacks with vehemence, The Carrion Vulture,
that seldom courses the air but with gliding mo-
tion,, now flaps his wings eagerly, and pitches down-
ward at every stroke his assailant makes at him,
and tries to dodge him. In this way he pursues
him, and frequently brings him to the ground. .

“The Hawk is beset by all birds of any power
of wing, but the boldest, and, judging from the con-
tinued exertion he makes to escape, the most effec-
tive of his assailants is the Petchary. It is not
with feelings of contempt the Hawk regards this
foe:—he hurries away from him with rapid flight,
and hastily seeks to gain some resting place; but
as he takes a direct course from one exposed tree
to another equally ill-suited, he is seen again sub-
mitting to the infliction of a renewed visit from
his pertinacious assailant, till he is constrained to
soar upward, and speed away, wearied by the
buffets of his adversary.

“The appearance of the Petchary, when he
erects the feathers of his crest, or opens those
of his forehead, and shews glimpses of his fiery
crown is fierce, vindictive, and desperate. His
eye is deeply dark, and his bill, although it greatly
resembles, in its robust make, that of the Raven,
is even of sturdier proportions than that bird’s ;
the bristles are black, and amazingly strong.

“The Petchary has been known to make prey
of the Humming-bird, as it hovers over the blos-
some of the garden. When he seizes it, he kills

174 PASSERES.—MUSCICAPADZ.

it by repeated blows, struck on the branch where
he devours it. I have remarked him, beside,
beating over little spaces of a field, like a Hawk,
and reconnoitring the flowers beneath him; search-
ing also along the blossoms of a hedge-bank, and
striking so violently into the herbage for insects,
that he has been turned over as he grabbed his
prey, and seemed saved from breaking his neck
in his vehemence, only by the recoil of the her-
bage.

** His nest in this part of the island has seldom
been found in any other trees than those of the
- palm-kind. Amid the web of fibres that encircle
the footstalk of each branch of the cocoa-nut, he
weaves a nest, lined with cotton, wool, and grass.
The eggs are four or five, of an ivory colour,
blotched with deep purple spots, intermingled with
brown specks, with the clusters thickening at the
greater end. The Eagle, flapping his pinions as
he shrieks from his rock when the tempest-cloud
passes by, is not a more striking picture than
this little bird, when, with his anxieties all cen-
tred in the cradle of his young ones, he stands
in ‘his pride of place,’ on the limb of his palm,
towering high above all other trees, and battling
with the breeze that rocks it, and, rush after rush
as the wind sweeps onward, flutters his wings with
every jerk of the branches, and screams like a
fury.”

I have little to add to the above detail. With
us at the western end of the Island, the Grey
Petchary is wholly migratory, not one having been

GREY PETCHARY. 175

seen by us from October to April. If its migrations
be, as I have reason to think, not northward and
southward, but eastward and westward, this fact
is easily accounted for, from the greater nearness
of our part to Central America, where they pro-
bably winter. This species is found in St. Do-
mingo, but not, as it appears, in Cuba, where it
seems to be represented by 7. Magnirostris, D’Orb.,
nor has it been recognised, except accidentally,
in North America. Even its wintering about Span-
ish Town, seems to be not constant, for from com-
munications made to me by Mr. Hill, the present
spring, I infer none had been seen through the
winter. In Westmoreland, I observed the first
individual after the winter, on the 30th of March,
at the Short Cut of Paradise-morass; and a day
or two afterwards they were numerous there, and
were advancing to the eastward. Yet on the 16th
of April, Mr. Hill writes me, ‘It is worth re-
marking that, although Grey Petcharies have been
several days now with you, they have not made their
appearance here yet.” He adds the interesting
note, afforded by some friends who had in March
visited the Pedro kays, that ‘the Grey Petchary,
was seen making its traverse by those rocks,” and
that “the migratory birds that visited those islets
came from the west and departed to the eastward,
or, as it was otherwise expressed, they came from
the Indian coast, and proceeded on to the coast
of Jamaica, coursing from southward and westward
to northward and eastward.” The dispersion of
the arrived migrants along the groves of Jamaica,

176 PASSERES.—MUSCICAPADZ.

seems to be very leisurely, for a month after their
appearance with us, Mr. Hill writes, on the 28th
of April, ‘‘ This morning the Grey Petchary made
his appearance on the lofty cocoa-nut, for the first
time this season, He is there now, shivering his
wings, on its flaunting limbs, unceasingly scream-
ing pi-chee-ree-e. He is turning about and pro-
claiming his arrival to every quarter of the wind.
He is Sir Oracle, and no dog must bark in his
neighbourhood.”

I have not observed in the vicinity of Blue-
fields, the predilection alluded to by my friend
of this bird for the Palm-tribe. Several pairs
have nested under my notice, but none of them
were in palm-trees. Of two which I procured
for examination, one was from an upper limb
of a bitterwood-tree, of no great height, close
to a friend’s door, It was a cup made of the
stalks and tendrils of either a small passion-flower
or a bryony, the spiral tendrils prettily arranged
round the edge, and was very neatly and thickly
lined with black horse-hair. It contained three
young, newly hatched, and thinly clothed with a
buff-coloured down, and one egg. The other was
from a hog-plum (Spondias). It was a rather
loose structure, smaller and less compact, com-
posed almost entirely of tendrils, which gave it
a crisped appearance; a few stalks entered into
the frame, but there was no horse-hair within ;
but one or two of the shining black frond-ribs of
a fern, scarcely thicker than hair. The eggs, three
in number, were round-oval, 1 inch by #2; dull

COMMON PETCHARY. 177

reddish-white, handsomely marked with spots and
angular clouds of red-brown, much resembling the
sinuous outline of land on a terrestrial globe.

COMMON PETCHARY.*

Tyrannus caudifasciatus——D’OrBIeny.

D’Orsieny in the Ornithology of Ramon de la
Sagra’s work on Cuba, has described and figured
this species, which in its appearance and manners
very much resembles the King-bird of the United
States, as it does also the preceding species. It
is, however, a permanent inhabitant of Jamaica.
In Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth’s, the name
Petchary is applied indifferently to this and the
grey species, as the equivalent term. Pitirre, in
Cuba seems to indicate any species of Tyrannus.
Vieillot has described a closely allied bird, if not
identical with ours, by the name of Zyr. Pipiri.
But in the neighbourhood of Spanish Town, this
species is distinguished from the grey, to which
the name Petchary is there confined, by the term
Loggerhead, which, with us to leeward, is applied to
the rufous species, 7. Crinitus. It is well to be
aware of this confusion of local names, or we may

* Length 83 inches, expanse 13, tail 3,4, flexure 44, rictus 135, tar-
sus 1, middle toe 55.
Irides hazel. Intestine short, about 43 inches, ceca rudimentary:

stomach slightly muscular. .
15 ~

178 ’ PASSERES.—MUSCICAPAD®.

be liable to predicate of one species, what is true
only of another.

It is one of the commonest birds of Jamaica,
both in the lowlands and the hilly districts, nor
is it rare even at the elevation of the Bluefields
Peaks. It seems to delight in the fruit and timber-
trees, which are thickly planted in the pens, and
around the homesteads of the southern coast, and
everywhere, in fact, where insects are numerous.
The larger kinds of insects form the prey of this
species as of the former. I have seen one pursue
with several doublings a large Cetonia, which, how-
ever, having escaped, the bird instantly snapped
up a Cicada of still greater bulk, and began to
beat it to kill it, while the poor insect sung shrilly
as it was being devoured. It frequently resorts
to a tree that overhangs still water, for the purpose
of hawking after the dragon-flies that skim over
the surface. The size of these insects, and their
projecting wings, would seem to make the swallow-
ing of them a matter of some difficulty; for I have
noticed that the bird jerks the insect round by
little and little, without letting it go, till the head
points inward, when it is swallowed more readily.
Mr. Hill has noticed a very interesting trait in
this bird, so frequently as to be properly called
a habit. It will play with a large beetle as a cat
with a mouse, no doubt after its appetite has been
sated. Sitting on a twig, and holding the beetle
in its beak, it suddenly permits it to drop, then
plunging downward, it gets beneath the insect
before it has had time to reach the ground, and

~

COMMON PETCHARY. 179

turning upward catches it as it falls. It some-
times continues this sport a quarter of an hour.

In the winter season, the seeds of the Tropic-
birch (Bursera) appear to constitute a large portion
of the food of our Tyrannide, One day in January,
I observed two Petcharies on a birch-tree, fluttering
in an unusual manner, and stood to watch their
proceedings. I found they were feeding on the
ripe berries, which they plucked off in a singular
manner. Each bird sitting on a twig, seized a
berry in his beak, then throwing back his head
till he was in a perpendicular position, tugged till
the stalk gave way, his wings being expanded,
and vibrated all the while to prevent him from
falling. Yet, even at this season, they contrive
to fill their craws with insects; for one which I
dissected the next day, had its stomach filled with
hymenoptera and coleoptera, among which were
the fragments of a most brilliant little Buprestis,
the possession of which I envied it. 1 observed
that the stomach was protuberant below the
sternum, as in the cuckoos. At this early season,
the time of incubation was near; for the ovary
of this specimen contained an egg as large as
a small marble; and my lad who shot it, told
me that this one and its mate were toying and
pursuing each other around a tall manchioneel-
tree, on one of whose upper limbs he discovered
a nest nearly finished.

The nest consists of a loose basket of dry stems
of yam, and tendrils of passion-flower, lined with
a slight cup of horse-hair and fibres from palmetto-

180 PASSERES,—MUSCICAPADZ.

leaves. Four or five eggs are laid, of a drab hue
or reddish-white, with blotches of reddish-brown
and bluish irregularly intermixed, but chiefly ar-
ranged in the form of a crown around the larger
end,

In the month of September they become, in com-
mon with their grey congeners, a mere mass of
fat, and are at this time in much request for the
table. They are supposed to acquire this fatness
by feeding on the honey-bees, which then resort
in great numbers to the magnificent bloom-spike of
the cabbage-palm. Hither the Petchary also resorts,
and sittmg on a frond captures the industrious
insects as they approach. At this time the large
and branching spike of blossom, projecting and
then curving gracefully downwards, and looking
as if exquisitely moulded in white wax, is a very
beautiful object; and the pollen from the flowers
is diffused so abundantly, that the ground beneath
the tree, appears exactly as if it had been visited by
a snow-shower.

This appears to be the species alluded to by
Robinson in the following note. ‘ They [the Ty-
rants, Baristi, as he calls them,] are all very bold
birds, especially the largest species called the Log-
gerhead, who beats all kinds of birds indiscrimi-
nately; he is also the harbinger of the morning,
constantly giving notice of the approach of day
by his cry. When he is beating a Carrion Crow
or other birds, he snaps his bill very frequently;
he is a very active, bold bird, and feeds upon
insects and lizards. I have seen him give chase

COMMON PETCHARY. 181

toa lizard round the trunk of a small tree, flying
in circles with surprising activity. In beating any
large bird, both cock and hen (if both are in
the way,) join in the quarrel or scuffle.”* In these
assaults, the intrepid Petchary does not always
come off scathless. ‘ And here,” says Robinson
in speaking of the Red-tailed Buzzard, “I cannot
help recollecting an unhappy though deserved. ill-
fate, which sometimes befals the large Logger-
head. Everybody is acquainted with the pugna-
cious nature of this little bird; for he attacks and
buffets every large bird that happens to fall in his
way, snapping his beak and pursuing him with
great violence ; and among others this great Hawk
is often disturbed and beaten by him.

‘* At Chestervale, in the cultivated ground, it
is common for this Hawk to perch upon the top
of some dry tree. This situation he chooses that
he may the better view the ground beneath, and
observe if a rat or other animal should make its.
appearance. While he sits here upon the watch,
tis ten to one but he is attacked by the Logger-
head, whom he suffers to buffet and beat him with
great patience, without offering to stir once from
his place; till, his assailant being quite tired and
spent with the violence of his exercise, inadvertently
sits down on some twig not far distant from his
passive, and, as he may think, inoffensive enemy.
That enemy, however, now keeps his eye fixed
on him, and no sooner does he begin to preen
his feathers, or look carelessly about him, than

* Robinson’s MSS. ii. 102.

182 PASSERES.—MUSCICAPADZ.

down pounces the Hawk suddenly upon him, seizes
the unwary bird in his talons, and devours him,” *
The courage of the Tyrants in defence of their
nests, is well known; but it seems at times to be-
come almost a mania. The late proprietor of Mount
Airy, in his daily walks about the estate, was at-
tacked with such virulence by a Petchary that was
nesting, the bird actually pecking his head, that
he was compelled to take out a stick in defence,
with which he at length struck down the too
valiant bird. Dogs seem especially obnoxious to
it, and this not only during incubation; at any
time a passing dog is likely to be assaulted by this
fierce bird, and if he be so unfortunate as to have
any sore on his body, that is sure to be the point
of attack. One of my youths, a veracious lad, nar-
rated to me the following circumstance, to which
he was witness. A large dog was following his
mistress through Mount Edgecumbe Pen, when a
Petchary flew virulently at him: on the shoulder
of the dog was a large running sore; to this the
bird directed his attention: suspending himself over
the wound, he clutched with his extended feet as
if he wished to seize it thus, snapping angrily with
his beak ; then suddenly he pecked the wound, while
the dog howled in agony. The bird, however, re-
peated its assaults exactly in the same manner, until
the blood ran down the shoulder from the wound ;
the dog all the while seemingly cowed and afraid to
run, but howling most piteously, and turning round
to snap at the bird. The woman was at some distance

* MSS.

COMMON PETCHARY. 183

ahead, and took no notice; and the war continued
until my informant left. The Petchary continued,
in this case, on the wing; but frequently he alights
on the dog to peck him.

Both this and the Grey Petchary, when excited,
open and shut the coronal feathers alternately.
When opened, the appearance is as if a deep fur-
row had been ploughed through the plumage of
the head, the sides of which are vividly coloured.
Occasionally this furrow is opened in death, and
remains so: one or two birds being brought me
in this condition, when my acquaintance with the
species was slight, I suspected that some of the
feathers had been plucked out, in order to enhance
the value of the specimens by displaying the gayer
colour. A male of the present species, which I
wounded one day in April, on my taking it up,
began to scream passionately, and to open and
shut the crown, biting ferociously; another from
the same tree, probably his mate, attracted by his
cries, pursued me, endeavouring to peck me: and
when repelled, continued to gaze, stretching its
neck anxiously, whenever the screams were re-
peated.

In the quotation from Robinson’s MSS., page 180,
the early habits of this bird were noticed. On the
same subject, Mr. Hill writes me, “I know no
bird-voice, not excepting ‘ the cock’s shrill clarion,’
that is earlier heard than the pi-pi-pihou of the
Loggerhead Tyrant. In my neighbourhood seve-
ral of the yards are planted with cocoa-nut trees.
On avery lofty cocoa palm to the north of me, a

184 PASSERES.—MUSCICAPADZ.

pair of Grey Petcharies annually nestle in the month
of April. On half a dozen less elevated ones to
the west of me, several Loggerheads take up their
locations as early as January, and build their nests
there. I say January, as that is their time for
nestling, but I see them there ordinarily by Christ-
mas, and I hear the clang and clatter of their
voices before; but it is not till the turn of the
year, that they unfailingly chant every morning
their peculiar reveillé; singing pi-pi-pihou, pi-pi—,
pipi-pi-pihou, for an hour from the firing of the
Port Royal gun, a little before five, till the sun
is well up:—they then descend to some of the
lower vegetation round about, and alter their chant
from the more musical pipi-pihou, to a sort of scream
minutes more; when they cease for the day. It
was this remarkable obtrusion of their chant upon
the ear, before day-break, in the shortest of our
days, that led me to the conclusion that they were
the Zyrannus matutinus of Vieillot. Buffon, on
remarking that no bird is earlier than the Black-
headed Pipiri, as he designates it, for he is assured
that it is heard as soon as the day begins to dawn,
gives two or three striking notes from St. Domingo
correspondents, in which this fact is particularly
recorded, A Mr. Deshayes in his communication
writes, that “‘ the Pipiri seen in the forest, and in
ruinate lands, and in cultivated spots, thrives every-
where; but. more especially the’ Yellow-crested
Pipiri, which is the more multiplied species; that
one delights in places that are inhabited. In winter

5 <>

COMMON PETCHARY. 185

they draw near to houses, and as the temperature
of this season in these climates, has much the cha-
racter of spring-time in France, it would seem
that the prevailing coolness and freshness fills them
with life and gaiety. Indeed never are they seen
so full of clatter, and so cheerful as in the months
of November and December; they then tease each
other, and dash along somersetting (voltigant) one
after the other, as a sort of prelude to love-mak-
ing.’” My friend again writes me on the 30th of
April:—* As I lay fever-wake on the morning of
the 27th, I heard again the Loggerhead Tyrant
singing most musically his day-dawn salutation of
pipi-pihou. My sister, who listened to the early
songster -too, thinks that op, PP, P, @, is his morn-
ing lesson; and it is, perhaps, the closest resem~
blance to his chant. He is a scholar after the
fashion of modern Infant schools. His alphabet
and multiplication-table are a song. He repeated
his lesson the following morning, but I have slept
so soundly since, that I cannot say whether he has
continued to wake to his learning at the firing of
the Port Royal gun.”

186 PASSERES.—MUSCICAPAD2.

RED PETCHARY.*
Loggerhead.—Great Crested Flycatcher. —W 11s.
Tyrannus crinitus.

Muscicapa crinita, Linn.—Aud. pl. 129.
Tyrannus crinitus, Bonar.

Tuoveu found in Jamaica through the winter,
the Loggerhead is not then very common; but in
March many begin to frequent the groves, and
trees of the pastures; and may be observed pur-
suing each other in devious flights, uttering a rat-
tling cry, harsh, though not loud. As they sit in
a tree, they emit at intervals a loud pirr, in a
plaintive tone, ruffling the plumage, and shivering
the wings at the same time. Its general habits are
those of its congeners, but it lacks their pugnacity.
Very large insects form its ordinary prey: one I
shot in the very act of taking a large cicada, while
sitting on a twig, the insect was still in its throat
when killed. In November I have found the
stomach filled with the large red-berries of the
Tropic birch.

Sam tells me he has found the nest of this bird,
containing four young, at the very bottom of a
hollow stump, in a mountain district.

* Length 9 inches, expanse 13}, flexure 44, tail 4, rictus 1,3,, tarsus
1, middle toe 3.

= ee

BLACK SHRIKE. 187

BLACK SHRIKE.*
Judy.— Mountain Dick.
Tityra leuconotus.
Tityra leuconotus, G. R. Gray.—Gen. pl. 63.

Tuis species, hitherto undescribed, is named and
figured by Mr. G. R. Gray, in his “ Genera of
Birds,” from specimens procured by myself. It
is not uncommon in the mountain districts of Ja-
maica, where, from the remarkable diversity in
the appearance of the male and female, they are
distinguished by separate local names. The black
male is known by the feminine appellation of Judy,
while the chestnut-headed female receives the mas-
culine soubriquet of Mountain Dick. Mr. Gray,
from his acquaintance with the genus, I presume,
was able to identify the sexes by an examination
of dried skins, while I was long in coming to the
same conclusion, from observation of the living
birds. Yet I early suspected it; their form and

* Length 73 to 8 inches, expanse 13, tail 33, flexure 4, rictus 14,
breadth of beak at base -8,, tarsus 1, middle toe 4.

Male. Irides, very dark hazel ; beak black ; feet blue-grey. Whole
plumage black, save that the bases of the scapulars are pure white, forming
a white band on each shoulder, generally concealed by the plumage of
the back. The throat and breast are of a paler hue, and the upper parts
are glossed with blue and green reflections. Female. Head rich umber,
softening into bay on the throat and breast; throat whitish ; back
brownish grey ; wing-feathers umber externally, blackish medially, paler
on the inner webs: tail blackish umber, paler beneath ; belly pale grey.

Head large; crown feathers erectile. Intestine 95 inches. Two
ceca, rudimentary ; like minute pimples.

188 PASSERES.—MUSCICAPAD2.

size were the same; their manners were the same;
their singular call was the same; they were almost
always found either actually in company, or else
the one calling, and the other answering, at a
short distance from each other. It remained, how-
ever, to prove the fact; and I accordingly dissected
every specimen that fell in my way, for many
months; the result of which was that every “ Judy,”
was a male; and that almost every ‘“ Mountain
Dick.” was a female; to this latter there were
but two exceptions; two in the umber plumage
were indubitably males, but in one of them, shot
in February, the dark brown hue of the head was
almost obliterated, and replaced by black, the
tips and edges only of the feathers being brown.
Probably, the male of the first year bears the colours
of the female, a supposition afterwards confirmed.

Though more frequently seen at a considerable
elevation from the sea, we occasionally meet with
these birds in the lowlands; they are, however,
rather recluse, affecting woods and lonely places.
Here as they hop from one twig to another, or
sit hid in the foliage’ of a thick tree, they utter
a rapid, and not unmusical succession of notes, as
if attempting to compress them all into one. Some
idea may be formed of it, by playing with one
hand the following notes on a pianoforte.

Svam The notes are occasionally
i ee a , :
tea poured forth in the air as the

Weer. bird flits from tree totree. But

AA AA OD ag :
7 evees very commonly it is heard, with-
‘i out any variation, from the male

BLACK SHRIKE. 189

and female alternately, seated on two trees, perhaps
on the opposite sides of a road; thus:— The
Mountain Dick calls, and the Judy immediately
answers; then a little pause ;—another call from
the Mountain Dick, and an instant answer from
Judy ;—until, after a few successions, the Judy gal-
lantly yields the point, and flies over to the other
tree to join his friend. In February, I have heard
it repeating a note somewhat like che-w.

This species is bold and fierce in self-defence,
the female no less than the male. On several oc-
casions, when I have shot, and but slightly wounded,
one, it would make vigorous efforts to escape by
running; but on being taken in the hand and
held by the legs, it would elevate the crown fea-
thers, turn the head up and bite fiercely at my ~
fingers, seizing and pinching the flesh with all its
force; striving at the same time to clutch with
its claws, and screaming vociferously. I have never
seen it pursue other birds in the aggressive man-
ner of the true Tyrants; nor, as far as I am aware,
does it capture. insects in the air, notwithstand-
ing that the rictus is defended by stiff bristles.
Stationary insects are usually the contents of the
stomach, particularly large bugs, (Pentatoma) and
caterpillars, and sometimes the eggs of insects. In
the winter the berries of the Bursera or Tropic
Birch, constitute a large portion of its food.

In April the Judy begins to arrange the do-
mestic economy of the season; and if the cradle
of his young is not so elaborate a structure as
some others, it makes up in quantity what it lacks

190 PASSERES.—MUSCICAPADZ.

in quality. In the latter part of this month, my
negro lads, being on a shooting excursion, ob-
served on Bluefields Mountain, a domed nest, made
apparently of dried leaves, about as large as a
child’s head, suspended from the under side of a
pendent branch of a tall tree. They watched awhile
to discover the owner, and presently saw the fe-
male of the present species enter, and re-emerge,
while the male was hopping about the tree. A
day or two after, 1 myself observed a similar nest,
similarly situated, beneath one of the pendent
branches of a tall cotton-tree, at Cave, on the
road to Savanna-le-Mar. It appeared to be com-
posed of loose trash, rather a ragged structure,
but evidently domed, with the entrance near the
bottom. Both the male and female were playing
and calling around it, and the latter at length
went in. On the 11th of May, passing that way
again, I observed this nest to be considerably larger,
not less than a foot in diameter, as well as I could
judge from the great elevation; its outline, how-
ever, was still ragged. I estimated the height of
the nest to be between seventy and eighty feet,
though on the lowest branch of the tree, and that
pendent. Yet this Ceiba had not attained the
giant. dimensions common to the species. A few
days after this, Sam saw a third nest, formed and
placed exactly as in the former cases, so that I
concluded this to be the usual economy. <A fourth
example, however, showed me, that the lofty ele-
vation is not indispensable, as also that I had not
yet seen the largest specimens of the nests. On

BLACK SHRIKE. , 9I

a branch of a small cedar (Cedrela) that overhangs
the high-road at Cave, I had noticed early in
June what appeared to be a heap of straw, tossed
up by a fork and lodged there, which the action
of the weather had in some degree smoothed at
the top, the ends trailing downwards. One day,
however, as I was looking up at it, I saw the brown
female of this species emerge from the bottom,
and presently return, entering at a narrow hole
beneath. As it was not more than twelve or fifteen
feet from the ground, I immediately sent my lads
to climb the tree, and cut the branch, which they
accordingly brought me, with the huge nest at-
tached. The boys reported that it was empty,
and that it had four entrances; but on examina-
tion, I found that every one of these was merely
a hollow in the immense walls, produced by the
receding of one part of the loose materials from
another. While they held it up in the position
it had occupied on the tree, I searched beneath
for the true entrance; which, when I had found
it, 1 had much difficulty to find again, so concealed
was it by the long draggling ends of the mass,
On inserting my finger, however, I felt the soft
and warm plumage of young birds, and pulled
out three, almost fully fledged. All three had
the plumage of the female, but one was manifestly
darker than the others: if this was, as I presume,
a cock, the conclusion above, that the young male
bears the livery of the female, is confirmed. As I
did not want the young, I placed them on a lower
limb of a large tree in the yard; and as, on the

192 PASSERES.—MUSCICAPADA.

next day, I saw two of them about the tree lively
and active, and as one flew a distance of, perhaps,
thirty feet, I trust that they did well, and sur-
vived their premature exposure to the world. To
return to the nest, however: I found it a loose,
oblong mass, flattened on two sides, measuring in
height about two and a half feet, (though the ends
hung down to the length of four feet,) in width
more than two feet, and in thickness about one
foot. It was composed almost entirely of the
stems and tendrils of passion flowers, mixed, how-
ever, and that all through the structure, with bright-
yellow, silky spiders’ nests, and the downy fila-
ments of some cottony herbs. The cavity was not
larger than a man’s two fists, and was not, in any
measure, lined: it descended within the entrance,
though the latter faced the ground.

WHITE-EYED FLYCATCHER.
Sewy-sewy.
Vireo Noveboracensis.

Muscicapa Noveboracensis, Gu.— Aud. pl. 63.
Muscicapa cantatria, Wus.
Vireo Noveboracensis, Bonap.

Tuts modest little bird is not uncommon through-
out the year. It manifests little fear of approach,

* Length 43 inches, expanse 6, flexure 2,4, tail 2, rictus 5. tarsus
£5, middle toe =§;. Intestine 4 inches, two minute, rudimentary ceca.

WHITE-EYED FLYCATCHER. 193

allowing one to come within a few feet, as it peeps
about among the twigs of low trees and shrubs.
It rather seems to have a good deal of curiosity,
for it will peep at a person approaching, and if
he move slowly and avoid anything to provoke
alarm, will hop gradually down from twig to twig,
stretching out its neck, until it is almost within
touch. Three or four will sometimes chase each
other among the branches, and from bush to bush,
uttering at intervals a monotonous chirruping. Its
notes are very varied; sometimes a loud chewurr,
or sweet-will, uttered with deliberation and much
mellowness of tone. I have heard it in March
uttering with surprising loudness a single clear
and shrill whistle, slightly modulated: after a while
it changed this to a double note, to-whit, to-whit,
equally loud and piercing. About the same sea-
son I have listened to che-che-che-churrrr ; and in
May, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, t0-too.

I have never found anything but seeds in the
stomach of this bird; though I-do not doubt that
it eats insects also.

The White-eyed Flycatcher is one of those species
that are only partially migratory; during the sum-
mer it spreads over the United States. It is found
throughout the year in our sultry island, though
with diminished numbers in the summer.

194 PASSERES.—MUSCICAPAP A.

JOHN-TO-WHIT.*

Red-eyed Flycatcher. W11s.— Whip-Tom-Kelly. SLoanx.
Vireosylva olivacea.

Muscicapa olivacea, Linn.—Aud. pl. 150.
Vireosylva olivacedy, Bonap.

Muvcu oftener heard than seen, though not un-
familiar to either sense, this sober-coloured bird is
one of those whose notes have such a similarity to
articulations as to procure them a common ap-
pellation. The Flycatchers, in general, are not
very vociferous, but this is pertinacious in its tri-
tonous call, repeating it with energy every two
or three seconds. It does not ordinarily sit on a
prominent twig, or dart out after insects, though
I have seen one in eager, but unsuccessful pur-
suit of a butterfly (Terias), but it seems to love
the centre of thick trees, where it sits announc-
ing its presence, or flits from bough to bough as
you approach; so that it is not easy to get a sight
of it.

This bird does not winter with us, but leaves
with the Grey Petchary, at the beginning of Oc-
tober. It returns early, and like the bird just

* Length 6} inches, expanse 10, flexure 34, tail 2,4, rictus 34, tarsus
+s, middle toe =4,. Intestine 74 inches ; two minute ceca, merely rudi-
mentary.

\

JOHN-TO-WHIT. 195

named, evidently makes an eastward progress, ar-
riving at the south-west end of the island first.
On the 26th of March, on my return to Bluefields,
after a visit to Spanish town, I heard its well-known
voice, but my lad had noticed it a week before.
From this time, every grove, I might almost say
every tree, had its bird, uttering with incessant
iteration and untiring energy, from its umbrage-
ous concealment, Sweet-John !—John-to-whit !—sweet-
John-to-whit !—John-t whit ! — sweet-John-to—whit !
—I can scarcely understand how the call can be
written “ Whip-Tom-Kelly,” as the accent, if I
may so say, is most energetically on the last syl-
lable. Nor have I ever heard this appellation
given to it in Jamaica. After July we rarely hear
John-to-whit, — but, to-whit — to-whoo; and some-
times a soft simple chirp, or sip, sip, whispered
so gently as scarcely to be audible. This, how-
ever, I have reason to believe, is the note of the
young, for I have heard young ones repeatedly
utter it, when sitting on a twig, receiving from
time to time, with gaping beak, and quivering wing,
the food contributed by the dam.

The food of the John-to-whit is both animal
and vegetable. In March I have found in its sto-
mach the seeds of the Tropic Birch, and in April
the berries of Sweet-wood, in an unripe state. In
the same month, I observed one hunting insects
by the borders of Bluefields rivulet in which I
was bathing; and so intent was it upon its oc-
cupation, that it allowed me to approach within

a foot of it before it flew. It sought insects suc-
K 2

196 PASSERES.—MUSCICAPADZ.

cessfully among the grass and low herbage, perch-
ing on the stalks of the weeds, and jumping out
after stationary, as well as vagrant, prey. I ob-
served it eat two spiders’ nests, which it masticated,
as if peculiarly savoury. As it sat, it vomited a
little white body, which I found to be the globose
seed of the misseltoe berry.

Incubation takes place in June and July. The
nest is ratherea neat structure, though made of
coarse materials. It is a deep cup, about as large
as an ordinary tea-cup, narrowed at the mouth;
composed of dried grass, intermixed with silk-
cotton, and sparingly with lichen and_ spiders’
nests, and lined with thatch-threads. It is usually
suspended between two twigs, or in the fork of
one, the margin being over-woven, so as to em-
brace the twigs. This is very neatly performed.
Specimens vary much in beauty: one before me
is particularly neat and compact, being almost. glo-
bular in form, except that about one-fourth of
the globe is wanting, as it is a cup. Though the
walls are not thick, they are very firm and close,
the materials being well woven. These are fibres
of grass-like plants, moss, a few dry leaves, flat
papery spiders’ nests, with a little cotton or down
for the over-binding of the edges. It is lined
smoothly with fibres, I know not of what plant,
as slender as human hair. Another nest, similarly
formed, has the cavity almost filled with a mass
of white cotton, which looks as if thrust in by
man, but that those filaments of the mass that
are in contact with the sides, are interwoven with

CEDAR-BIRD. 197

the other materials. As it is picked cotton, it
must be a bit stolen from some house or yard,
not plucked by the bird from the capsule. The
eggs, commonly three in number, are delicately
white, with a few small red-brown spots, thinly
scattered over the surface, sometimes very minute
and few. Their form is a somewhat pointed oval,
measuring 3% inch, by rather less than 43.

Fam.—AMPELIDZ. (The Chatterers.)
CEDAR-BIRD.
Ampelis Carolinensis.

Bombycilla Carolinensis, Briss.—Aud. pl. 43.
Ampelis Americana, Wus.
Bombycilla cedrorum, ViEILL.

For the history of this elegant bird, which has
never fallen under my notice in Jamaica, I refer
to the American ornithologists) My reason for
noticing it here, is the following note of Mr. Hill’s.

‘‘In severe winters on the continent, we have
been visited by that American species of the Wax-
wing usually called the Cedar-bird. I have been
informed that in the Christmas of 1836, several
in a flock were seen about the cashaw-trees of
Spanish town. Nothing is known of their habits
with us, except that they were shy, and scudded
about, a dozen or twenty together, and very pro-

198 PASSERES.—AMPELID&.

minently displayed the scarlet, wax-like ornaments
resulting from the flattening of the shafts of the
secondary feathers of the wings.”

SOLITAIRE.*

Muscicapa armillata, VIEILLOT.

Myiadestes genibarbis, SwalINson.
Ptilogonys armillatus, |G. R. Gray.—Gen. B. pl. 69.

WANDERING among the woods on the summit
of the mountain ridge that rises behind Bluefields,
I had often heard in the spring, proceeding from
the deep forests, a singie clear note, lengthened
and mellow as the tone of a flute, sometimes alone,
sometimes followed by another, about two tones
lower. The notes were singularly sweet, and their
sudden recurrence at rather long intervals, in the

“ Length 8 inches ; expanse 11} ; flexure 34; tail 33; rictus 8;
breadth of beak at base 4, ; tarsus 1 ; middle toe 35.

Irides hazel, or dull orange ; beak black ; feet bright fulvous, claws
black. Upper parts blue-grey ; wing-quills black with grey edges, the
bases of the interior primaries white, visible when expanded ; the greater
primary coverts, and that part,of the primaries succeeding the white,
deeper black, unedged with grey. Tail black, uropygials grey ; a short
white line near the tip of the inner web of the third true tail-feather from
the middle, increases on each outwardly, till the fifth is almost wholly
white. Cheeks black ; a spot at base of lower mandible, and lower eye-
lid, white; chin and throat rust-red. Breast ashy-grey, paler on belly ;
vent and under tail-coverts rusty orange. Edge of shoulder white. In-
testine 7 inches: two caeca, so small as to be almost rudimentary. Sexes
alike,

SOLITAIRE. 199

lone and sombre silence of that lofty elevation,
imparted to them a romantic character, which made
me very desirous to discover their author. As
the summer came on, however, I ceased to hear
them: but in the beginning of October, as I was
wandering again in the same locality, I was again
startled by the interesting sounds. As I pro-
ceeded on the very lonely road, through the humid
woods, where the trees were loaded with orchidez
and wild-pines, and the dank stones hidden by
ferns and mosses, the notes became more frequent
and evidently nearer. It being useless for a white
man, with shoes, to attempt to follow retiring birds
among the matted woods, tangled and choked with
climbers, and strewn with loose stones, I sent
in Sam with a gun, with orders to follow the
sound. He crept silently to a spot whence he
heard it proceed, and saw two birds of this species,
which neither he nor I had seen before, chasing
each other among the boughs. He shot one of
them. As he was coming. out into the road, he
imitated the sound by whistling, and was imme-
diately answered by another bird, which presently
came flying to the place where he was, and alighted
on a tree at a little distance. He fired at this
also, and it fell; but emitted the remarkable note
at the moment of falling.

But it is at early day,—when the dew lies so
heavily on the broad-leafed cocoes of the provi-
sion grounds, that from every leaf you might col-
lect a gill of sparkling water; while the mosses
and ground-ferns are moist as a saturated sponge;

200 PASSERES.—AMPELID.

before the sun has peeped over the distant moun-
tain-peaks, and before the light has struggled into
the gloomy forest on either side;—it is at early
day, that if we traverse some narrow rocky bridle-
path that winds around the hill-sides, choked up
with jointer and glass-eye berry, and overhung
by towering Santa Marias, cabbage-palms, and tree-
ferns, we become familiar with this interesting bird.
The voices of many are then heard saluting the
opening day, some near at hand, some scarce au-
dible in the distance; and as all do not pipe in
the same key, we sometimes hear beautiful and
startling chords produced. Although there is a
richness in the tones, which the human voice in
whistling can by no means attain, yet the birds
will frequently respond to an imitation of their
call. Now and then we may obtain a sight of one,
or a pair, as they seem generally in pairs, sitting,
with a melancholy absorbed air, on some low tree
a little way within the forest, manifesting little
alarm or curiosity.

It was soon after I became acquainted with this
bird that I received the following note from Mr.
Hill: in reference to an intention which I then
had of ascending that magnificent ridge called the
Blue Mountains, whose summits are 8000 feet
high.—*‘ There are two living attractions in these
mountains, a crested snake, and a sweetly’ mys-
terious singing bird called the Solitaire. This bird
is a Thrush, and it is worth a journey to hear
his wonderful song. I find among some detached
notes of mine, the following memorandum respect-

SOLITAIRE. 9201

ing a similar bird in the smaller West Indian islands.
‘The precipitous sides of the Souffriere mountain
in St. Vincent,’ says a writer describing the volcano
which so disastrously broke out there in 1812, ‘ were
fringed with various evergreens, and aromatic shrubs,
flowers, and many Alpine plants. On. the north
and south sides of the base of the cone were two
pieces of water, one perfectly pure and tasteless,
the other strongly impregnated with sulphur and
alum. ‘This lonely and beautiful spot was rendered
more enchanting by the singularly melodious notes
of a bird, an inhabitant of those upper solitudes,
and altogether unknown to the other parts of the
island; hence supposed to be invisible, though it
certainly has been seen, and is a species of merle.’
I extract my notes on the Haytian bird: though
I have seen Jamaica specimens, I never visited
their mountain haunts. ‘As soon as the first in- ~
dications of day-light are perceived, even while the
mists hang over the forests, these minstrels are
heard pouring forth their wild notes in a concert
of many voices, sweet and lengthened like those
of the harmonica or musical glasses. It is the
sweetest, the most solemn, and most unearthly of
all the woodland singing I have ever heard. The
lofty locality, the cloud-capt heights, to which alone
the eagle soars in other countries,—so different
from ordinary singing-birds in gardens and cul-
tivated fields,—combine with the solemnity of the
music to excite something like devotional asso-
ciations. The notes are uttered slowly and dis-

tinctly, with a strangely-measured exactness. Though
K 5

202 PASSERES.—AMPELID®.

it is seldom that the bird is seen, it can scarcely
be said to be solitary, since it rarely sings alone,
but in harmony or concert with some half-dozen
others chanting in the same glen. Occasionally
it strikes out into such an adventitious combination
of notes, as to form a perfect tune. The time of
enunciating a single note, is that of the semi-breve.
The quaver is executed with the most perfect trill.
It regards the major and minor cadences, and ob-
serves the harmony of counter-point, with all the
preciseness of a perfect musician. Its melodies,
from the length and distinctness of each note,
are more hymns than songs. Though the concert
of singers will keep to the same melody for an
hour, each little coterie of birds chants a different
song, and the traveller by no accident ever hears
the same tune.’” In another letter he says, “ Buf-
fon notices the Solitaire under the title of the
Organist. He thus speaks of it,—‘In St. Domin-
go the name of Organist has been given to this
little bird, because, in ascending from grave to
sharp, it sounds all the tones of the octave. It
is not only very singular but very agreeable. Che-
valier Fabre Deshayes writes, that, in the southern
parts of St. Domingo in the high mountains, there
is a very rare but very celebrated bird, called the
Musician, whose song can be set down by notes.
The Musician of M. Deshayes, it is to be pre-
sumed, is the same with our Organist.* In M.

* There is some confusion here. Our Solitaire has no resemblance to
“ L’Organiste de St. Domingue,” Pl. Enl. 809, (Pipra musica of Gmel.
and Lath.) nor to“ L’Euphone Organiste ” of Vieillot (Gal. Ois.) which is

SOLITAIRE. 203

Page Dupretz’s History of Louisiana, there is a
description of a small bird which they call the
Bishop, and which we believe to be the same with
our Organist. Its plumage being blue passing into
violet, it has hence obtained the name of Bishop.
It is so sweet-throated, so flexible in its tones,
and so soft in its warblings, that those who once
hear it become somewhat measured in their praises
of the Nightingale. The notes of its song are
lengthened out like those of a miserere. Whilst
it sings it does not seem to draw breath; but it
rests a double time before it recommences, and
this alternation of singing and resting will be con-
tinued for two hours.’ ”

When I received’ these notes from my friend,
and had identified my bird with his description,
I had never heard more than two notes in suc-
cession. Curiosity impelled me to visit their lofty
solitudes often through the winter, and at length on
the 3rd of February, when they were abundant,
I heard three successive notes of different tones,
proceed from the same bird; exactly like so many
notes of a psalm, played in slow time. And about
three weeks later, I find this note in my journal;
I have at length heard the song of the Solitaire ;
the long clear notes, followed by many others of
varying length, and different tones, but separated
by pauses rather too long to make a piece of music,
causing the whole to seem disjointed ; but with much
an Euphonia, allied to our Blue Quit, (see p. 238,) but with brighter

colours. I incline to think that Deshayes is writing of our bird; but
certainly not the others, unless they attribute the notes erroneously.

204 PASSERES.—AMPELID&.

sweetness, If I may conjecture, these true me-
lodies are peculiar to the nuptial season, and in-
dicate that the period of incubation is either begun
or near; a time that generally exerts much in-
fluence on the singing of birds.

From that time they filled the woods with their
solemn music, until April; when they began to
become scarce, and by the middle of May not
one was to be heard or seen. I concluded that
they were migratory, and had now departed from
the island for the summer; but on mentioning the
fact to Mr. Hill, he informed me about the be-
ginning of June, that a friend of his who had
travelled through the Coona-coonas a day or two
before, (a district of the Blue Mountains, in which
Mr. Purdie heard them in his botanical tour, and
at the same season,) had heard them singing by
scores. And he adds, “My Haytian notes relate
to two visits to the mountains they inhabit in that
neighbour island; the first was in August, the se-
cond in June; and they were there in the lofty
pine forests in hundreds.” The curious fact of the
total disappearance of the species from the Blue-
fields Peaks during the summer, while yet present
in the island, leads me to conjecture, that they
may be subject to the same instinct as influences
migratory birds, but leading them to seek a colder
climate, not in a northern latitude, but in a loftier
elevation. The Peaks of Bluefields, though the
highest land in the western part of the island, are
not more than 2600 feet high, and therefore far less
elevated than the ridges of the eastern end.

—~ ae EES —,

SOLITAIRE. 205

As far as I know, the food of the Solitaire is
exclusively berries: I have never found an insect
in the stomachs of many that I have dissected.
Mr. Hill found in one, the berries of a mountain
Rubus, like the blackberry. In the Autumn, I
have detected those of the misseltoe, but more
commonly those’ called glass-eye berries, from their
constituting the chief food of the Merle of that
name. In February, the pimento groves, which
cover the mountain-brow are loaded with fruit, not
soft and sweet and black, as when ripe, but hard
and green, and in the very state in which it is
picked to be dried for commerce. The temptation
of these berries draws the Solitaires from their
seclusion, and we not only hear their clear notes
trilled from every part of the groves, but see them
familiarly eating, at the edges of the pastures, and
by the roadsides. It is worthy of remark that
their companions in retirement, the Glass-eyes, ac-
company them also in these feeding excursions,
and partake of the feast. I found the stomachs of
both species at this season, loaded with the green
pimento.

The two specimens which first came into my
hands, early in October, manifested signs of a sea-
sonal change of plumage. One had the head pret-
tily covered with pale rusty spots, each feather
being thus tipped: several of the body feathers
were similarly tipped. This was moulting, and I
perceived that it was the old feathers which were
tipped, the new ones being uniformly grey, whence
I infer the spotted character to be that of the

206 PASSERES.—AMPELID2.

summer dress, perhaps extending to all the cloth-
ing feathers. The other specimen exhibited the
same peculiarity, but in a less degree,

I have much pleasure in adding the following
note contained in a letter from my friend, received
since my arrival in England. Mr, Hill, having
made some inquiries of a gentleman residing among
the Blue Mountains, Andrew G. Johnston, Esq.,
received the following reply :—‘‘ I have no copy of
my musical score of the Solitaire’s song. The bird
now [July 27th] uses only its long breve notes
and its octave, often out of tune, more often
ae, so than perfect. In the spring they are very
i numerous in the deep forests, and warble very
prettily, somewhat like this :—

tr (3.50 Sa Yoo
t__-}19—9— 9—0 7 PR ce ss
(hy-C ert reer Sas es 4
e/ =o —— - ©
RT a

sometimes thus—

The pointed crotchets are very sweet sounds,

and seem to sound b--vil “ik I tried in vain to
get one this spring, but I find the negroes know
nothing about them. Hearing them one day sing-
ing, I asked two maroon-men who also listened,
what birds they were. One said a grey speckled
bird, mottled like a guinea-fowl: the other that it
was black, and red about the rump and under the
wings.” My conjectures on both points, are thus

aaa = facapedb timers Mee »

SOLITAIRE. 207

confirmed. I may add that the
most common notes that I have mei ae
heard are these.

Vieillot, who first described the pal aie the
name of Muscicapa armillata, says that “it in-
habits the Antilles, but is very rare in the greater
islands.” His figure, pl. 42, is poor, both as re-
gards form and colour. Mr. Swainson’s figure of
Myjiadestes genibarbis, (Nat. Lib. Flycatchers, pl.
13,) if meant for this species, is better as to colour-
ing, but neither its form nor attitude is correct.
Moreover, as he says, its body is not much larger
than that of the robin, and mentions white lines
on the black ear-coverts, it is with me a matter
of doubt; especially as he speaks of the intimate
resemblance which it bears to our common robin,
‘not merely in the red colour of the throat,” but
in form; a resemblance certainly not discoverable
in the living bird.

The figure in Mr. Gray’s Genera of Birds was
drawn from one of the specimens procured by me
in Jamaica, and is in winter plumage.

208 PASSERES.—CORVIDZ.

Fam.—CORVIDA.—(The Crows.)

BLACK-HEADED JAY.*
Cyanocorax pileatus.
Corvus pileatus, I1i.—PI. col. 58.

Tus fine bird was brought to Mr. Hill, about
the end of the year 1844, from the mountains of
St. Andrews, by a negro who stated that he had
caught it near Newcastle. Its wings were cut;
which at once excited the suspicion that it had
been a caged bird, but, on a moment’s examination,
it was perceived that its perfect cleanness and
the smoothness of its plumage decisively indicated
a state of freedom and wildness. The man stated
that having caught it alive in the garden of his
cottage, which, (from the circumstance that the
cottage-gardens, in the precipitous mountains, often
run into narrow cliffs and corners, environed as if
by enormous walls,) he might readily do, he had
endeavoured to keep it alive, and had clipped
both its wings for its detention. After a few days,
however, it died, probably for want of proper food,
and he brought it to Kingston, to dispose of it
for a trifle.

I find by reference to Temminck, Pl. col., that
this specimen, now in my possession, is a female;

* Length 14 inches, tail 55%, rictus 1,3), tarsus 24, middle toe 1-5,.

JABBERING CROW. 209

the male has the belly yellowish. His figure is
also a female. He ascribes the species to Brazil
and Paraguay.

JABBERING CROW.*
Gabbling Crow.

Corvus Jamaicensis.

Cornix Jamaicensis, Briss.
Corvus Jamaicensis, GMEL.

In the wildest parts of the mountain regions of
Jamaica, where the perilous path winds round a
towering cone on the one hand, and on the other
looks down into a deep and precipitous gully; or
where a narrow track, choked up with tree-ferns
on which the vertical sun looks only at noon-day,
leads through the dark and damp forest to some
lonely negro ground, the traveller is startled by
the still wilder tones of the Jabbering Crow. So
uncouth and yet so articulate, so varied in the
inflexions of their tones, are these sounds, that
the wondering stranger can with difficulty believe
he is listening to the voice of a bird, but rather
supposes he hears the harsh consonants, and deep
guttural intonations of some savage language. All

* Length 16} inches, expanse 28, flexure 94, tail 5%, rictus 2, tarsus
2, middle toe 14. Intestine 30 inches ; two ceca, situated close together,

on the inferior side of the rectum, about 4 inch from cloaca ; 5§ inch
long, slender. Irides greyish hazel.

210 PASSERES.—CORVIDZ.

the Crows are garrulous, and several are capable
of tolerable imitations of human speech, but the
present is the only example I am aware of, in
which the language of man is resembled by a bird
in a state of nature. The resemblance, however,
is rather general than particular; every one who

hears it is struck with its likeness to speech, though .

he cannot detect any known words: it is the lan-
guage of a foreigner. One cannot easily convey an
idea of the sounds by writing; but the following
fragments which the negroes have been able to
catch from the learned bird’s own mouth, will give
some notion of their character. ‘ Walk fast, crab!
do buckra work.—Cuttacoo* better than wallet.”
It must not be supposed that these words uniformly
represent the sounds; these and similar combinations
of harsh consonants and broad vowels, are varied ad
infinitum, as are also the tones in which they are
expressed. For myself, I have thought them ludi-
crously like the very peculiar voice of Punch in a
puppet-show; others have fancied in them _half-
a dozen Welshmen quarrelling. These strange
sounds are generally poured forth in sentences, of
varying length, from the summit of some lofty tree,
or in the course of the bird’s passage from one to
another,

In some parts of the mountains they are not un-
common, though their loquacity would induce us to
think them more numerous than they are, for we
rarely see more than two or three at once. They
are social, but not gregarious; and much of their

* A cuttacoo is a negro’s little hand-basket.

JABBERING CROW. 211

time is spent in visiting successively the summits of
those trees that tower above the rest of the forest,
the Santa-Maria, the bread-nut, the broad-leaf, and
the cotton-tree. As these visitations are often per-
formed alone, I imagine that the gabbling cries are
ealls to their companions, especially as, if another
comes within hearing, he is pretty sure to visit his
clamorous brother, and enter into noisy conversa-
tion with him. After spending a few minutes on
one tree, during which they do not, generally, change
their position, otherwise than by walking delibe-
rately along the branch, they both wing their way to
the next station, not side by side, but one a little
behind the other, both calling as they go. The
bleached and bare limbs of a dry tree are always
selected, when one of the requisite elevation is within
range, as affording most fully that which they seem
to delight in, an unobstructed prospect. Sometimes
they do alight on lower trees, but then they are
very wary and suspicious, so that it is a difficult
matter to get within shot of one. When out of gun
range, which they seem to estimate pretty accurately,
they are much more careless of a passing stranger.
Their flight is heavy and slow. They scarcely ever
desert the solitudes of the mountains; two thousand
feet is the lowest limit at which I have known them,
with two exceptions. The one is that in certain
lofty woods surrounding the extensive morass in
Saltspring Pen, near Black river, I have heard the
voices of these birds clamorously uttered, in the
latter part of November. The other instance oc-
curred behind Pedro Bluff, but little above the
level of the sea, where I heard this bird in June.

212 PASSERES.—CORVIDZ.

The food of the Jabbering Crow is principally
vegetable. Of several shot in autumn, the stomachs
contained various berries, some fleshy, others fari-
naceous. ‘The stomach is a muscular sac, but not
a gizzard. Descending in the early months of the
year to the ripening sour sops, on which it feeds, it
is then much more approachable, but at the same
time more silent. And about the same time, the
seed of the bitter wood is ripe, which also attracts
him. One of these trees is in the yard of a house at
Content, where I occasionally sojourned; this was
generally visited at dawn of day, and sometimes in
the evening, by the Crows. I have been amused by
the intelligence which they manifest in approaching
it: a company of two or three will come into the
neighbourhood, and alight with much clamour on
some tree in the woods, a few rods distant; we hear
no further sound, but presently one and another are
seen stealing on silent wing to the bitter-wood,
where they nibble the berries in all stillness and
quiet. I could not help thinking that the noisy and
ostentatious alighting on the first tree was but a
feint to prevent suspicion, as if they should say,
“Here we are, you see; this is the place that we
frequent.” And this, 1 am informed, is not an ac-
cidental case, but a habit. The pimento also,
which in its green state is eaten by so many of our
birds, tempts the Jabbering Crow in February from
his forest fastnesses, to the low but dense groves that
clothe the mountain brows.

An intelligent person has informed me, that it will

take advantage of a small bird’s being entangled in a.

JABBERING CROW. 213

withe, to kill and eat it; and that when a boy,
amusing himself by setting springes for small birds,
he has occasionally known them to be taken out of
the springe by the Jabbering Crow. These state-
ments, at least as far as the animal appetite is con-
cerned, are in some measure confirmed by an
experiment with one I had alive. One day in
December, hearing a strange querulous sound pro-
ceeding from the top of the woods near me, I sent
Sam to find the cause. He ascertained it to proceed
from one of two Jabbering Crows, perched side by
side on the top of a tree; the vociferous one being
evidently young, though in full plumage, and capa-
ble of flight, for it was shivering its wings, while
with open beak receiving something from the mouth
of the other, doubtless its parent. He shot the old
one, and slightly wounding it in the wing, brought
it to the ground, where it ran so vigorously, that he
had difficulty in securing it. It was rather formid-
able too; for it clutched his hand with its claws so
forcibly, as to give pain; and afterwards, as I was
holding it, it nipped my finger with the point of its
powerful beak, and took the piece out. When
turned into a room, it climbed about the various.
objects, by walking, and taking considerable jumps,
striving to gain the highest elevation it could attain,
where it sat, moody, but watchful. I presented to
it the flesh of one side of the breast of a bird
just skinned. He seized it greedily, and, after
carrying it about a little, attempted to swallow it.
In this he did not succeed without many efforts, as
the piece was large: he several times tried to toss it

214 PASSERES.—CORVIDZ.

while in his beak, and also drew it out by setting his
foot on it, and took it in another position; but seemed
to have no power of dividing it.

Robinson says, ‘‘ They are great devourers of ripe
plantains and bananas, and also rob the wild
pigeons of their eggs and young. When tame, they
are very droll and diverting, and as arrant thieves as
our Jackdaws and Magpies, stealing knives, spoons,
thimbles, &c., and hiding them. They abandon all
such plantations as have the woods much cleared
away from them, of which there have been many
instances, They are often seen stooping down and
drinking the water that is deposited in the bosom of
the leaves of the largest wild pines. When em-
ployed in stealing plantains, they are said to be
very silent, but at other times are the most loqua-
cious, noisy. animals breathing. I have been in-
formed by some very creditable persons, that they
will attack and destroy a yellow-snake; their me-
thod is to fly upon him one after another, and
tearing away a mouthful of his skin and flesh, re-
treat. This they do with great nimbleness, and
with impunity, till they have devoured the poor
animal alive.” (MSS.)

Once in walking in a very lonely wood, J came
suddenly on a Jabbering Crow sitting on a low tree
just over my head; the bird was evidently startled,
and in the surprise quite lost its presence of mind ;
for instead of making off with the usual clamour,
it flew mute to another low tree a few yards off,
where it sat peeping at me in silence, until I shot
it.

=> ed

JABBERING CROW. 215

I have never met with the nest; but a young
friend, to whom I am indebted for several interest-
ing facts, tells me, that about the beginning of last
June, he was accustomed to see a pair on a very
lofty cotton-tree, which he thought were nest-
ing. He repeatedly saw them go and “lie down,”
as he expressed it, in a large bunch of wild-pine,
where they would remain for some time; and when
one flew out, the other, which had been sitting on
the same tree, would go and sit in the place.
Usually the bird will leave its position on the slight-
est alarm, but when either of these was in its hollow,
nothing would induce it to fly. He on one occasion
fired thrice at the sitting bird, but she would not
leave her place, and the situation was too lofty
for the shot to reach her. The approach of the
birds to the wild-pine was always perfectly silent and
cautious; but they would dart out on any other
bird flyig near, and drive it away with clamour.
On the whole, I have no doubt that this pair had
a nest in the wild-pine. |

The same young friend once witnessed a singular
rencontre between two Jabbering Crows, and two
Red-tail Buzzards, and in this case it is probable
that parental solicitude gave the desperate courage.
A single Hawk flying along was pounced upon by
a Crow from a neighbouring tree, and a flying
fight commenced, the Hawk thrusting forth his
talons in endeavour to clutch, in which he once
succeeded, and the Crow repeatedly striking his
enemy forcibly with his sharp and powerful beak.
Now and then each would rise perpendicularly and

216 PASSERES.—CORVIDZ.

pounce down upon the other: this was principally
but not solely, the manner of the Buzzard, the
Crow usually striking his blow, and then retreating
obliquely. After some time a second Hawk ap-
proached, which was attacked by another Crow;
and now the melée went on in the same manner
between the four combatants. The conflict lasted
near ten minutes, and at length terminated in favour
of the Crows, who fairly drove their opponents off
the aerial field, pursuing them with pertinacity to
a great distance. At the moment of my writing
down this account, it was in a measure confirmed
by my actually observing a Jabbering Crow pur-
suing with insult a Buzzard over the woods: it
was strange to see, that after he had returned
from the pursuit, he himself was attacked by a
little Petchary, to whose superior prowess he was
fain to yield, and flee in his turn.

In the latter part of May and early in June,
which I presume to be the season of incubation,
the singular chattering is almost relinquished for
a much more monotonous cawing, somewhat like
the note of the Rook, but uttered more pertina-
ciously, and more ¢mpatiently.

Robinson states that “they build their nest with
slender twigs in the manner of Rooks on the tops
of lofty trees, but not more than two nests on one
tree. When they have young they will suffer
nobody to take them, assaulting the bold invader
with great courage and much clamour, fiercely
buffeting his face with their wings, at the same
time endeavouring to pluck out his eyes with their

ee ae =

TINKLING GRAKLE. Q1N7

strong beaks.” He elsewhere states that ‘they
are said to build in hollow trees.” (MSS.)

The flesh is not eaten; but having a curiosity
to taste it, I had one broiled. The flesh of the
breast was well-tasted and juicy, but so dark,
tough, and coarse-grained, that I should readily
have mistaken it for beef.

I found the tracheal muscles of this bird large
and globose.

Fam.—STURNID H.—( The Starlings.)
' TINKLING GRAKLE.*
Tin-tin.— Barbadoes Blackbird.
Quiscalus crassirostris.—Sw.

THE appearance, voice, and habits of this bird
had pretty well convinced me of its distinctness
from Q. versicolor, before I was aware that Mr.
Swainson had described it in ‘ Two centenaries
and a quarter,” p. 355. From the length of his
specimen, it is probable the tail was not fully
developed.

This is one of the first birds which a stranger
notices: his conspicuous size and glossy plumage, his
familiar business-like manners, and his very peculiar

* Length 123 inches, expanse 18}, flexure 6, tail 54, rictus 14,
tarsus 1,8, middle toe 1,4,- Intestine 12 inches; two cea 4 inch long,
4 inch from cloaca. Irides cream-white.

L

218 PASSERES.—STURNIDZ.

metallic cry, at once attract attention. Gregarious,
but not associating in very great numbers to feed,
they frequent pastures and open grounds in search
of insects, not often hopping, (though I have seen
one hop,) but walking with a swaggering gait,
like rooks and crows. When on the ground their
time is chiefly occupied in searching about among
the roots of the grass. It is most amusing to
stand where one is not observed, at a few yards’
distance from a Tinkling at work, and to watch
the unremitted industry with which he labours.
He marches rapidly to and fro, turning his head
in all directions, peeping eagerly hither and
thither, now turning one eye to a spot, now the
other, ever and anon thrusting into the earth
the beak, which is then forcibly opened to loosen
the soil. He drags many morsels forth, which he
quickly swallows, and searches for more. I suspect
earthworms and various larve that live at the
roots of grass are the objects of his research.
iAmidst his constant occupation, he does not omit,
however, to keep an eye warily on any suspicious
object. Only shew your person, and you see the
singular-looking white eye turned up towards you;
Stir a step towards him, and away he flies, utter-
ing his very peculiar cry, his long tail folded on
itself, and resembling a vertical fan. As he sits
on a tree, he will now and then elevate the fan-
like tail, ruffle up the plumage, throw back the
head, and with the beak wide open, utter two or
three most singular notes, which I can compare
to nothing but the sounds produced by repeatedly

TINKLING GRAKLE. 219

striking with force a piece of sonorous metal, re-
lieved occasionally by the creaking of a_ school-
boy’s pencil upon a slate. ‘There are,” observes
Mr. Hill, “two or three fine modulations, followed
by a sudden break down into the harsh grating
sounds of the ungreased wheels of a heavy-loaded
truck.” It is to the first of these notes that the
bird before us owes his local names of Tinkling,
Tintin, Clinkling, and, among the Spaniards of St.
Domingo, Chinchiling.

Like the Ani, the Tinkling feeds on the para-
sites of cattle. Walking among them, and mount-
ing on their backs, they pick off the ticks that so
sadly infest the poor beasts, who, as if appreciating
the service, offer not the slightest molestation to
their kind friends. I one day observed a Tink-
ling thus engaged in feeding her offspring. It
was in the picturesque pasture of Peter’s Vale,
where kine were numerous. Beneath the grate-
ful shade of a spreading mango, in the heat of
the day, a cow was peacefully ruminating. At
her feet was the old Tinkling, walking round and
looking up at her, with an intelligent eye. Pre-
sently she espied a tick upon the cow’s belly,
and leaping up, seized it in her beak. Then
marching to her sable offspring, who stood looking
on a few yards off, she proceeded to deliver the
savoury morsel into the throat of her son, who had
gaped to the utmost stretch of his throat in eager
expectation, even before his mother was near him.
This done, she returned, and again walking round,

scrutinized the animal’s body, but discovering nothing
L 2

290) PASSERES.—STURNID&.

more, flew up on the cow’s back and commenced an
investigation there. Just at this moment some-
thing alarmed her, and both mother and son flew
to a distant tree. It was at the same time, and
in the same pasture, that I observed a number of
these birds collected in a large bastard-cedar that
overhung a shallow pool; to which one and ano-
ther were continually descending, and bathing with
great apparent enjoyment; after which each flew
to a sunny part of the tree, and fluttered and
pecked, and ruffled its plumage, that it might
dry smoothly and equally.

Mr. Hill has observed at Fort Dauphin, on the
north side of St. Domingo, the Tinkling feeding in
flocks of two hundred or more. The low grounds
around the harbour, consisting of many shallow
marly hollows are overflowed by the tide, after the
prevalence of strong north winds, reducing them
to marshes. Many marine mollusca, &c. congre-
gating in these hollows, are left, by the water eva-
porating, to putrefy: the vicinity is hence very
unhealthy, but hither the Tinklings resort in large
flocks to feed on the decaying animal matters,
with which the mud is filled. And in Jamaica,
my friend has witnessed flocks of these birds equal-
ly numerous, winging their way, in March, towards
Passage Fort, an embouchure subject to a similar
inundation, on which they appeared to descend.

The food of our Grakle I believe to consist
almost, if not quite exclusively, of insects, worms,
&c. Yet I have seen one in March eating a
Seville orange on the tree, tugging out large por-

TINKLING GRAKLE. 921

tions of the pulp, and swallowing them. But the
stomach of this very specimen, which I shot in the
act, was full of comminuted insects. As it was in
the midst of very dry weather, the object may
have been the quenching of its thirst. Robinson
in describing the Corato, (Agave keratto) notices a
fondness of this bird for its nectar, which may per-
haps be similarly explained. He says of this mag-
nificent plant, (MSS. I. 76.) ‘‘the flowering stem
begins to rise about Christmas, and in the be-
ginning of March, the flowers open. The Mock-
ing-birds are fond of the honey found at the base
of this flower; the Barbadoes Blackbirds are also
fond of it, and between these birds happen great
dissensions and bickerings. If the Blackbirds,
which are naturally very loquacious, would fare
well, and hold their tongues, they might feed un-
molested. But their incessant chattering attracts
the attention of the Mock-birds, who having at
that time young ones, and being doubly jealous,
assault the Blackbirds with great fierceness and
vigour, soon obliging them to quit the plant, and
hide tnemselves among the trees and bushes.”

Of two which I shot in January, the stomach of
one presented a singular appearance, being stuffed
with green herbage, like very fine grass, chopped
excessively small. I had noticed several cater-
pillars among the mass, but it was not until I
dispersed it in water, that I discovered it to con-
sist of the contents of the caterpillars’ stomachs,
expressed by the muscular action of the gizzard.
There were no less than nineteen caterpillars, all

229 PASSERES.—STURNID&.

smooth, and I think grass-eating kinds, some of
which still contained portions of comminuted her-
bage. The stomach of the other contained about
as many caterpillars, besides other larve, some spi-
ders, a moth, and other insects.

Regularly at nightfall, during the summer, I
used to see many parties of Tinklings fly over
Bluefields, with the usual vociferation, and wend
their way to a spreading cotton-tree near the sea-
side, where, I was informed, they slept; whence,
as regularly one might see them, in the early morn-
ing, emerging and dispersing to their places of
diurnal occupation. One evening I went down to
watch their arrival and proceedings. About half-
an-hour before sunset, they began to arrive in
straggling parties, but did not proceed at once to
their roosting place, but congregated in a clump
of smaller trees, about one hundred and fifty yards
from it, on the banks of Bluefields River, where
they clamoured in all sorts of metallic tones with
unceasing vociferation. Some parties from a dis-
tance, coming straight to the roost, suddenly alter-
ed their course, attracted by the calls of these in-
termediate settlers, and joined them, and some
even returned to them, which had already passed
the spot. A few, however, went on to their des-
tination, and when once some were there, their
numbers soon increased, for the calling now pro-
ceeded from both quarters. As the parties arrived,
one or two single birds kept flying from one station
to the other, backwards and forwards. At length the
whole assembled number on the intermediate station

TINKLING GRAKLE. 293

rose as by common consent, and flew in an immense
flock to the number of nearly two hundred, to the
roosting place, darkening the air, and making a loud
rushing with their united wings. Others went on to
arrive, until between four and five hundred, (I could
not count very accurately) had assembled. Long be-
fore this, however, I had found that the real roosting
place was not the large cotton-tree, that this was
but another station of congregation, for as the
evening advanced, they began to leave this, and
to perch on the fronds of four or five cocoa-nut
palms that were growing in two lines, of which
the cotton-tree was the angle. The nearest trees
to this point were first chosen, and few chose the
second, till the first was pretty well crowded, nor
the third till the second was occupied, and finally
the numbers on each cocoa-nut were in proportion
to its proximity to the central point.

The taking of places was attended with much
squabbling; the alighting of each new comer on
a frond, causing it to swing so as greatly to dis-
compose the sitters already in possession, and
throw them off their balance; and hence each was
received by his fellows with open beaks, and raised
wings to prevent his landing. Still, many thrust
themselves in among others, pecking right and
left in self-defence. The highest horizontal fronds
were most in demand, and many of these had at
the close as many as ten or twelve birds each, sitting
side by side in a sable row. When once the birds
had left the cotton-tree, and selected their places
on the palms, they did not return, but places were

294, PASSERES.— STURNID.

shifted continually. During the whole time their
singular voices were in full cry, and could be
heard at a great distance; some idea may be
formed of the effect of the whole, by imagining
two or three hundred small table bells of varying
tones to be rung at the same time. By half-
an-hour after sunset, the arrivals had pretty well
ceased, and most of the birds were quietly set-
tled for the night. I visited them on one or two
subsequent evenings, but found no material dif-
ference in their proceedings.

As the Tinkling roosts in society, so does it
build. The nests, to the number of twenty or
thirty, are placed in a single tree, usually a hog-
plum, (Spondias graveolens). One of these trees,
chosen every year as a nesting tree, being on the
property of a friend, a nest, one of fourteen then
built, was brought down for my inspection. It
consists of a deep, compact, and well-formed cup,
the hollow of which is as large as a pint basin;
the sides, about an inch and a half thick, formed
of flexible stems of weeds, and stalks of guinea
grass. It contained three eggs, measuring 1,}, inch
by +8, of a dull pale blue-green, singularly marked
with sinuated lines of black. I am assured that
when the company have hatched their broods for
the season, they tear away with their feet the
nests, and scatter the materials; and that should
any other bird have a nest on the same tree, it
is mercilessly destroyed with the rest, regardless
of the eggs or young which it may contain. The
nests are placed on the forks of divergent branches,

TINKLING GRAKLE. o>

near the end of horizontal limbs, at a consider-
able elevation.

Mr. Hill informs me, on the authority of a friend
from Barbadoes, that in that island a strange cus-
tom prevails among the children, of collecting these
birds about Shrove Tuesday in every year, and
bringing them into the towns, where they then
play with them, and feed them with cockroaches.
The origin or the object of this annual amusement
my friend’s informant could not explain, having
left that island when himself a child. The same
gentleman has observed the Tinklings in Jamaica
go to the lime trees, and descending beneath the
trees pick up in their beaks the fallen fruits; then
rising to a twig, each would take its lime in one
foot, and gently rub it over its side beneath the
wing, transfer it to the other foot, and rub the
other side in the same way: the object here being
doubtless the fine aromatic odour of the oil of
the bruised rind communicated to the feathers.
The observer has watched this proceeding by the
hour together.

226 PASSERES.—STURNID&.

BANANA-BIRD.*
Icterus leucopteryx.

Oriolus icterus, Lin.
Oriolus Meaicanus, Lxeacu.—Zool. Mise. i. pl. 2.
Icterus leucopteryx, WaGl.

Tus pretty bird is a general favourite; social
and confiding in his manners, without being saucy,
he frequents the fruit trees which are invariably
planted around a Jamaican homestead. On an
elevated twig he sits and cheers his mate with his
clear, melodious song, which he trills forth with
much energy. Sometimes his notes have consider-
able variety, and may properly be called a song;
at others he whistles a quick repetition of two
clear notes which much resemble the words Z'om
Paine, Tom Paine, if we attempt to enunciate them
in whistling. Again, it is a single note quickly
repeated, as when we whistle to call a dog. Besides
these, the Banana bird has other sounds, which
are very deceiving, and seem the result of imita-
tion.

Fruit is his principal diet; a ripe banana, or
orange, a papaw, or a bunch of pimento, presents
temptations to him; but perhaps still more ac-

* Length 8} inches, expanse 13, flexure 4,5, tail 34, rictus 1, tarsus 1,
middle toe =8,. Intestine 9 inches; two ceca, minute, 3 inch long.
Trides dark hazel.

BANANA-BIRD. 297

ceptable are the various species of Anona, the
sops and custard-apples, on whose soft and lus-
cious pulp he delights to regale. A ripe sour-sop
is sure to attract him, in common with the Blue
Quits, with which he mingles. If the part ex-
posed be decomposing, as is often the case, he
may be seen tugging vigorously to pull off por-
tions of this, which he throws from his beak
with a jerk, seeking to arrive at a part more pala-~
table. When thus engaged in feeding, and par-
ticularly when playfully pursuing the hen among
the twigs, his bright yellow coat glows beautifully
through the openings of the green leaves.

I have observed so frequently as to be worthy
of notice, that when shot, the Banana bird grasps
the twig on which he was sitting, so tenaciously
as to hang from it, body downwards, until death
at length relaxes the clasp.

The nest of this bird is an interesting struc-
ture; like that of the Baltimore of the Northern
continent, it is a deep purse suspended from twe
parallel twigs, or from.a fork. One before me
is composed chiefly of the wiry fibres plucked from
the fronds of the Palmetto-thatch, with some horse-
hair interwoven. Sometimes, where thatch-threads
are scarce, horse-hair alone is used, and the struc-
ture is particularly neat. But the more ordinary
material is a vegetable substance, so closely resem-
bling horse-hair, even on a minute inspection,
that I have had difficulty in persuading intelligent
persons that it was not actual hair, till I applied
it to the flame of a candle, when it burnt without

298 PASSERES.—STURNIDZ.

shrivelling. But I am very uncertain what the
substance is; some say it is the Tillandsia us-
neoides or ‘Old man’s beard,” a very common
tree-parasite, but it assuredly is not this; I have
suspected it to be the fibrous stem of the Dodder,
dried; a nest newly made, I observed to be of
the bright buff hue of that plant, whence I pre-
sumed that the stems are sometimes taken in a
recent, and even a growing state. A friend tells
me, that he has, with much gratification, watched
the process of building. The hairs or threads
are procured one by one, and carried to the select-
ed spot, where they are deposited in a loose heap.
From this accumulated mass of material, the work
is carried on, and progresses rapidly, when once
begun. When a few threads are laid and inter-

laced for the base, the work becomes perceptible
and interesting. Both birds work together; one
taking a thread, and weaving-in one end, holds
down the loose part with his beak; while his mate
takes the ends of others projecting, and lays them
tightly down over it, interweaving them with others.
Other threads are crossed in the same manner, in
every direction, until a slight but very compact
purse is made, resembling a loose cloth. As it
hangs, the texture is so thin, that a person below
can discern the eggs or young within. Four eggs
are laid, pointed at the less end: they are
white, marked with a few angular scratches, and
large spots of deep brown, and measure | inch by
—. If an intruder attempt to rifle the nest when

10

the young are there, both old birds fly round in

es" SP

BUTTER-BIRD. 299

excessive perturbation, and cry Tom Paine’s pick-a- -
ninny, with vociferous shrillness.

In March I have dissected females, which dis-
played a brilliance of plumage, in no wise inferior
to that of the male.

I presume this to be the Watchy-picket of Sloane.

Mr. Hill has mentioned to me two other species
of Icterus, both black, the one larger, the other
smaller, which have been found in the mountains
near Kingston. I think I once saw the former in

Mount Edgecumbe.

BUTTER-BIRD.*
Ortolan.—October Pink.— Ricebird.

Dolichonyx oryzivorus.

Emberiza oryzivora, Linn.— Aud. pl. 54.
Icterus agripennis, Bonap.
Dolichonyx oryzivorus, Sw.

In ordinary seasons this well-known bird arrives
in vast numbers from the United States, in the
month of October, and scattering over the lowland
plains, and slopes of the sea-side hills, assembles in
the guinea-grass fields, in flocks amounting to five
hundred or more. The seed is then ripe, and the
black throngs settle down upon it, so densely, that

* Length 74; expanse 114, flexure 3,3, tail 24, rictus ~4, tarsus 13,
middle toe 1.

230 PASSERES.—STURNIDZ.

numbers may be killed at a random discharge. To
procure the seed, the birds perch on the culm, but
as the weight would bear down a single stalk, each
grasps several culms in its foot, while it rifles the
panicles. At this time, the males are dressed in the
sober livery of the females. Early in November
they depart for the southern continent, but during
their brief stay they are in great request for the
table. Dr. Chamberlayne only echoes the general
estimation, when he says:—‘‘ The Butter-bird is a
bonne bouche; it is but a mouthful, but a luscious
and delightful one. Their note,” he adds, * during
their migration hither, is simply ping, ping, ping :—
what it may be in its native woods, I do not know.
But wounded birds have been secured and kept in
cages, and when placed in the same room with
a Canary have soon acquired similar notes, and in
time warble with equal strength and melody.” (Jam.
Alm. 1840; p. 25.)

When the spring rains have set in, usually in the
month of April, they again become our transient
guests for a few days, on their northward migration,
when the males are conspicuous in their nuptial
dress. Other species of grass are now seeding, and
the nutritive farinaceous grains of many neglected
weeds afford them a supply during their brief
sojourn.

CASHEW-BIRD. 231

Fam.—F RINGILLAD M.—( The Finches.)
CASHEW-BIRD.*
Mountain Bulfinch (Ros.)—Orange-bird.

Tanagra Zena.

Fringilla Zena, LINN.

Fringilla Bahamensis, Briss,

Tanagra multicolor, VIEILL.

Spindalis bilineatus, Jarp. and Szrs.—lIll, Orn. ns. pl. 9.

THOUGH not very numerous, this beautiful bird
is well-known, being conspicuous from his brilliant
colours. He is spread over the country, from the
mountains of the interior, to the plains of the coast.
Rather social, though perhaps attracted by a com-
mon cause, the abundance of food ;—we may some-
times see a dozen or more scattered over a large
bully-tree, from the twigs of which they hang in
all positions, while they pick the berries. Its flight
is rapid, and performed in long undulations: during
flight, a low sibilant note is uttered; but it is usually
a silent bird.

About Spanish Town, it is called the Orange-bird,
not from its feeding on oranges, but from the
resemblance of its plump and glowing breast, to that

* Length 7} inches, expanse 13, flexure 3,8,, tail 3}, rictus 3%, tarsus

1, middle toe 3. Intestinal canal, wide, but only 7 inches long: no ceca,
Stomach, a thin, almost membranous sac.

232 PASSERES.—FRINGILLADZ.

beautiful fruit, as it sits among the dark green
foliage. It is also called the Goldfinch.

I shot a male in September, and wounding him
only in the breast, picked him up, more frightened
than hurt. I carried him home in my handkerchief,
and put him into a large cage, where he soon
became quite a favourite. From the very first he
was fearless and lively, found the use of the perches
immediately, and did not flutter or beat himself
against the sides, though persons stood close to the
cage. This was large enough to allow him a short
flight; and as there were several perches inserted at
various heights and distances into the sides, he
spent a great deal of his time in leaping from one to
the other, seeming to enjoy it much. Seeing this, I
put in one or two more, which were no sooner ready
than he took notice of them, stretching himself
towards them, cautiously at first, as if doubtful
whether they would bear him; soon, however, he
ventured boldly, and then took them regularly in
his course. He always slept on the highest perch,
with his head behind his wing. He was in full
plumage, and his gay breast, and the fine contrasts
of his striped head and wings, showed him off to
advantage. I knew nothing that he would eat, save
the berries of the bully-tree, none of which grew
within a considerable distance. I first tried him
with a few insects, and small earthworms, but he
took no notice of these: then I gathered a few
bunches of fiddle-wood berries, which I had no
sooner stuck into his cage than I was pleased to see
him hop towards them, and pick off the ripe ones

CASHEW-BIRD. 233

with much relish and discrimination. I was in-
formed that in a wild state, he sometimes eats the
sour-sop; as I had none of this fruit at hand, I gave
him pieces of a ripe custard-apple and of a guava.
He immediately began to eat of each, plucking off
portions of the pulp, and also taking up the fleshy
ovaria of which the former is composed, which he
chewed with his beak till the enclosed seed was
pressed out. But all these were forsaken so soon as
I presented to him bunches of ripe pimento, black
and sweet. These he picked off greedily, masticat-
ing each in the beak, until the seeds, which I
suppose, were too hotly aromatic for his taste, fell
out. It was amusing to see the persevering efforts
he made to obtain those berries, which happened to
be a little beyond his reach. He would jump from
perch to perch impatiently, gazing with outstretched
neck at the tempting fruit, then jump, and look
again; then reach forward to them, until in the
endeavour, he would overbalance himself, and per-
form an involuntary somerset. Nothing daunted,
however, he persevered until he ventured to do,
what he had been several times on tiptoe to do, leap
on the bunch itself; and this he continued to do,
though with some failures, holding on in a scram-
bling way, now by a leaf, now by the berries them-
selves, until he had rifled the bunch of the ripest.
After I had kept him about a week, during which
his liveliness and good temper had much attached
him to me, though he made not the slightest effort
at song, I took him out to cleanse the feathers of
his breast from the dried blood that had flowed from

Q34: PASSERES.—FRINGILLAD®.

his wound. I gently rubbed them with a soft wet
sponge, but whether he took cold, or whether I
irritated the wound, I know not; but on being
returned to the cage, he instantly began to breathe
asthmatically with open beak, apparently with pain ;
interrupted now and then by fits of coughing,
which continued all night, and on the next morning
he died. On dissection, I could not find that the
shot had penetrated the chest, but they were im-
bedded in the muscles of the forearm, and had
broken the scapula.

A nest, reported to be of the Cashew bird, was
brought me on the 18th of June, taken from a
pimento tree. It was a thick, circular mat, slightly
concave, of a loose but soft texture, principally
composed of cotton, decayed leaves, epidermis of
weeds, slender stalks, and tendrils of passion-flower,
intermingled, but scarcely interwoven. I think it
probable that this had been sustained by a firmer
framework ; and that the person who took it merely
tore out the soft lining as a bed on which the
eggs might be carried. The child who brought it,
could give no account of this. ‘The eggs were two,
long-oval, taper at the smaller end; 1-+ inch by
nearly *; white, sparingly dashed with irregular
dusky spots, in a rude ring around the larger end.
The embryo was at this time formed.

SCARLET TANAGER. 235

SCARLET TANAGER.
Pyranga rubra.

Tanagra rubra, Linn.— Aud. pl. 354.
Pyranga rubra, VIEILL.

Or this gay-plumaged stranger, a male and
female were seen in March of the present year, in
that wild and magnificent gorge, called the Boca-
guas, near Spanish Town. The brilliant appearance
of the male, attracted the admiration of passers
by, and he was at length shot, and brought to
Mr. Hill.

About three weeks after this, a male, also in sum-
mer dress, occurred to my own observation, hopping
about the small fruit-trees, on the banks of Blue-
fields River. He was very fearless, allowing me to
sit and watch him within half-pistol-shot; now and
then he flew down to the ground, by the side of the
water, and remained a few moments peeping about;
then he would fly up into a shrub, and presently be
down again to drink; for the season was parched
with drought. I watched him full half an hour,
before he flew away.

Both these instances show that the Scarlet Tanager,
occasionally at least, takes our lovely island, in his
spring migration from Central America to the north.
He certainly does not winter with us, having been
until this season unknown to Mr. Hill, who for
many years has paid close attention to the migrant

236 PASSERES.—FRINGILLAD®.

birds. Yet D’Orbigny states, that it winters in
Cuba ; perhaps, however, but casually.

RED-THROATED BLUE TANAGER.*

Orange-quit.

Feather-tongue or Sour-sop bird.—(Ros. MSS.)
Tanagrella ruficollis.

Fringilla Martinicensis, GMEL.
Tanagra ruficollis, ibid.
Fringilla noctis, var. B. _ Laru.—Ind. Or.
? American Hedge-sparrow, fem. Epw. 122.
? Le pere noir, Burr. Pl. enl. 201. fig. 1.

THE tongue of this species, pencilled and barbed
at the tip, might give it a place among the Honey-
suckers. It does not climb, however, nor cling by
its feet, but perches. It is not a very common
bird in the lowlands; but in the mountains I have
found it rather plentiful. It frequents berry-bear-
ing trees of various species, in small parties, with
no very strong sociality; its only note is a single

* Length 54 inches, expanse 9, flexure 2,8, tail 2, rictus 34, tarsus ,
middle toe $;. Weight 3§ drachms, (apoth.)

Male. Irides bright hazel ; beak and feet black. General plumage rather
dull blue ; throat deep rufous, cheeks black. Wing-quills and tail-fea-
thers blackish with blue edges.

Female. Head and neck greenish grey : back olive brown: tertiaries and
their coverts, and tail dark umber; the former with pale edges. Under
parts ashy, approaching to white on the medial line of the belly.

RED-THROATED BLUE TANAGER.

chirp, sharp and shrill. Towards the end of the
year, when the dark and glossy foliage of the orange
groves is relieved by the profuse golden fruit, re-
minding the beholder, of the fabled gardens of the
Hesperides, this Tanager becomes numerous, hop-
ping about the twigs, and pecking holes in the ripe
fruit. Many are then readily caught by smearing
the twigs in the vicinity of a half-eaten orange, with
bird lime, or “‘ gum,” as it is called, the inspissated
milk that exudes from an unripe naseberry. Females
seem to predominate in these foraging parties, in
the proportion of two or three to one; unless the
young males have the same livery as their mothers.

Near the Hallow-well at Content, on a bush whose
glossy black berries have obtained for it the name
of wild pimento, but which is better known as rod-
wood, we found a nest of the Orange Quit, in June.
It was a very deep cup, of a coarse texture, rather
rudely formed of blades of grass, and the leaves of
Olyra latifolia, interwoven with stalks of grass. It
was built on a horizontal branch, at the divergence
of two twigs, but did not embrace them. Four
small eggs, 3° inch by +, contained at that time
embryos half matured: they were white, splashed
with dull red, thinly, except at the larger end,
where the spots were numerous and confluent. The
male probably assists in incubation; for he was
seen to emerge from the nest.

238 PASSERES.—FRINGILLADZ.

BLUE QUIT.*
Euphonia Jamaica.

Fringilla Jamaica, Linn.
Euphonia Jamaica, DsM.
Grey Grosbeak, Brown.— Ill. Zool. pl. 26.

A sHoRT stumpy bird, and rather inelegant from
the shortness of its tail, the Blue Quit reminds
me of the Nut-hatches. It is very common about
homesteads, where it frequents fruit-trees, particu-
larly the sops: it is, however, nowise infrequent
in the woods, both on the mountains and in the
lowlands. It hops busily about the twigs and fruits,
picking in any position, back or belly, head or tail,
uppermost. When the sour-sop is ripe, they flock
to it in such numbers, that the tree appears covered
with them: the negro children then set limed twigs
for them, and I have had them brought to me thus
as fast as they could be taken down. The boys
cut diagonal notches into the bark of a naseberry
tree, (Achras), or score an unripe fruit; a white milk
exudes, so abundant as to drop quickly, and is caught

* Length 44 inches, expanse 8, flexure 2-5, tail 1,5, rictus 55,, tarsus,
%, middle toe 34. Irides deep hazel: feet dark grey ; beak grey, the
fissure, ridge and tip black.

Male. Upper parts slate blue, glossy, more or less tinged on the rump
with green. Throat, breast, and sides pale grey: belly yellow; under tail
coverts greyish white. The blue on the wing-quills nearly black.

Female. Loins, upper tail-coverts, and thighs, yellow-green ; no yellow
on the belly. Otherwise as the male.

BLUE QUIT. 239

on a leaf. At first it has the consistence of thin
cream, but half an hour’s exposure thickens it, and
gives it tenacity enough to be drawn into threads;
when they consider it “ripe.” A twig smeared
with this ‘“‘ gum,” is stuck into the half-eaten sour-
sop or custard-apple, presenting a very inviting
perch to the hungry birds. One soon hops on the
fatal twig, and is in an instant fluttering helplessly,
fast at the feet. Banana birds, Mocking birds, and
Cashew birds are also taken in this way. The
appearance of the intestinal viscera at such a season,
is very singular, being distended with the white pulp
throughout their length, perfectly visible from the
transparency of the intestines. At first the stomach
seems to be wanting, and this much surprised me;
but the fact is, that. organ is simply a thin mem-
branous sac, or rather canal, differing in no apparent
respect from the intestine, save in slightly increased
capacity.

The musical powers of our little Blue Quit are
considerable: it is a sweet and constant song-bird.
It has various. notes; frequently it chirps perti-
naciously, like the Humming birds; at other times
it utters a long “twee,” like the Chicken-Hawk;
sometimes it delights in a soft warbling repetition
of a single note; sometimes its voice is closely
like the plaintive mewing of a kitten. But besides
these it has a real song, sweet and musical. In
March at Spanish Town, I heard two, apparently
both males, warbling close together on a genip-tree
opposite my window, very sweetly but hurriedly.
When one flew to another twig the other presently

IAD PASSERES.—FRINGILLADZE.

followed. By and bye they ceased that melody,
and one took to a strain consisting of about a dozen
rapid repetitions of the same note, ending with one
elevated note, with a jerking abruptness. This
strain he repeated several times.

About the middle of April, a pair of Blue Quits
built a nest on one of the topmost branches of a

high fiddlewood in the yard of Bluefields house.

The tree was much infested with that parasite called
Old man’s beard, large bunches of which grew on most
of the limbs and boughs, so numerously as to touch
each other in long successions. Two of these con-
tiguous bunches the birds had managed to separate,
either by picking away portions, or by pushing them
apart, so as to open a large hollow, and in this they
built a very snug domed nest. It was globular in
form, about as large as an infant’s head, with an
opening in one side, composed of dry grass, the
dried stems of the Tillandsia, tendrils of passion-
flower, bits of rag, profusely intermixed with cotton
and the down of plants; yet these soft substances
were not used to line the structure, the grass only
appearing in the inside. Perhaps it was not finish-
ed, for the birds were passing in and out, and thus
betrayed its existence, for so identified was it in ap-
pearance with the bunches around, that but for this
ingress and egress, and the little opening, I could
not have detected it. I sent up a lad to examine
it, but in so doing, he partially broke the branch,
causing it to hang down; and this I presume
awakened suspicion, ‘for the birds deserted it, and
in a few days I had it taken down. It was empty.

a

aia

‘BLUE QUIT. 241

Mr. Hill has favoured me with the following
interesting memorandum. “Feb. 5. 1838. Near
the piazza of my house a cotton-bush has flung out
its knots of white filaments. Hither come the birds
at this season to gather materials for constructing
their nests. The Blue Sparrow, a pretty little fru-
givorous bird that sings in our fruit trees, all the
year round, its merry twittering song, has been
busily engaged with his mate collecting bills-full
of cotton. , It did not seem to be a thing imme-
diately settled that they should set to work and
gather their materials at once. They had alighted
on the tree as if they had very unexpectedly found

-what they were seeking. The male began to twitter

a song of joy, dancing and jumping about, and the

‘female, intermingling every now and then a chirp,

frisked from.stem to stem, and did very little more
than survey the riches of the tree: at least she
plucked now and then a bill-full of the filaments,
and spreading it to flaunt to the wind tossed it
away, as if she had been merely shewing that it
every way answered the purpose in length and soft-
ness, and was in every respect the thing they wanted.
At each of these displays of the kind and quality of
the materials, the male intermingled his twittering
song with a hoarse succession of notes, which were

_always the same, chu, chu, chu, chu, chwit; to which

the female chirped two or three times in succession ;

then grasping another bill-full of cotton, tossed it

away as before, and obtained from the male the

same notes of attention and approval. At last they

set to work in earnest, gathered a load of the ma-
M

242 PASSERES.—FRINGILLADZ.

terials drawn out as loosely as they could get it, and
filling their bills, started away to the tree, wherever

it was, in which they had determined to build their
nest.”

TICHICRO.*
Grass Pink, or Savanna bird.—Ros.

Coturniculus tixicrus.—MIHI.

INTERMEDIATE between C. Henslowi and C. pas-
serinus, the Tichicro differs from the former in
its unspotted breast, its nearly even tail, the second-
aries considerably short of the primaries, the bill
arched, the deep colour of the head and the coronal
streak. From the latter, by the tail feathers being
acute, by the third and fourth quills being longest,
and by having more chestnut on the wings. In the

admeasurements it differs from both.
_ This modest little bird is not common, except in

* Length 5 inches, expanse 73, flexure 24, tail 1,5, rictus +4, tar-
sus +, middle toe 54, hind toe 32, (including claw =). Inrides hazel ; feet
flesh-colour, beak greyish, culmen deep brown. Crown deep bistre, with
a central white stripe reaching to the nape. Feathers of back, rump,
wing and tail coverts, with black disks, chestnut tips, and narrow white
edges. Quills dusky, with the outer edge whitish, third and fourth
longest ; secondaries reaching to within =4 inch of primaries: edge of
shoulder brilliant yellow. Tail feathers narrow, acute, nearly even,
brown, with the medial portion black. A yellow band over the eye.

Under parts white, tinged with umber on throat, breast, and sides, but
unspotted.

TICHICRO. 243

certain localities; it is sometimes seen in open
pastures, running on the ground, but more fre-
quently in fields of guinea-grass. In a grass-piece
at Peter’s Vale, it may be found at all times of the
year, frequently rising from behind a tussock just
before the traveller’s feet, flying a little way with
feeble wing, and then sinking among the high grass,
where it will remain, until one again come close to
it, for it seems little inclined to flight. I have
several times seen a single one by the sides of the
road to Savanna-le-Mar, where it passes through
the marshy flats of Paradise; and occasionally one
frequents the pasture of Bluefields. I have never
observed it on a tree, nor even on a bush, except on
one occasion, early in March, when one was sitting
on the log-wood fence at Paradise, warbling sweetly,
and fearlessly continuing its song, though myself
and two other persons stood looking at it within
two or three yards. More frequently it utters its
warbling chant sitting on a flat stone, or on the bare
ground among the grass tufts. Its song is melo-
dious, but simple ; consisting of a few notes rapidly
repeated in a single strain, pettichee, pettichee,
pettichee, when it is silent for a moment, and begins
again. ‘This, as far as I am aware, is peculiar to
the vernal season; at other times it has a singular
call, as it skulks in its grassy coverts, cro-cro-
tichicro, whence its provincial name.

I have been able to learn nothing of the nidifica-
tion of this Sparrow ; its small size, sombre plum-
age, and retiring habits have prevented its obtain-

ing much notoriety ; indeed it was unknown to Mr.
M 2

244. PASSERES.—FRINGILLADZ.

Hill, until I happened to shoot one when in com-
pany with him at St. Thomas in the Vale. I sus-
pect it makes its nest in the midst of a grass tuft,
or on the ground among them; where it would be
very unlikely to be met with, as these tufts are never
cut, nor are they eaten down by stock to within
eighteen inches of the ground.

One day in April, when the sun was pouring
down his unmitigated rays, I observed a Tichicro
walking towards a little rain-puddle in the middle
of the road. Seeing me, however, it retired to the
wayside, and did not fly away, though within a few
feet of my horse, but stood looking wistfully at the
puddle. I thought it had been going to drink, but
as it began to ruffle its plumage and shake its wings,
I saw that it had been bathing. I then rode ona
tew steps, leaving the pool clear, when it immediate-
ly ran to the edge, and walked into the shallow
water, bending its legs and sitting down in it; then
it immersed its head, and shook the water over its
body, with the pretty action common to birds
bathing. It seemed greatly to enjoy the relief from
the heat, and only reluctantly left the water on the
approach of another passenger.

The Tichicro is certainly a perennial inhabitant
of the island, and seems confined to the lowland
districts, or to hills of moderate elevation.

GOLDEN-CROWNED CANARY. 945

GOLDEN-CROWNED CANARY.*
Crithagra Brasiliensis.
Fringilla Brasiliensis, Sprx.—Av. Bras. pl. 61.

Tus very beautiful Finch is rather common in
the large park-like pastures of Mount Edgecumbe,
Auchindown, Culloden, and Peter’s Vale, situated
at the eastern extremity of Westmoreland. It. is
not at all shy, but hops about the grass, or flits to
and fro among the pimento and orange trees, in
parties of three or four, now and. then sitting among
the branches, and uttering a monotonous chip, chip,
pertinaciously repeated by both sexes without varia-
tion. This is the only note I have heard from
them.

These birds are believed in Jamaica to be the
descendants of some pairs of the common Canary
turned out. ‘ A gentleman. of the colony named
Shakspeare,” observes Mr. Hill, ‘many years ago,
touching at Madeira on his voyage to this island,

* Length 5 inches, expanse 10, flexure 25%, tail 2,2,, rictus =5,, tarsus
34, middle toe %. rides dark hazel; feet horn-coloured ; beak, upper
mandible blackish, under pale horny. Male. Plumage above olive yellow ;
head. lustrous orange, silky; whole under parts rich. golden yellow.
Wing and tail feathers dusky brown, with both edges broadly yellow.

Female. Head and back yellowish grey, with black dashes: throat
whitish ; a broad collar of pale yellow encircles the neck ; breast and
belly greyish-white. In other respects as the male, but less vivid.
Some males, {young ?) have the upper plumage mingled with greyish ash,
and the orange only on forehead and throat.

IAG PASSERES.—FRINGILLADZ.

is said to have procured several male and female
Canaries, which he set at large in the fields about
the rectory at Black River, where they have mul-
tiplied, and have become wild birds of the country.
Many of our grasses produce farinaceous seeds, ex-
tremely nutritious, and supply quite a substitute for
the canary-seed of the African islands. I presume
our birds derive their intensity of colour from this
sort of food. They are a beautiful variety of the
natural stock, Of their song I have never been
able to learn anything very distinct, except that
heard in the thickets with other birds, it sounds
neither loud nor thrilling, and can barely be re-
cognised as that of the bird of the aviary. It is
said to have lost all its versatility with its power.
Though these imported Canaries have increased so
much, as to be perceptibly common, they are con-
fined to a very small range of country, being ob-
served nowhere but in the neighbourhood of the
place where the first colony was established. A
friend writes me, between Bluefields and Black
River.”

The evidence of the origin of these birds, seems
thus very distinct; and yet the plumage is that
never known to be assumed by the true Canary,
while it agrees exactly with the Brazilian species,
which, Spix says, ‘‘inhabits the fields of Minas
Geraes, and is named Canary.” The plumage of
the wild Canary, in its native islands, is said to be
less vivid than that of caged specimens. It is pos-
sible that the Brazilian birds may have descended
from imported birds; or, on the other hand, that

YELLOW-BACK FINCH. IAG

the Madeira parents of ours may have been imported
from Brazil thither; a case the more probable, from
the fact of both being Portuguese colonies.

YELLOW-BACK FINCH.*

Spermophila anoxantha.—MiuHl.

Tuoveu hitherto undescribed, this pretty species
is not rare: among the dark green pimento groves
of Mount Edgecumbe, it may be almost always met
with, and the contrast of its black head and yellow
back, renders it conspicuous. Various seeds and
small berries afford it food; in April I have seen it
eagerly picking off the little crimson berries of the
fiddlewood, and swallowing them; and in autumn I
have shot one engaged in feeding on the seeds of the
prickly-yellow tree. Probably grass-seed forms a
part of its nutriment; late in the year when the
guinea-grass is ripe, 1 have observed them flitting
about from tussock to tussock.

Its musical powers are but small. I have never

* Length 42 inches, expanse 84, flexure 2,5, tail 1%, rictus 4, tar

sus =5,, middle toe 5%. Irides hazel; feet blackish flesh-colour ; beak
black.

Male. Head and breast black. Back yellow, becoming greenish to-
wards the rump, and merging into black on the tail, Wing-coverts yel
low, brightest at shoulder ; quills, and tail feathers edged with yellow.
Belly greyish ; under tail-coverts brick-red.

Female. Upper parts olive yellow, bright on shoulders, dull on head
and rump. Under parts ashy grey, :

Latham (Syn. ii. 300) confounds this with the Black-face Grass-quit.

YA8 PASSERES.—FRINGILLAD#.

heard any note proceed from it, but tsip, tsip, tseep,
tséép, loud and shrill, repeated at short intervals, as
it hops from twig to twig.

Early in June I found a nest of the Yellow-back.
Over a gap leading out of a negro yard into the
high road, at the back of Content cottage, hung
down a dead limb of a large logwood, that was
almost covered by bunches of Tillandsia usneoides.
Just at the extremity of the depending twigs, not
more than five feet from the ground, and in the
very path frequented by the people and the animals,
in the midst of a large cluster of the t¢illandsia,
the Finch had constructed her nest. It was a neat
dome, somewhat like the head-part of a cradle,
formed: of dried grass, with a few bits of white
cotton interwoven, but profusely set on the outside
with the tidlandsia, the down of which gave it a
very woolly appearance. It contained three eggs,
white, splashed with dull red, having a tendency to
form a crown round the large end. On this, as well
as another occasion, the male was seen to enter
the nest, as well as his mate, so that both proba-
bly assist in incubation. In the evening I went
cautiously to the spot, and putting a gauze net
suddenly before the nest, secured the female, which
darted out into the net. Having identified her, I
let her go, but in the morning, early, when I went
again to the nest, there were no eggs within, but
fragments of the shell of one lay on the ground
at some little distance, which must have lain there
sometime, for they were cleaned out by ants, and
dry inside. Was this done by the female at find-

YELLOW-FACE GRASS-QUIT. 249.

ing the nest desecrated? or by the male, at not
finding his mate ? for on letting the bird go in the
darkness, she in her fright. flew in the opposite
direction, and perhaps did not find the nest.

YELLOW FACE GRASS-QUIT.*

Spermophila olivacea.

Emberiza olivacea, LINN.
Fringilla lepida, Ibid.
Passerina olivacea, VIEILL.

Spermophila olivacea, Sw.

IMMEDIATELY behind the homestead of Bluefields,
a lane, confined for a mile or two between dry-
stone walls, leads to the road which winds in a

zig-zag line to the top of the Bluefields ridge.

This lane possesses many attractions. By the wall
on each side grow trees, which afford grateful
shade, aud many of them load the evening air with
dewy fragrance. Orange-trees, profusely planted,
give out in spring gushes of odour from their
waxen blossoms, and in autumn tempt the eye

* Length 42 inches, expanse 63, flexure 2, tail 15%, rictus 4, tarsus
zo, middle toe 58. Irides dark hazel ; feet purplish ; beak horny black.

Male. Upper parts olive ; a stripe over the eye, a minute one under
the eye, and the chin and throat, rich yellow, narrowly edged with
black ; lower throat and breast black, merging into the olive ; belly
very pale olive ; vent and under tail coverts almost white. Wing-quills
blackish, edged with olive ; edge of shoulder yellow. Tail olive.

In the female the black is absent, and the yellow is less conspicuous.

250 PASSERES.—FRINGILLADA.

with their “golden fruitage.” The Pride of China,
lovely in its graceful leaves and spikes of lilac
blossoms, and not less sweet-scented than the orange;
the pimento, dense and glossy, with another, but
not inferior, character of beauty; are varied by the
less showy, but still valuable, cedar and guazuma.
The various species of echites trail their slender
stems and open their brilliant flowers, along the
top of the wall, and the pretty Banisteria displays
its singular yellow blossoms, or scarlet berries at its
foot; while near the top of the lane, tangled and
matted masses of the night-blowing cereus depend
from the trees, or sprawl over the walls, expand-
ing their magnificent, sun-like flowers, only to “the
noon of night.” Here and there huge black nests
of termites look like barrels built into the wall,
whose loose stones, grey with exposure, and dis-
coloured with many-tinted lichens, afford a som-
bre relief to the numerous large-leafed arums that
climb and cluster above them. To the left the
mountain towers, dark and frowning; the view on
the right is bounded by a row of little rounded
hills, studded with trees and clumps of pimento.
But between the traveller and either, extend the
fields of guinea-grass, which are enclosed by these
boundary walls. In the autumn, when the grass
is grown tall, and .the panicles of seed waving in
the wind give it a hoary surface, the little Grass-
quits, both of this and the following species, throng
hither in. numerous flocks, and perching in rows
on the slender stalks, weigh them down, while
they rifle them of the farinaceous seeds.

YELLOW-FACE GRASS-QUIT. 251

In March, I have found the stomach of the
Yellow-face full of seeds of the common pasture
grasses; and I have been struck with the enormous
dilatation of the membranous craw, which, as in
the Gallinaceze, occupies the hollow of the furcula.

D’Orbigny, who has given a good figure of it, in
Sagra’s Cuba, alludes to its prevalence in all the great
Antilles. At the Havanna, he says it is frequent-
ly caged, being very docile, and readily learning
to sing. I have never heard from it any other note
than a quivering chirrup as it flits from bush to bush.

Mr. Hill has favoured me with the following
note. ‘Nests of the Grass-bird are frequently
brought to me, but without distinguishing be-
tween the yellow and the black-throated species.
A nest in the garden, built in a Neriwm oleander,
by the latter, [in July,] enables me to set down
a remark or two. I see no difference in the struc-
ture of the nests of the two species. They are
both domed nests, made of pliable dry grass, and
lined with horse-hair. This nest is built between
the forks of the long vertical stems of the oleander,
or South Sea rose. Three other vertical stems
press it close, and the leaves quite canopy it over.
The substratum of the nest, on which it may be
said to be bedded, is a mass of long linen rags,
wound in and round the forked branch. It is
quite true that the Grass-bird very frequently selects
a shrub, on which the wasps have built, fixing the
entrance close to their cells. J saw a nest in this
secure situation a few years ago; it was pointed
out to me as illustrating a habit of the yellow-
throated species.

252 PASSERES.—FRINGILLAD®.

“The Grass-birds remind me much of the Euro-
pean Sparrow. They are very social, have a strong
predilection for the house-garden, and when feed-
ing by half-dozens and dozens together, are very
noisy. They have a peculiar shrill chirp ; and in the
season when the grasses are in seed, their diminu-
tive bodies, for they are smaller than wrens, may
be seen weighing down the culm of the grass,
everywhere about.

‘On one occasion, some twenty or thirty of the
Yellow-throated Grass-bird constructed a mass of
nests, within the wide crutch of a baobab tree,
and lived in common.”

BLACK-FACE GRASS-QUIT.*

Spermophila bicolor.

Fringilla bicolor, Linn.
Chloris Bahamensis, Briss.

Boru of these birds are permanent inhabitants
of Jamaica; their habits are so similar, that the
detailed history of one will apply to the other.
Both are quite common, and familiar; and both
are unmusical: the present is more silent than the
former; yet in spring its note may be heard, as

* Length 44 inches, expanse 63, flexure 2, tail 1,6, rictus 54, tarsus

ss, middle toe =§. Exactly like the preceding, except in totally want-
ing the yellow ; the face and throat being black.

‘BAY-SIDED GRASS-QUIT. 253

it makes its short flights, a single harsh guttural
squeak, difficult to indicate by words, and difficult
to imitate.

To the remarks of Mr. Hill’s in the preceding
article, I will merely add the description of an-
other nest of the Black-face, which in June was
built between three contiguous stalks of maize,
and an ear. It was a dome composed of slender
stalks of grass and weeds woven into a globose form,
flattened in front, on which side was the opening.
The dried beard of the corn entered into the
structure, and a small frond of fern, and a ten-
dril or two of passion-flower adorned the entrance.
Three eggs were laid, measuring 75 by 3 inch;
pointed ; white, splashed with dull red, chiefly at

the larger end, where confluent.

BAY-SIDED GRASS-QUIT.*
Spermophila adoxa.—MIHI.

Or this very plain and unpretending species,
but a single specimen has fallen into my hands;
which I shot on the 9th of August 1845, hopping
with others about logwood trees at Grand Vale. It
may be a female of an unrecorded species, but its

* Length 44 inches, expanse 63, flexure 2, tail 1,5, (nearly,) rictus 4,
tarsus =%, middle toe =4. Irides dark brown, feet purplish, beak horn-

colour, nearly black above. Whole upper parts, olive brown: under parts
greyish white : sides and vent fawn-colour.

254 PASSERES.—FRINGILLADZ.

fawn-coloured sides distinguish it from the females
of the preceding two species, with which in other
respects it well agrees, as they do still more with
each other.

The name of Quit is applied without much dis-
crimination by the negroes of Jamaica, to several
small birds, such as the Banana Quit, which is a
Creeper, and the Blue Quit, and Grass Quits
which are finches; it is probably an African de-
signation.

“COTTON-TREE SPARROW."

Black Bulfinch, Ros. Coffee-bird.

Pyrrhula violacea.

Loxia violacea, Linn.— Edw. Birds, pl. 82. female ?
Pyrrhula auranticollis, Vie1w1. Gal. Ois. pl. 55. male.

One of those gigantic and hoary cotton trees
which are the pride of a Jamaican forest, or some
other tree equally tall, is usually selected by this
Bulfinch, for its abode. At the extremity of an
immense horizontal limb, it builds a nest of rude
materials, as large as a half-bushel measure, the

* Length 73 inches, expanse 103, flexure 3 3, tail 3, rictus 55, tarsus
#5; middle toe 8. Irides dark hazel; beak and feet black. Male. Plu-
mage black ; an arched stripe over the eye, the’chin, throat, and under tail -
coverts rust-red: under wing-coverts yellowish white. Female. Dull
mouse-brown ; paler beneath. The red paler and less in extent.

_COTTON-YREE SPARROW. 955

opening being near the bottom. I have seen the
bird enter this monstrous structure, but have had
no opportunity of examining it. Dr. Robinson
observes that ‘‘ the Black Bulfinch builds a nest as
big as a Blackbird’s cage, and by the artful con-
trivance of this little volatile, the whole has the
simple appearance of a heap of trash, flung on some
bough of a tree, as it were by accident, so that
nobody would suppose it to be anything else.”
And in another passage he records having found
the nest at Negril, on the 22nd of April, 1761, at
the summit of a Cabbage-palm, eighty-one feet high,
which he had caused to be felled: “ Among the
spadices of this tree was fixed, how I cannot tell,
the nest of the Black Bulfinch, made up of various
matter; viz. old cane-trash fibres, silk-cotton, some
dry leaves, and at the bottom many tendrils of
climbing shrubs, and a very small species of epi-
dendrum, or green wyth, common in this parish.
In it I found one egg, about an inch long, in colour
like that of a common duck, that is, of a sullied
white.” (MSS. i. 72.)

Mr. Hill saw one building in a vale in Clarendon
in August. It had begun a domed nest of dried
grass, rather loosely interwoven, then about as large
as a child’s head, but probably it would have been
larger. It was ina fork of an outer limb of a log-
wood tree at the edge of a thicket, about seven
feet from the ground. The bird went and came,
bringing materials repeatedly, while my friend was
watching it,

Sam maintains that he has repeatedly seen it enter

256 PASSERES.—FRINGILLAD®.

large cumulative nests, on high cotton-trees, having
exactly the same appearance as those of the Black
Shrike, (p. 190,) and that he has heard them utter
the same remarkable cry. The suspicion was ob-
vious, considering that both birds are black, and
nearly of one size, that he had confounded the one
with the other. Yet against this, I may state,
that he is perfectly familiar with both species, that
he is accustomed to discriminating observations,
and that he asserts that it was impossible for him
_ to be mistaken in one of the cases. I would add,
that notwithstanding colour and size, the appear-
ance of the two birds is very different. Yet on the
16th of June, a lad brought me a nest of small
size and cup-like form, which he named as the nest
of the ‘‘ Black Sparrow,” and described the bird
which frequented the nest, and which he had driven
from it when about to take it, as being wholly
black, except the throat which was red; a descrip-
tion which will apply to no other than this. More-
over, the nest was placed on a coffee-tree, agreeing
with the fact that in some districts the species is
named ‘‘ Coffee-bird.” It is a rather deep cup, about
23 inches wide in the clear, made of very coarse
materials, such as dried and half-decayed leaves of
trees, the long broad leaves of rushes or flags, in-
termingled with stalks of grass and herbaceous
weeds, and with slender roots: there is a slight
lining of thatch-threads, and of blades of grass torn
into narrow strips, and arranged circularly. From
such materials, it may be supposed that the work-
manship was loose and slovenly. Three eggs were

COTTON-TREE SPARROW. 257.

found in it, of an elongated form, measuring 1 inch
by 43; of a pale glaucous white, thickly strewn
with longitudinal dashes of pale reddish-brown, con-
fluent at the larger end.

The Black Bulfinch is said to frequent coffee
trees, for the purpose of feeding on the ripe berries.
The stomachs of such as I have examined, contained
farinaceous seeds, comminuted into a pudding-like
mass.

It has a simple but rather sweet song, which
may be imitated by rapidly pronouncing the syl-.
lables’ wis, wis, wis, wis, weé, the last much
protracted. It can hardly be distinguished from the
note of the Black Shrike. Early in the morning
in spring, he delights in a rapid vibratory strain,
which I can compare to nothing, for tone and
duration, so well as to the sound produced by one
turn of the key in winding up a musical snuff-box.

One day in April, as I was riding past the cliffs
at Cave, on the road to Savanna-le-Mar, I observed
two Cotton-tree: Sparrows, whose motions arrested.
my attention. They were both males in adult
plumage. One presented himself to the other, open-
ing his beak to the utmost; when the other seized
something in his mouth, and tugged at it; this
action was repeated several times, but whatever
was the object pulled at, it appeared pretty firmly
attached to the lower mandible, and refused to come
away. From the evident desire of the one operated
on, I conjecture that it was an application for the
removal of some extraneous object which had acci-
dentally stuck into the flesh of the mouth, and gave

258 PASSERES.—FRINGILLADZ.

pain or inconvenience. But if so, how interesting
an instance of intelligence communicated; for intel-
ligence, and combined action, there certainly was.
At length the operator, having done what he could,
flew off: but the poor unsuccessful patient, after a
few seconds, followed him, and sought him again in
the bush, while I rode on my way.

A male which I shot, and but ‘slightly wounded,
displayed much energy, and some ingenuity, in its
persevering efforts to escape, in which, after being
twice captured, it at length succeeded. When I
attempted to seize it, it bit at me fiercely, and
pinched my finger so forcibly as I could not have
anticipated. The beak is very powerful, doubtless
for the sake of opening or crushing hard seed-

vessels,

' have dissected a female at the end of April, with
eggs in the ovary as large as pigeon-shot, the plu-
mage of which differed from that of the male, only
in the black being not quite so bright. The name
violacea, is a strange misnomer, as there is not the
slightest tinge of violet. _

Robinson has mentioned the prevalence of these
birds on the Liguanea mountains, in a passage so
interesting, that I quote it entire. ‘In ascending
from Mr. Elletson’s estate called Merryman’s Hill,
about four miles from Hope River plantation, after
you get about a mile and a half beyond the said
Merryman’s Hill, the air suddenly turns cool, and
the plants and trees are entirely different from what
you observed before, excepting two or three, which
continue all the way up. There also you hear the

COTTON-TREE SPARROW, 259

Black Bulfinches first begin to whistle, which are
continued all the way up to the top of the moun-
tains; and, indeed, they are the only birds you hear,
for there are hardly any Nightingales; but they
have the Grey-eyed Thrush, whose notes are not
much inferior in sweetness but longer. In these
mountains hardly any cockroaches are seen, but a
very small kind. The wood-ant, that destructive
insect, is also a stranger to these mountains.”
(MSS. iii. 131.) By the Grey-eyed Thrush, I
suspect he means the Glass-eye: or else the White-
eyed Flycatcher.

In the valuable drawings of the Doctor, he has
one carefully executed, of a bird considerably larger
than this, which he calls the Pied Bulfinch of the
mountains, but which I have supposed to be the
present bird in the partial albinism, to which all
black birds seem subject. There are, however, some
details which make this rather uncertain. The
whole plumage, including the red gorge, (which is
rather crimson than ferruginous) is studded with
large white patches; beside which there is a large
square spot of white, occupying the middle of the
wing: the outmost two tail-feathers on each side are
also white, and the forehead is pale yellow. Should
it prove to be distinct, I propose for it the name of
Pyrrhula Robinsonii.

To these Fringillade, I would add, on the autho-
rity of Mr. Hill, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak of
Wilson, (Guiraca Ludoviciana, Sw.)

260. SCANSORES.—PSITTACIDZ.

OrpER.—SCANSORES. (Climbers.)
Fam.—PSITTACIDA. (The Parrots.)
YELLOW-HEADED MACAW.*

? Ara tricolor, Lz VAILL. pl. 5.

Ir this be not the T'ricolor of Le Vaillant, which
is the only Macaw I am aware of marked with a
yellow nape, it is probably undescribed. The two
descriptions do not, certainly, agree exactly; yet still
I cannot but think the bird seen by Robinson,
whose description I give: below, to be. this very rare
species. Of the present specimen the Doctor says,
** This bird I saw stuffed. The legs and tail were
wanting. It seemed less than the common Red and
Blue Macaw. By what I can judge from this sample,
this bird has never yet either been figured or described.
Sir Henry Moore, late Lieutenant Governor, often
assured me that the Jamaica Macaw was very differ-
ent from any he had ever seen. The subject now
before us was shot [probably about 1765,] in the
mountains of Hanover parish, about ten miles east of
Lucea, by Mr. Odell.”

* “ Basal half of upper mandible black, apical half ash-coloured ; lower
mandible black, tip only ash-coloured. Forehead, crown, and back of neck
bright yellow. Sides of face around eyes, anterior and lateral part of neck,
and back, a fine scarlet. Wing coverts and breast, deep sanguine red.
Winglet and primaries, an elegant light blue. The legs and feet were
said to have been black ; the tail red and yellow intermixed.” (Rob.)

YELLOW-HEADED MACAW. 261

Latham has attributed Ara aracanga and ararauna
to Jamaica; the former on the authority of Brisson.

The latter, Browne (Hist. Jam. 472,) expressly
says he himself killed there. The Rev. Mr. Coward
at present Curate of Highgate, near Spanish Town,
informed me, that being in St. Elizabeth’s, in a
plain at the foot of a chain of mountains dividing
that parish from St. James, and consequently nearly
in the medial line of the island, about 1842, one of
the party called, ‘look! look!” and looking up,
he saw two birds flying over-head, which he at once
saw were parrots, but of very large size: and he
was told that they were Macaws. On inquiring
further of those resident in the neighbourhood, to
whom the birds were familiar, he was informed that
their plumage was blue and yellow. These were
probably Ararauna.

A letter just received from Mr. Hill, who kindly
assisted my inquiries on the subject, says ;—*‘ I have
ascertained with unquestionable certainty, that Ma-
caws are occasionally, if not constantly, denizens of
our mountain forests. They are found exclusively
in the central mountains westward of the island,
and are observed on the skirt of the partially cleared
country, at an elevation of 2500 or 3000 feet above
the sea. They have been surprised in small com-
panies feeding on the full-eared maize, while the
grain was soft, milky, and sweet, and the very husk
was sugary. Every description I have received of
them, makes the species to be the Ara militaris, the
Great Green Macaw of Mexico. The head is
spoken of as red; the neck, shoulders, and under-

262 SCANSORES.—PSITTACIDA.

parts of a light and lively green; the greater wing-
coverts and quills, blue; and the tail scarlet and
blue on the upper surface, with the under plumage
both of the wings and tail, a mass of intense orange
yellow. .

** Autumnal rains set in with westerly winds in
the Gulf of Mexico, when the Ara is said to migrate
from the mountain ranges on which it breeds on
the continent, and not to return till the turn:of the
year. From our birds being found only in the
western parts of the island, I suspect that they are
casual visitors, coming to us at the end of the year.
The ordinary Parrots wing high, but the Macaws
are exceedingly high fliers, and the command of the
continental and insular shores, could be no difficulty
to birds of their powerful, though, usually, not
long-sustained flight. When the October rains set
in, storms and deluges from the mountains of the
continent to the west of us, send myriad flocks of
aquatic birds over to us, and it is extremely likely
that these magnificent Parrots are driven to our
shores, where they find in our genial mountains,
the mild quietude of the upper summer woods of
Mexico.

“‘A mountain district very remote, between Tre-
lawney and St. Ann’s, here and there cleared and
settled,—a peculiar country called the Black grounds,
is said to be the never failing resort of these
Mexican Macaws. I have been assured that
several birds have been procured there. This is
said to be nearly as far eastward as they have been
found. Further westward, in the neighbourhood of

aS Ee eS

YELLOW-BELLIED PARROQUET. 2963

the Accompong Maroons, young birds, bearing the
evidence of being in the first year’s plumage, have
been procured from hog-hunters. One specimen,
purchased from them by Mr. White, the proprietor of
Oxford estate, was for some time the admiration and
talk of the country round. I have been informed
by those who have noticed the bird on the wing,
that although the Macaws are never seen but flying
extremely high, their great size, and their splendid
length of tail, brilliant with intense scarlet, and
blue and yellow, strikingly attract attention, if their
harsh scream, heard in the hushed mountain soli-
tudes, does not betray them. They fly from one
ridge to another, journeying in pairs, and have
been followed by the eye till they have alighted
on the loftiest of the forest trees, in their chosen
resting places.”

YELLOW-BELLIED PARROQUET.*
Conurus flaviventer.

Psittacus eruginosus, var. LaTu. Syn.
Aratinga flaviventer, Sprx. Av. Br. t. 18. f. 1.

Tue large earthy nests accumulated by the duck-
ants (Zermites,) around the trunk or branches of

* Length, measured over the head, 113 inches, expanse 16 3, flexure
53, tail 5, rictus 3, tarsus =, middle toe 15. Irides pale orange ; cere
and cheeks, pale buff.

264: SCANSORES.—PSITTACID A.

trees, frequently afford the Parroquet a fit situation
for her own domestic economy. Though easily cut
by her strong beak, the thin arches and galleries
of these insects are of sufficiently firm consistence
to constitute a secure and strong abode. In the
cavity formed by her own industry she lays four or
five eggs, upon the chips and dust.

But the precaution of the poor bird in selecting
a locality, and her perseverance in burrowing into
so solid a structure, are not sufficient to ensure
her safety or that of her young. The aperture
by which she herself enters and departs, affords
also a ready entrance to a subtle and voracious
enemy, the Yellow Boa. A young friend of mine
once observing a Parroquet enter into a hole in a
large duck-ants’ nest, situated on a bastard-cedar,
mounted to take her eggs or young. Arrived at
the place, he cautiously inserted his hand, which
presently came into contact with something smooth
and soft. He guessed it might be the callow young,
but hesitating to trust it, he descended, and pro-
ceeded to cut a stick, keeping his eye on the orifice,
from which the old bird had not yet flown. Hav-
ing again mounted, he thrust in the stick and forced
off the whole upper part of the structure, dis-
closing to his utter discomfiture and terror, an
enormous Yellow Snake, about whose jaws the fea-
thers of the swallowed Parroquet were still ad-
hering, while more of her plumage scattered in the
nest revealed her unhappy fate. The serpent in-
stantly darted down the tree, and the astonished
youth, certainly not Jess terrified, also descended

——

YELLOW-BELLIED PARROQUET. 265

with precipitation, and ran as if for life from the
scene. )

The food of this species consists of various fruits
and seeds. The fiddle-wood, burn-wood, fig, and
pride of China, afford it plentiful and agreeable
nutriment. It cuts into the plantains, both when
green and ripe; and its fondness for the sweet
and spicy berries of the pimento renders it the ab-
horrence of the planter. I have seen it on the top
of a guava-tree holding something in its foot, which
it cut to pieces with its beak and fed upon; pro-
bably the young fruit. When the prickly-yellow
is in seed, the Parroquets come in flocks to eat of
it; when they lose their wonted wariness. I have
known them to resort to a large tree, overhanging
the public road, day after day; the passing by of
persons beneath causing little observation; gene-
rally, however, they would utter a screech or two,
and then go on feeding. I have shot several in-
dividuals from this tree in succession, yet in a few
minutes the flock would be there again.

Often when mortally wounded by a shot, the grasp
of the climbing feet, by which the bird was hang-
ing from the twigs, becomes convulsively tightened,
and the falling body is seen suspended head down-
ward; for some minutes, often longer, it thus re-
mains, the wings now and then giving an ineffec-
tual flutter, till at last one foot relaxes its hold,
and then the other, and the bird falls heavily to
the ground. They are often sought for the table,
and I can speak from personal knowledge to their

N

266 SCANSORES.—PSITTACIDA.

juiciness and flavour, especially in the pimento
season.

The flight of these birds is swift and rushing;
in mid air they have a habit of suddenly deviating
from the straight line of their course, making a
sharp doubling, and then pursuing the same direc-
tion as before. They go in flocks, usually above
the trees, and utter harsh screams as they fly. The
sexes are precisely alike in plumage.

BLACK-BILLED PARROT.*

Psitiacus agilis.

Psittacus agilis, GmeL.—Le Vaill. Perr. 105.
? Psittacus estivus, var.a. LaTH. Syn.
? . Be var. 6. Ibid,

Aut the Parrots are gregarious, cunning, watch-
ful, noisy, mischievous ; and thus are like the Mon-
keys. This and the following species are so much
alike in manners and general appearance, that a
description of one applies nearly to the other.
Flocks varying from half-a-dozen to twenty or thirty,
fly hither and thither over the forest, screeching as
they go, and all alight together on some tree co-
vered with berries. Here they feast, but with
caution; on a slight alarm one screams, and the
whole flock is on the wing, vociferous if not mu-

* Length 13} inches, expanse 20}, flexure 674, tail 3}, rictus 4,
tarsus =4,, middle toe 1,2;. Irides dark hazel: cere blackish ash-colour.

BLACK-BILLED PARROT. 967

sical; and brilliant if not beautiful; particularly
when the sun shines on their green backs and crim-
soned wings. They generally prefer lofty trees, ex-
cept when, in June, the ripe yellow plantain tempts
them to descend, or when the black berry shines
upon the pimento. Of the latter, the flocks devour
an-immense quantity, and the former they destroy
by cutting it to pieces with their powerful beaks, |
to get at the small seeds.

One day in January, when the pimento on the
brow of Bluefields Mountain was about ready
for picking, being full-sized, but yet green and
hard, I observed large flocks of Black-bills and a
few Parroquets, flying to and fro with voluble
chatter, now alighting to feed on the hot. aromatic
berry, now flying off, and wheeling round to the
same neighbourhood again. They were not at all
shy, but, with unusual carelessness of our proximity,
scarcely moved at the report of the gun which
brought their companions to the ground. Of two
which I shot on this occasion, I found the craws
stuffed with the cotyledons of the seed alone, the
most pungently aromatic part of the berry; the
fleshy part having been, as I presume, shorn off by
the beak and rejected. When alighted, as is often
the case, on a dry branch, their emerald hue is
conspicuous, and affords a fair mark for the gunner ;
but in a tree of full foliage, their colour proves an
excellent concealment. They seem aware of this,
and their sagacity prompts them frequently to rely
on it for security. Often we hear their voices

proceeding from a certain tree, or else have marked
N 2

268 SCANSORES.—PSITTACIDZ.

the descent of a flock upon it, but on proceeding to
the spot, though the eye has not wandered from it,
and we are therefore sure that they are there, we
cannot discover an individual. We go close to the
tree, but all is silent, and still as death; we institute
a careful survey of every part with the eye, to
detect the slightest motion, or the form of a bird
among the leaves, but in vain; we begin to think
that they have stolen off unperceived, but on throw-
ing a stone into the tree, a dozen throats burst
forth into cry, and as many green birds rush forth
upon the wing.

The screaming of this and the following species
differs from that of the Parroquet, so far as to be
easily distinguished. That of the latter consists of
a series of harsh screeches,. of comparative length;
that of the Parrots is less shrill, more broken into
short and rapid articulations, forming series of
varying length, separated by momentary pauses.
It is, in fact, much more like a hurried chat-
tering.

In some specimens, the patch of bright scarlet
in the centre of the wing, is diminished to a slight
tinge on the edge, or even entirely wanting. This
is not a difference of sex, but probably of age.

I cannot well identify our Black-bill with Latham’s
** Jamaica Black-billed Green Parrot ;” he calls it
var. a of Astivus, which it surely is not; yar. @
agrees in other particulars. Ours seems, as it were,
made up of both descriptions.

YELLOW-BILLED PARROT. 269

YELLOW-BILLED PARROT.*
Psittacus leucocephalus.

Psittacus leucocephalus, Linn.—PI, Enl. 549.
Psittacus collarius, (young ?) Ibid.

Tue Yellow-bill is less common than either of
the two preceding, but its habits are the same.
The same fruits supply it with food, but in ad-
dition, it divides the oranges, to procure the pips,
and even cuts the acrid cashew-nut, to extract
the kernel; which the others will not do.

The present and the preceding species build in
holes in lofty trees; often a hollow bread-nut is
chosen, and often the capacious and comfortable
cavity chiselled out by the Woodpecker. Four
eggs are usually laid; and when the green feathers
begin to clothe the callow heads of the promising
family, they are too often taken by some daring
youth, who having watched the parent to her hole,
climbs the giddy elevation. He feeds the young
with ripe plantain or banana, till they approach
maturity, and their appetites can digest plainer.
food; for when grown they will eat almost any-
thing.

All the three species learn to speak, but the
Parroquet is barely intelligible; the Black-bill is

* Length 133 inches, expanse 228, flexure 7}, tail 4,%,, rictus 1, tar-
sus 58, middle toe 1 =$. Irides dark hazel; cere and eyelids greyish-
white. Sexes exactly alike.

270 SCANSORES.—PICIDA.

the most docile, but the beauty and superior size
of the Yellow-bill causes it to be preferred for
the cage. One in full plumage, and able to arti-
culate with distinctness, usually fetches about twenty
shillings in the towns.

Robinson, in enumerating the Jamaican Psittacide,
distinguishing them from introduced specimens, men-
tions in addition to those I have given, ‘‘ the Moun-
tain Parroquet.” (MSS. ii. 88.)

Fam.—PICIDA.—(The Woodpeckers.)
YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER.
Picus varius.— Lin.

Aud. pl. 190.

Four or five specimens of this beautiful Wood-
pecker, all females, occurred to us, in the months of
December, January, and February; but at no other
time was it seen. I have no doubt it is a winter
migrant from the northern continent, where, how-
ever, Wilson states that it abides all the year. I
have nothing to give of its history: its manners, as
far as observed, were those common to the tribe;
the stomachs of such as I dissected, contained wood-
boring larvee.

* Length 8% inches, expanse 153, flexure 5, tail 34, rictus 1,4, tar-
sus $4, middle toe 38.

2 ees |) a

RADIOLATED WOODPECKER. 971

RADIOLATED WOODPECKER.*

Centurus radiolatus.—W AGu.
Edw. 244,

Tuts species greatly resembles the Red-bellied
Woodpecker of Wilson, (C. Carolinus,) from which
it may be distinguished by the plumage of the
rump and tail-coverts being barred as the back,
and the tail being black, with the two middle
feathers crossed by narrow bars of white on their
inner vanes, and the outmost feathers spotted with
white on the outer edge.

This is among the commonest of Jamaican birds,
being abundant in all situations, from the shores
to the summits of the mountains. His loud screams
as he darts along from one dead tree to another,
perpetually betray his proximity even before we
see him. Like the rest of his tribe, his flight
consists of a series of undulations, or rather a
succession of arcs of a circle, performed by alter-
nate strokes and closures of the wings. Though
rapid and rushing in its character, it does not ex-
tend to long distances, nor does it appear capable
of protraction, the wings having the shortness and
hollowness which mark a subordinate power of
flight. Occasionally he alights on a_ horizontal

* Length 11 inches, expanse 173, flexure 5}, tail 34, rictus 13%, tar-

sus 1.2, middle toe 153, versatile toe 13,, nearly. Inrides bright hazel,
or scarlet.

272 SCANSORES.—PICIDZ.

branch, but if so, it is lengthwise, not across, as
other birds perch; neither does he stand up on
the toes, elevating the tarsi, but squats down close
to the wood, clinging rather than perching. Far
more usually, however, he flies direct to the trunk,
on whose perpendicular side he alights as suddenly
as if he had been stuck there, and either com-
mences rapping with his powerful beak, or hops
upward till he finds a more promising scene of
operations. If he wishes to descend, which he
does but seldom, it is backward and in a diagonal
direction; or sometimes he turns, so as to come
down sideways, but it is never more than a short
distance, and is performed so awkwardly, and in
so scrambling a manner, as to indicate that he is
not formed for descending.

His food is not confined to boring larve; the
large red ants, so common in the woods, I haye
found numerous in his stomach; and at other
times, hard strong seeds enclosed in a scarlet pulpy
skin. In March we sometimes find him filled with
the white pulp and oval seeds of the sour-
sop. He is said to feed on the beautiful cher-
ries (Cordia collococeca) which in brilliant bunches
are ripe at the same season; and I have seen
him engaged in picking off the pretty crimson
berries, that hang like clusters of miniature grapes
from the fiddlewood (Cytharaxylon). Sometimes
he extracts the pulp of the orange, having cut a hole
through the rind; and mangoes he eats in the
autumn. He does damage to the sugar-cane, by
chiselling away the woody exterior, and sucking

RAINBIRD. 273

out the juice, and gets shot for this feat, by the
owners.

I have never seen the nest, but I have seen the
bird go in and out of a round hole, far up the stipe
of a dead cocoa-nut palm, where doubtless it was
nesting.

Fam.—CUCULID H.—(The Cuckoos.)
RAINBIRD.*
Saurothera vetula.

Cuculus vetula, Linn.—PI. Enl. 772.
Saurothera vetula, ViEILL.—Gal. Ois. 38.

INTERESTING to myself, as being the first bird
that I obtained in Jamaica, I mention the fact, be-
cause the mode in which I procured it is illustra-
tive of one of its most remarkable characteristics.
A day or two after my arrival, I was taking a
ramble with a little lad, who was delighted to be
my pioneer and assistant; we had climbed a hill
which was clothed with large timber, so densely
matted with lianes and briers as to be almost im-
penetrable. We had, however, got into the thickest
of it, when a large and handsome bird with a long
tail, beautifully barred with black and white, ap-

* Length 153 inches, expanse 14,4, flexure 4,5, tail 63, rictus 24,
tarsus 1 5, middle toe 14, Intestine 16 inches, very tender; two ceca,
about 2 inches long. Irides hazel; orbits scarlet. The sexes exactly
alike.

N 5

274 SCANSORES.—CUCULID.

peared on a low shrub within a few feet of us,
watching our motions with much apparent interest.
My little friend informed me that it was a Rain-
bird, but that it had received also the title of Tom
Fool, from its silly habit of gratifying its curiosity,
instead of securing its safety. Without wasting
many words, however, the youth picked up a * rock-
stone,” as pebbles are called in Jamaica, and de-
livered the missile with so skilful an aim, that the
bird dropped to the ground, and became. the first-
fruits of an ornithological collection.

I have often seen the bird since, and always with
the same manners, jumping from twig to twig, or
climbing with facility up the slender stems of the
young trees, gazing at the intruder; and if driven
away, flying only a few yards, and again peeping as
before. It is little seen except where the woods
are high, but is widely scattered on mountain as
well as lowland.

The wings are remarkably short and hollow, like
those of the Gallinacez, the bird displaying the un-
usual phenomenon of a length greater than the ex-
panse. Conformably to this, the bird is seldom seen
to fly except from tree to tree; more usually leaping
in a hurried manner along the branches, or proceed-
ing up the perpendicular bole by short jumps. When
it does fly, it glides nearly in a straight line, without
flapping the wings. It often sits on a branch ina
remarkable posture, the head lower than the feet,
and the long tail hanging nearly perpendicularly
downward. When sitting it now and then utters a
loud and harsh cackle, unvarying in note, but in-

RAINBIRD. 275

creasing in the rapidity of its emission; and some-
times this sound is produced during its short flights.
All the time of this effusion, the beak is held widely
opened. It may be imitated in some degree, by
repeating the syllables, ticky ticky ticky, for about
a minute, as rapidly as they can be uttered. It is
frequently seen on the ground in morasses and
woods, when it proceeds by a succession of bounds,
the long tail held somewhat high, the head low:
the tail is jerked forward by the impulse at each
pause of motion; and the whole action is like that
of the Crotophaga.

When held, it is fierce, trying with widely opened
beak to bite, and uttering angry screams; the tail
expanded. A male, which had been knocked down
with a stone, but not much hurt, on being put into
a cage, was outrageous when one’s hand was placed
near the wires, dashing from side to side, now and
then snapping at the hand, and snarling all the
while, exactly in the tone of an angry puppy.

It is extremely retentive of life; sometimes when
a wounded one has come into my possession, I have
been distressed at the vain efforts that I have made
to deprive it of life, without absolute destruction of
the specimen. The craw is large and protuberant,
below the sternum, and is usually much distended.
I have found in various individuals large caterpillars,
locusts, phasmata, spiders, phryni, a whole mouse,
lizards, &c. Robinson found in one a large Green
Anolis, eight inches long, coiled up in a spiral
manner, the head being in the centre. He says
it bruises the heads of lizards, and then swallows

276 SCANSORES.—CUCULID.

them head foremost, and the stomach being of a
roundish form, he conjectures that the lizard must
necessarily be coiled in this manner. Mr. Hill
had one alive for several weeks; it seized cock-
roaches and other insects, when put into its box,
and ate fresh meat, if chopped small.

I know nothing of the nest, except what the
following note may afford. A young friend informs
me that he once observed a Rainbird carrying
“trash” into the hollow or fork of the divergent
limbs of a logwood tree. Some little while after,
passing that way, he observed a nest-like accumu-
lation of similar substances, but as it was beyond
reach, he took a long stick to poke it out. In doing
so, he pushed out an egg, which was about as long
as that of the Tinkling, but not so broad: its colour
white with many spots, but he had no distinct re-
collection of what hue they were.

** When pairing,” observes Mr, Hill, ‘the male
bird attracts the female by gracefully displaying
his plumage. His long graduated tail, which insen-
sibly blends tints of drab-grey with black, and ter-
minates with a border of white, is then seen ex-
panded. The short rufous wings are spread out,
and the whole plumage, from the sage-grey, hair-
like, downy web of the back, to the soft, dull yellow
under feathers, are in motion, as the bird endea-
vours by playful dalliance to win his mate’s atten-
tion.”

.

HUNTER. 277

HUNTER.*
Old Man.—Rainbird.

Praya pluvialis.

Cuculus pluvialis, Gm.—Sloane. pl. 258.
Piaya pluvialis, LzEsson.

Tue appellation of Rainbird is indiscriminately
applied to both this and the preceding, as is, in a
less degree, that of Old Man. I use a term by
which I have heard it distinguished, in St. Eliza-
beth’s, perhaps derived from the perseverance with
which it ‘ hunts” (i. e. searches) for its prey.

The manners of this fine bird greatly resemble
those of its relative, and its prey is also similar. It
is a bird of large size and imposing aspect, and its
puffed plumage and long barred tail give it an
appearance of even greater magnitude than it pos-
sesses. Its voice is sometimes a cackling repetition
of one sound, increasing in rapidity until the
separate notes are undistinguishable. At other
times it is a hoarse croaking. The craw projects
below the sternum, and the skin of that part of

* Length 194 inches, expanse 194, flexure 74, tail 114, rictus 2, tar-
sus 13, middle toe 14. Inrides hazel; feet bluish grey ; beak black, gonys
pale grey. Plumage extremely loose and unwebbed. Head dark grey,
merging on the neck into dark greyish-green, which is the hue of the
back, rump, and wings, with metallic gloss. Tail feathers broad, gradu-
ated, glossy black, tipped with white, broadly on the outmost. Throat
and breast white, the latter greyish; the remaining under parts deep red-
brown. Eyelids blackish. Interior of mouth black.

278 SCANSORES.—CUCULID.

the abdomen is destitute of feathers and even of
down. :

The obesity of this bird is often extraordinary; I
have seen the fat lying over the bowels, between the
stomach and the vent, three-fourths of an inch thick.
When alive, it has a strong musky odour, like that of
the John-crow.

** In the changes of our mountain roads,” remarks
Mr. Hill, ‘‘ from deep masses of shadowy forest,
with prodigious trees overgrown with moss, and
climbing shrubs and lianes, to luxuriant and park-
like pastures, flowery hedgerows and shrubby thickets,
—two sounds, remarkable and different from each
other, prevail. The one is the tapping of the
Woodpecker, broken in its measured monotony by
an occasional scream; and the other the rattle of the
Rainbird, varied by a cry at. intervals like the
caw of the Crow tribe. The deep forest is the
haunt of the Woodpecker,—the open thickets the
resort of the Rainbird. The insects which form the
food of the one, are those that subsist out of the
sun-light, and perforate the alburnum of trees, or
live beneath the bark; those that are the prey of
the other, are the tribes that find their sustenance
on the surface of vegetation, exist in the shade, and
only resort to the open air to shift from place to
place.”

YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. 279

YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO-*
May-bird.

Coccyzus Americanus.

Cuculus Americanus, Linn.—Aud. pl. 2.
Cuculus Carolinensis, WILs.
Coccyzus Americanus, VIEILL.

Erythrophrys Americanus, Sw.

At. our Cuckoos but the present are permanent
residents; this is but a summer visitor. Nor
is it at any time very common, a few only taking
up their abode with us, while their brethren con-
tinue their vernal migration from the southern
to the northern continent. In the “Notes of
a Year,” before quoted, Mr. Hill has the follow-
ing observations on this species. ‘‘ The visit of the
May-bird is one of the precursors of the spring
rains in this island. The hazy atmosphere which
precedes the showers of the vernal season, has
already dimmed the usual lustre of the sky; the
winds have ceased; the heat has begun to be wri-
tably oppressive ; the air to assume a steamy dense-
ness, hot and heavy;. the butterflies have left the
parched and blighted pastures to congregrate where-
ever they can find any kind of moisture, and the
insects to attract the Nightjars to the lowlands, when

* Length 13 inches, expanse 16}, flexure 5-4, tail 53, rictus 12, tar-
sus 1, middle toe 1.

280 SCANSORES.—CUCULIDA.

the stuttering voice of this Yellow-billed Cuckoo is
heard among the prognostics of the coming rain.

** The May-bird, unlike the other Cuckoos with
us, that never migrate, prefers straggling trees
by the wayside to hedgerow thickets. With the
first rain that falls, the hedge-trees, cleared of their
dust, have begun to put forth fresh foliage, and to
form those closer bowers favourable to the shy and
solitary habits of this bird. It is [comparatively]
long-winged, and its swift arrowy flight might be
mistaken for that of some of the wild-pigeons. It
ranges excursively, and flies horizontally with a
noiseless speed, dropping on the topmost stems of
trees, or descending into the middlemost branches.
When alighting, it betrays its presence by a sound
like the drawling cuck-cuck-cuck of a sauntering
barn-door fowl.”

One which was slightly wounded, on being put
into a cage with some Pea-doves, began to attack
them by munching out their feathers. It was
therefore placed by itself, when it sat moody and
motionless; attempting occasionally, however, to
seize cockroaches which were put in to it, and
biting spitefully at the hand when approached.

In skinning this bird, an operation very difficult
from the tenderness of the skin, my attention was
called to a number of Entozoa, which were writhing
about on the surface of the sclerotica of the eyes,
within the orbit. They were very active, about
half an-inch long, and as thick as a_horse-hair.
Under a lens, they appeared whitish, pellucid, cylin-
drical, but tapered at each end; the intestinal canal

BLACK-EARED CUCKOO. 281

distinctly visible, much corrugated and in motion.
There were traces of transverse wrinkles. Sam in-
formed me that he had observed them once before
in the eyes of the same species.

BLACK-EARED CUCKOO.*
Coccyzus seniculus.

Cuculus seniculus, Linn.— Aud. pl. 169.
Erythrophrys seniculus, Sw.

THE tawny underparts, contrasted with the sober
grey of the upper, glossed like shot-silk, and the
long tail beautifully barred with black and white,
render the subject before us one of the handsom-
est of this genus of Cuckoos. It is a dull, and, so
to speak, a stupid bird; we not unfrequently see it
suddenly fly out from the woods, and crossing the road
rest on a branch at a short distance, where it sits
little disturbed by the proximity of passengers: or
jumps to another twig near, and thence to another.
I have never heard it utter a sound. It lives on
soft insects, large spiders, &c., which are stationary,
and which it seeks by thus peeping among the trees,
and for the capture of which long flights would be
unnecessary.

I know nothing of its domestic economy; but in

* Length 123 inches, expanse 154, flexure 5, tail 63, rictus 154. tar-
sus 1,, middle toe 1 4,, versatile toe %. Intestine 10 inches; two
cxca, 14 inch long, about 14 inch from cloaca.

282 SCANSORES.—CUCULIDA.

January I have found eggs in the ovary, as large as
dust-shot.

The shortness of the intestinal canal, and its
freedom from conyolutions is remarkable, and struck
me forcibly by comparison with that of a White-
winged Dove, which I happened to dissect on the
same day with this. The length of the intestine
in the granivorous bird was forty-one inches, that
in the insectivorous, ten.

SAVANNA BLACKBIRD.*
Crotophaga Ani.—Lixn.

Pl. Enl. 102.

In all open places, but particularly savannas and
pastures which are occupied by cattle or horses, these
birds are seen all day long, and all the year round.
They are perhaps the most common of the birds of
Jamaica. Familiar and impudent, though very wary,
they permit a considerable acquaintance with their
manners, while an approach within a limited distance,

* ™ Length 143 inches, expanse 173, flexure 63, tail 73, rictus 1,3,, height
of beak .9,, tarsus 158, middle toe 1...

Irides deep hazel, feet black ; beak black, the ridge semitransparent,
furrowed perpendicularly. Plumage black, with rich purple reflections,
most conspicuous on the wing-quills ; the clothing feathers have the disk of
an intense black, with a lighter border, brilliantly iridescent; the borders
on the neck are larger in proportion, and are sometimes brassy.

Intestine 12 inches ; two ceca, 14 inch long, 2 inches from the cloaca.

The young have not the scaly character of the plumage, nor any ridge
upon the beak.

SAVANNA BLACKBIRD. 283

in a moment sets the whole flock upon the wing, with
a singular cry, which the negroes please to express
by the words, going-awa-a-ay, but which may be
as well described, according to the fancy of the
hearer, as How-d’ye? or Anz. The appearance of
the bird in its gliding flights is unusual; the body
is slender, the head large, and the beak enormous ;
and as in flying it assumes a perfectly straight form,
with the long tail in the same line, without flapping
the wings, it takes the aspect, on a side view,
rather of a fish than of a bird. The centre of the
upper mandible is hollow, and the surrounding part
is composed of cells of very thin bone, as is the lower
mandible. It thus bears a great resemblance to the
beaks of the Toucans and Hornbills. The belly is
thin and lank, and the bird, even though fat, has
always the appearance of meagreness: the shabbiness
of the downy feathers that clothe the belly and the
long tibiz, adds to this effect. In these particulars,
as well as in general aspect and manners, the Black-
bird displays a strong affinity to the Cuckoos and Tou-
eans ; indeed, if I may judge froma living Rhamphas-.
tos carinatus which was some time in my possession,
it seems nearer to the latter than to the former.

The food of our Blackbird, though consisting
mainly of insects, is not confined to them. We
usually find the stomach distended with caterpillars,
moths, grasshoppers, beetles, and other insects, to.
such a degree that we wonder how the mass could
have been forced in. But I have found these con-
tents mixed up with, and stained by the berries of
the snake-withe; and in July I have found the

284 SCANSORES.—CUCULIDZ.

stomach crammed with the berries of the fiddle-wood,
(Cytharaxylon,) which had stained the whole inner
surface of a bright crimson. Flocks of these birds
were at that time feeding on the glowing clusters
profusely ripe upon the trees. Stationary insects are
the staple food; to obtain which, they hop about
grassy places, and are often seen to jump, or to
run eagerly at their prey; on which occasions the
long tail, continuing the given motion after the
body has stopped, is thrown forward in an odd
manner, sometimes nearly turning the bird head
over heels. It is probably to protect the eyes from
the stalks of weeds and blades of grass in these
headlong leaps, that the projecting brows are fur-
nished with a row of short but very stiff overhanging
bristles; but what purpose was served by the high
and thin knife-blade of a beak, I was ignorant, till
informed by Mr. Hill, who observes that it ‘enables
the bird to open out the soft earth, and seek for its
insect food; it also facilitates its access to the vermin
imbedded in the long close hair of animals. I am
assured,” he adds, * that if a patch of cows’ dung be
examined after Crotophagas have been searching for
the larvee of insects, it will be found furrowed as if
a miniature plough had passed through it.”

The form of this organ has given occasion, in
Hayti, where also it is common, to the appellation
of “bout de tabac,” that is “‘ bowl of tobacco pipe ;”
it is also called there Judeo,

The name Crotophaga, (tick-eater,) is no. misno-
mer, as has been, without foundation, asserted by
some who never saw the living bird. Almost every

SAVANNA BLACKBIRD. 285

one in Jamaica is aware that the Savanna Blackbird,
as well as the Grakle, feeds on the parasites of cattle.
I made particular inquiries about this soon after my
arrival, and was assured of the fact by persons who
had witnessed it multitudes of times, and who could
not “mistake” the Blackbird for the Grakle, their
whole form, voice, and motions, being different.

Afterwards, however, I had repeated opportunities
of personal observation on this point. One day I
noticed a cow lying down, around which were four
or five Blackbirds, hopping on and off her back,
and eagerly picking the insects from her body ; which
service seemed in no wise unpleasing to her. I have
also seen them leaping up on cows when grazing; and,
on another occasion, jumping to and from a horse’s
back; and my lad Sam has repeatedly observed them
clinging to a cow’s tail, and picking insects from it,
as far down as the terminal tuft. Had cattle been
pastured near where I resided, I should doubtless
have had many more ocular demonstrations: but the
evidence is amply sufficient. In some of these cases,
the occurrence was close to me, so that there was
no possibility of deception, especially as, being
aware of the conflicting statement, I looked with the
more interest to satisfy myself.

But stationary insects are not the only prey of
the Crotophaga; in December, I have seen little
groups of them engaged in the evenings, leaping
up from the pasture about a yard into the air,
doubtless after flying insects, which they seemed
to catch. One day in March as I sat at dinner,
my attention was arrested by what seemed to be

286 SCANSORES.—CUCULID&.

a green bird chased by several Crotophagas, near the
top of a lofty tree at some distance, and presently
saw that it was a very large lepidopterous insect ; it
flew over the woods about a quarter of a mile before
I lost sight of it, when it appeared to alight on
the top of a tree. The birds did not pursue the
chase far. I have seen one with a dragon-fly in
its beak, which it had just caught, but it may
have been while resting. At another time I saw
that a Blackbird had actually made prey of one
of our little nimble lizards (Anolis). These cir-
cumstances show, that like the Toucans, the Ani
is to some extent omnivorous.

Though its usual mode of progression on the
ground is by hopping, or rather bounding, the feet
being lifted together, the Blackbird is seen oc-
casionally to run in a headlong manner for a
short distance, moving the feet alternately. He is
fond of sitting in the morning sun on a low tree
with the wings expanded; remaining there per-
fectly still for a considerable time. In the heat
of the day, in July and August, many may be seen
in the lowland plains, sitting on the fences and
logwood hedges with the beaks wide open, as if
gasping for air; they then forget their usual loqua-
city and wariness. Often two or three will sit in
the centre of a thick bush, overhung with a matted
drapery of convolvolus, whence they utter their
singular cry in a calling tone, as if they were play-
ing at hide-and-seek, and requiring their fellows to
come and find them.

The statement that the Blackbird builds in com-

SAVANNA BLACKBIRD, 287

pany, forming an immense nest of basket-work by the
united labours of the flock, is universally maintained
by the inhabitants of the colony. It is said to be
usually on a high tree, where many parents bring
forth and educate a common family. Mr. Hill,
whose statements in Jamaican Ornithology are wor-
thy of unlimited confidence, observes: ‘‘ Some half-
a-dozen of them together build but one nest, which
is large and capacious enough for them to resort to
in common, and to rear their young ones together.
They are extremely attentive to the business of
incubation, and never quit the nest, while sitting,
without covering the eggs with leaves, to preserve
them at an equal temperature.” The only instance
in which I ever met with a nest, while it is not
-conclusive, is rather in favour of this opinion than
the opposite. In July I found a Blackbirds’ nest
‘in a Bastard Cedar (Guazuma); it was a rather large
mass of interwoven twigs lined with leaves. Hight
eggs were in the nest, and the shells of many more
‘were also in it, and scattered beneath the tree.
The eggs were about as large as a pullet’s, very
regularly oval, of a greenish blue, but covered with
a coating of white chalky substance, which was
much scratched and eroded on them all, and which
was displaced with little force. On being broken,
the interior was peculiar; the glaire was less tena-
cious than usual, but more jelly-like, yet at the
same time thinner in consistence; but what sur-
prised me was, that in each egg this glaire filled at
least three-fourths of the whole space, while the
yolk, flattened in form, not larger in diameter than

288 SCANSORES.—CUCULIDZ.

a coat-button-mould, and about twice as thick, was
adhering to one side and end. It was pale, and
resembled in appearance that of a hen’s egg, when
just turned by boiling. I examined several, and
found all alike.

I close this account with some pleasing notes of
the species by Mr. Hill. ‘Though the Savanna
Blackbird is classed among the scansorial or climb-
ing tribe of birds, and has the yoke-formed foot,—
like another class of the Cuckoo tribe among us,
of which we have four or five different kinds,—it
is generally a downward, not an upward climber.
It enters a tree by alighting on the extremity of
some main branch, and gains the centre of the
foliage by creeping along the stem, and searching
for its insect food. Unlike, however, our Cuckoos,
which are solitary-feeding birds, it does not range
from stem to stem, and search the tree through.
The Blackbirds, moving in flocks of half-dozens,
tens, and twelves, seldom penetrate far among the
leaves. They glance along the branches rapidly,
and silently quit the tree they have visited, by
dropping one by one on some inviting spot on the
green sward under them, or start away suddenly,
the whole possé together, to some near-by thicket, to
which one among them generally leads with that
peculiar shrill and screaming cry that distinguishes
them from every other bird of the field.

‘These Savanna Blackbirds are favourites with
me. Other winged wanderers have their sea-
son, but these are the tenants of the field all the
year round. Their life is in the sunshine. Where-

SAVANNA BLACKBIRD: 289

ever there are open lands in tillage or pasture, with
intermingled trees and shrubs, there these social
birds frequent :—always familiar and seemingly fear-
less, but never omitting to set their sentinel watch-
men to sound their cry when any one obtrudes
nearer upon them than to a certain space within their
social haunts.

‘** After a passing fall of rain, one of our sudden
mid-day thunder showers for instance, when the full
burst of sunshine, bright and fierce, breaks again on
the freshened landscape ;—the first bird seen creep-
ing out from the thicket to dry his wings, and
regain the fields, is the Savanna Blackbird. The
Mocking-bird, ready as he is with his song, to
gladden the landscape once more, is seldom before
the shrill Blackbird, in breaking the hush that
succeeds the overpast shower. Que-yuch, que-yuch,
gue-yuch is heard from some embowered clump not
far off, and a little stream of Blackbirds, with their
long tails and short gliding wings outstretched in
flight, are seen straggling away to some spot, where
insect-life is stirring, in the fresh, damp, and ex-
uberant earth. The sun is levelling its slant beam
along the plains, and the sea-breeze is breathing
fresh and fragrant with a sense of reviving moisture
from the afternoon showers, gue-yuch, que-yuch, que-
yuch is heard again, hastily and anxiously repeated ;
and the little birds are seen scrambling into the
hedge-rows, and the Blackbirds are pushing from
the outer limbs of the solitary thicket, from whence
they sounded their cry of alarm, to gain the inward
covert of the leaves. A hawk with silent stealth is

)

290 SCANSORES.—CUCULIDZ.

skimming along the bordering woodland, gliding
occasionally downward to the lesser bushes in the
Savanna. The tocsin of the Blackbird, however, has
warned the whole field, and not a voice is heard, and
not a wing is stirring.

“In the hot and sultry days when the dews have
ceased to fall, and all vegetation is parched and
languid, the Blackbirds are seen wending their way
at an early hour of the afternoon to the river-side,
trooping in little parties. They have found some
spot where an uprooted tree has grounded in the
shallow stream. Here they are perched, some tail.
upward, drinking from the gliding waters below,
some silent and drooping, some pluming themselves,
and some in the sands that have shoaled about the
embedded trunk of the tree, washing in the little
half-inch depths of water. They will continue
here till sunset, when they will start off laggingly,
the signal being first given by some one of the
flock, who has announced, that it is time to seek
their coverts for the night, with the still peculiar
ery of que-yuch.”

I am inclined to attach very little importance
to the wrinkles on the beak as indicating specific
difference: these, as well as the form and size of
the organ, varying considerably in individuals from
the same locality ; the result, I have no doubt, of
age.

RING-TAIL PIGEON. | 291

Orper.—GYRANTES. (Circlers.)
Fam—COLUMBADE. (The Pigeons.)
RING-TAIL PIGEON."

Columba Caribbea.

Columba Caribbea, Liyn.—Temm. Pig. pl. 10.
Columba lamprauchen, WacGL.

Or all our Doves, none is so exclusively arboreal
as this. The Bald-pate, the Blue Pigeon, and the
Ring-tail are essentially tree-doves, but I have seen
the first feeding on the ground, and the second is
often seen running; but all who are acquainted
with this bird’s haunts and habits concur in affirm-
ing that he is never seen to put his feet upon the
earth. Though it is probable that he must occa-
sionally procure gravel, to aid in the comminution
of his hard food, and that, when the resources of
the wild-pines are exhausted in the long droughts,
he must descend to drink at the mountain ponds,

* “Length 16 inches, expanse 24, tail 53, tarsus 1, middle toe 1,4.
Trides brilliant orange ; orbits carmine ; beak black ; feet coral-red. Crown,
sides of head, and fore-neck, obscure reddish-purple ; throat white. Back
of neck splendid purplish green ; back, rump, thighs, and parts beneath the
wings, pale blue. Basal half of tail pale blue, gradually merging into a black-
ish-blue bar, nearly an inch broad, which crosses the feathers; thence to
the tip, greyish-blue. Wing quills blackish brown, the first five edged with
white ; coverts towards the back, and the pinion [winglet?], dull olive;
the rest of a very dull blue. Breast and belly dull reddish-brown. Weight
10o0z. 2dr *—(Robinson, MSS., ii. 114, abridged.)

0 2

292 GYRANTES.—COLUMBADZ.

or gully springs, it seems that he cautiously selects
his occasion, when unwitnessed by human eyes.
And yet it is said not to be a shy bird, nor, at
certain times, difficult to obtain by those who have
made themselves acquainted with its habits. It
inhabits the most recluse and dense mountain forests,
where few are able to follow it, but the negro
fowlers. The penetration of steep mountain-woods,
abounding in prickly bushes, and tangled, beyond
all description, by twining and pendent lianes, many
of which are formidably spinous, where there is
nothing like a pathway, and the ground is strewn
with enormous masses of honey-combed limestone,
over whose sharp points the hunter must often
climb at the risk of his neck,—or with a loose
rubble that slips from beneath the feet, and causes
continual falls, is an enterprise that demands no
small degree of courage, temper, and perseverance.
The naked feet of the negroes catch hold of the
rocky projections, almost like the hind hands of the
monkey, and. they can proceed with rapid and
noiseless step; while the shoes of the white man,
in his slow and painful progress, betray, by the
displacing of stones, and the crackling of twigs, his
approach to the wary bird, while yet far away. The
musquitoes also, that, thirsting for blood, and
swarming in such situations, dance around his. face
with their maddening hum, and soon inflame head,
hand, and foot with their pungent stings, make a
tyro long to be out again, almost before he has lost
sight of the open sky of the clearing. But it is the
presence of these most annoying insects, which

RING-TAIL PIGEON. 293

affords an opportunity of obtaining the highly prized
Ring-tail. This bird appears to suffer more from
their stings than others; or else its superior saga-
city has taught it a resource of which others are
ignorant, or unwilling to avail themselves. Itis aware
that these little insect-pests cannot abide smoke, and
wherever the blue clouds curl gracefully through the
tall trees from the woodman’s fire, the Ring-tail is
said to resort thither, if within the neighbourhood,
and solace itself with a temporary suspension of
insect assaults. But, alas! it is only to expose
itself to a more fatal peril, for the negro sports-
men have marked the habit, and fail not to take
advantage of it. Whenever they have noticed the
birds feeding on the berries of any particular tree,
they take an early opportunity of kindling a fire
beneath it, near which they conceal themselves, so
as to watch the tree. The birds begin to arrive,
and are shot down by the fowler one after another ;
the repeated flashes and reports, and the falls of
their companions, driving the survivors away for a
few moments only from the attractive spot, to which
they again and again return till the gunner’s am-~
bition is satisfied. They are frequently brought
to Kingston, Savanna-le-Mar, and the other towns,
and are eagerly purchased for the table; though, as
the distance which they are carried usually prevents
their arrival on the day they are killed, they are
almost invariably deplumed and drawn, and the inside
strongly peppered before they are sent to market.
Hence specimens for the naturalist, are to be ob-
tained only by a special expedition. Of the three

294: GYRANTES.—=COLUMBAD&.

superlative delicacies of which the natives of Jamaica
boast, the Ringtail holds the undisputed pre-emi-
nence. The others are the Fresh-water Mullet, and
the Black Land-crab. Dr. Chamberlaine (Comp.
to Jam. Alm. 1840) mentions this bird as “ the most
luscious dainty of his class, or of any other. I am
acquainted,” he further observes, “with no bird
that the sportsman pursues, that can be compared
to the Ring-tail Pigeon, for the richness, the de-
licacy, and the tenderness of his flesh. He is,
during the months of September, October, and
November, a mass of luscious fat, and his plump and
well-enveloped flesh acquires for him a superiority
over that of all his tribe.” It is a common thing,
at the period of their high condition, for birds
shot from a tall tree to burst asunder with the fall.
The Ring-tail is stated invariably to perch near
the middle of a tree, usually in the fork of the
principal limbs; where, when seated, it will remain
quietly looking down at the fowler, perhaps within
afew yards of his head. The centre of those trees
which are clothed with a dense tangled mass of
withes or creepers, is preferred; and it is asserted
that on no occasion is this bird to be seen perched
on an exterior twig or branch. The Blue Pigeon
sometimes manifests the same predilection; but with
him it is only when the gusty “ norths,” rocking
the flexible branches, would make his seat on them
uncomfortable if not insecure.
_ The Ring-tail will sometimes leave his solitudes,
and come down to eat the berries of missletoe,
growing on sour-sop and other trees. A friend has

RING-TAIL PIGEON, 295

seen four thus engaged on a tree in the house-yard.
It eats the seed of the yam also in the provision
ground.

When the vernal rains have copiously descended,
the “negro-yam” sends out plentifully its young
and tender shoots: the tips of these, with the un-
opened leaves and buds, are particularly agreeable
to this exquisite bird, and it may often be shot
at that season in the grounds of ‘the mountain
slopes. It is, however, then in poor condition.

By an Act of the Colonial Legislature, 10 Ann.
xvi. 3, wild pigeons were forbidden to be killed
in the parishes of St. Catherine or St. John’s, or on
any island or kay, in the months of May, June,
and July, under a penalty of forty shillings, or slaves
to have thirty-nine lashes. Since the abolition of
slavery, this, as well as many other laws, of simi-
larly oppressive character, has been repealed.

Robinson found in one, the hard perforated seeds
of the small palmetto-thatch. He mentions also,
that in the autumn they owe their fatness to feeding
on the fruit of the trumpet-tree, wild-raspberries, and
wild star-apples. ‘It is remarkable,” he observes,
“that the thighs [tibie?] are twice the length of
the legs [tarsi ?].”

The unwonted absence of the seasonal rains in the
spring of 1846, rendered my efforts to obtain spe-
cimens of this fine bird fruitless, though I sent
experienced persons many times to their usual
haunts. I am therefore compelled to give a de-
scription from Dr. Robinson’s MSS. The preced-
ing accounts, also, are the results, not of personal

296 GYRANTES.—COLUMBADZ.

observation, but of careful and minute and repeated
inquiries. Mr. Hill writes me that it has been
abundant on the Highgate mountains since my
departure.

Temminck asserts that the Ring-tail seems to be
spread over the whole Antilles and Bahamas, but
is not aware that it exists on the continent. Mauge
found it at Porto Rico, where it is said to associate
in flocks of many hundreds. (!)

BLUE PIGEON.*
Columba rufina.

Columba rufina, Tzmm, Pig. 24.
Columba Cayanensis, Bonn.

Tue Blue Pigeon is found both on the moun-
tains and in the lowlands. On the former it seems
less to affect the deep forest, than such woods as skirt
cultivated ground. When the purple berries of the

* Length 16 inches, expanse 26}, flexure 94, tail 53, rictus 14, tar-
sus 14, middle toe 19, (including claw 55;). Iris consists of two circles,
the inner one pale blue, the outer pale orange, the junction of the colours
being marked by a line of dark blue. Orbits grey, edges of eyelids dull
red. Beak black; feet lake-red. Head, neck, breast, and belly, dull
reddish-purple. Scapulars and inter-scapulars dusky grey. Wings grey-
ish-black ; secondary greater coverts blue grey, edged with white; mid-
coverts red-brown, merging into the surrounding colours, Back, rump,
and tail, slate blue, the latter deepening towards the tip. Chin pale grey.
Sides, thighs, under wing and tail-coyerts, blue grey. Sexes barely differ-
ing.

SEE

BLUE PIGEON. 297

phytolacca are ripe, about the end of the year, these
pigeons flock in considerable numbers to feed at dawn
and atevening. About the same time they are nume-
rous in the lowlands, for I have found them plentiful
in the large morass that extends along the shore from
Crabpond to Parker’s Bay. They were flying about
in pairs, for the most part, among the black man-
grove trees, on whose seeds they were probably
feeding. But I found in the stomachs of those
which I shot, the white blossoms of a species of
missletoe which is abundant there, and in one the
bean-like seeds of, as I believe, the madjo-bitter
(Picramnia). Early in February I visited the
mangrove woods of Mount Edgecumbe morass, to
seek these birds. They were rather numerous, but
alighted only on the summits of the tallest trees.
Finding that they were very shy, I seated myself
and remained quietly watching. ‘Thus I obtained
several successive shots, as they appeared to come
round to the spot periodically, perhaps once in
half-an-hour. Two or three were in company, and
as they flew from tree-top to tree-top, their move-
ments were announced by a guttural jug, jug, and
by the loud rushing of their powerful wings. Fre-
quently one would chase another round the trees,
playfully, which I conjectured to be a symptom of
pairing.

The common note of the Blue Pigeon resembles

- somewhat the barking of a cur; bow-wow—wow, the

last syllable protracted and falling. It is much
like the Sary-coat-blue of the Bald-pate, but the

short second syllable is wanting.
0 5

298 GYRANTES.—COLUMBADZ.

For delicacy and flavour of flesh this species
scarcely yields to its congener, and is but a little
less in request. It is dark in hue, but exquisitely
delicious, tender, juicy, and free from bitterness.

It is an arboreal bird, but not quite so exclusively
as the Ring-tail. Like the Bald-pate, he is often
shot, by forestalling him at his feeding tree, before
day-break. In form he agrees with the bird just
named; his legs and feet are stout and strong; his
head and neck small and slender; the plumage of
his nape forms a sort of ridge. M. Temminck, pro-
bably having never seen the bird alive, and not being
aware of the very singular peculiarity of the iris
mentioned in the note, has given his figure red
eyes, The two colours impart a very unusual cha-
racter to the physiognomy of the ‘species; it is con-
stant, not accidental.

About the end of April, I was informed of a
Blue Pigeon’s nest on a lofty limb of an inaccessible
cotton tree. It was a more substantial structure
than those of its congeners, being made of dried
grass, or similar material, as well as twigs. A Bald-
pate had a nest on a contiguous tree, and the neigh-
bouring birds were continually squabbling. I have
never seen the eggs.

The Blue Pigeon is said to inhabit not only all
the great islands of the West Indies, but also
Guiana.

_

BALD-PATE. 299

BALD-PATE.*

( White-crowned Pigeon. Bon.)

Columba leucocephala. Linn.
Aud. pl. 177.

Tuts fine dove is common in almost all situations,
but chiefly affects the groves of pimento, which
generally adorn the mountain pens. The sweet aro-
matic berries afford him abundant and delicious
‘food during the pimento season; the umbrageous
trees afford him a concealment suited to his shy
and suspicious character; and on them his mate
prefers to build her rude platform-nest, and rear
her tender progeny. Wary exceedingly, the Bald-
pate, from his seat among the topmost twigs, dis-
cerns the gunner, himself unseen, and intimates
his vicinity only by the rushing of his strong wings,
as he shoots off to some distant part of the grove.
In the breeding season, however, when alarmed
from the nesting tree, he does not fly far, and soon
returns; so that the sportsman, by concealing him-
self, and watching the bird’s return, may bring him
down. When the pimento is out of season, he
seeks other food; the berries of the sweetwood,
the larger ones of the breadnut, and burn-wood,
of the bastard cedar, and the fig, and the little ruddy

* Length 16 inches, expanse 234, flexure 7%, tail 54, rictus 14, tarsus
15, middle toe 13. Irides cream-white ; eyelids purplish flesh colour.

300 GYRANTES.—COLUMBADZ.

clusters of the fiddle-wood, attract him. He feeds
early in the morning, and late in the afternoon:
large numbers resort to a single tree, (though not
strictly gregarious,) and when this is observed, the
sportsman, by going thither before dawn, and lying
in wait, may shoot them one by one, as they arrive.
In September and October they are in fine condition,
often exceedingly fat and juicy, and of exquisite
flavour. In March the clammy-cherry displays its
showy scarlet racemes, to which the Bald-pates flock.
The Hopping Dick, Woodpecker, and Guinea-fowl,
feed also upon it. In April, Sam tells me he has
seen as many as thirty, almost covering a tree, feed-
ing on berries which he believes were those of the
bully-tree. Late in the year they resort to the saline
morasses, to feed on the seeds of the black-mangrove,
which I have repeatedly found in the craw; I have
even seen one descend to the ground beneath a
mangrove, doubtless in search of the fallen seeds.
In general, however, the Bald-pate is an arboreal
pigeon, his visits to the earth being very rare.
He often feeds at a distance from home; so that
it isa common thing to observe, just before night-
fall, straggling parties of two or three, or indi-
viduals, rushing along with arrowy swiftness in a
straight line to some distant wood.

The Bald-pate is a noble bird; plump, yet of
a graceful form; the iridescent scale-like feathers
of his neck, with their black borders, are very strik-
ing; he is staid and sedate in manners, when sitting,
and there is something of supercilious sternness in
his countenance, which, combined with his snow-

BALD-PATF. 4) 301

white head, always reminds me, strange as the com-
parison may appear, of the grand Bald-Eagle. His
coo is Sar#-coat-bliie, uttered with much energy,
the second syllable short and suddenly elevated, the
last a little protracted and descending.

Incubation takes place chiefly in the months of
June and July. In Bluefields morass many nests
are found on the tallest black-mangroves, and are
much robbed by the negro youths, who rear the
young for sale: the native pigeons being, more
than any other birds, kept in cages by the creoles.
The nest is merely a very slight platform of dry
twigs, rudely attached, on which two eggs are laid,
They are of delicate whiteness, in form very regu-
larly oval, and in dimensions 1/ inch by 1,4. I
never heard of its breeding on rocks.

I add a few particulars of some which I kept
from early age. I shot a young one on the 2nd of
September, breaking the tarsus; and about a week
afterwards another was brought me which may have
been rather older. The former appeared not to
have finally left the nest. Both were exceedingly
ugly ; long-necked, thin-bodied, the head not well
rounded, the fleshy part of the beak prominent,
and its base unfeathered. The whole plumage was
blackish ash-coloured, each feather slightly tipped
with paler, and the feathers of the head terminating
in little curled grey filaments, which added to the

uncouth appearance of the birds. In a week or two
I perceived these filaments were gradually disap-
pearing, and about the beginning of October the
small feathers began to clothe the base of the beak :

302 GY RANTES.—COLUMBADZ.

these feathers were greyish-white, and at the same
time the grey hue was beginning to spread up the
forehead, I believe by the dropping of the black
feathers, and their immediate replacement by the
white ones. About this time also the general plu-
mage began to assume the blue hue of the adult,
in patches; and on the 12th of October, I first
observed the beautiful iridescent feathers of the
neck, but as yet only on one side. These notes
refer to the elder; the other was about two weeks
more backward. On the 16th, I first heard it coo ;
for some time it had now and then uttered a single
note, but on this day it gave the whole Sary-coat-
blie, but short, and in a low tone; and that only
once. By the end of November the white had spread
over the whole crown as in the adult, but was not
yet so pure or so smooth. A third, which I pur-
chased in November, though a young one of the
season, having been reared from the nest, was much
more mature both in plumage and size. By the end
of that month the crown of this one was perfectly
in the adult plumage, the neck feathers complete
on both sides, the body plump and smooth. This
individual, when first put into the cage, was very
cross, pecking at all the others, including some Pea-
doves, whenever they came near him, and even
stretching himself down from his perch to reach
them as they walked under him. One or two of the
Pea-doves suffered particularly, for he munched out
their feathers by mouthfuls, laying bare a large
portion of their backs. He soon became more
reconciled, but never associated with them, never

Se hel

OLE we SST ee mcmrorCmlmCTmTmT,Tmlmrmeme,hUlUl

BALD-PATE. 303

descending from his perch all day, except to feed or
drink. The other Bald-pates walked about a good
deal with the Pea-doves, and were rather playful.
Any new object they would examine and lay hold
of. Their cage, a capacious packing-box, was lined
with paper; somehow or other, a bit of it was torn
up ; the Bald-pates were continually pulling at this,
and were not content till they had stripped off a
large space. A hole in the gauze front had been
darned with thread ; they would take the loose ends
in their beaks and tug at them. Sometimes they
would seize a stick or twig, and drag it about the
cage. A White-belly, taken ina springe, and put
with them, would not eat the Indian corn, with which
they were fed, and was supplied with orange-pips:
the Bald-pate would run up to the White-belly when
feeding, and playfully endeavour to snatch the pips
from him as he picked them up; when, however,
he succeeded in getting possession of one, he im-
mediately dropped it: it was only the fun he want-
ed. If I inserted my finger through the gauze, he
would seize it with his beak, and, as it were, chew
it, and tug at it in various directions, turning, and
sometimes quite inverting, his head. He would
always take a grain of corn from my hand, even if he
did not eat it.

Towards the end of the year, all of my Bald-pates
used to coo frequently, and, what is strange, often
in the night. When wakeful from sickness, I have
heard it from the adjoining room at intervals, four
or five times during the night: especially on those
nights in January, when the furious norths blow

304 GYRANTES,—COLUMBAD&.

with so much violence; the bird probably awakened
or made uncomfortable by the cold and howling
gusts that penetrate every room, as if they would
‘blow the house out of the windows.” On each
occasion the whole set of syllables was repeated
twice or thrice in quick succession, preceded by a
low note, and then the former silence was main-
tained. The imitation of their coo, which may be
very accurately effected, always attracted attention
from the birds, manifested by their eyes turned
towards the sound, and their necks stretched
out.

WHITEWING DOVE"

(Lapwing. )
Turtur leucopterus.

Columba leucoptera, Linn.—Edw. 76.
Zenaida leucoptera, G. R. Gray.

Tuts is a Turtle of much elegance. Its general
aspect resembles that of the Pea-dove, but its colour
is less warm, and its figure less plump. The singular

* Length 12} inches, expanse 19, flexure 6}, tail 43, rictus 1, tarsus
1, middle toe 1%. Irides bright orange; feet lake-red ; beak black ;
lores and eyelids light blue. Upper parts dusky umber, the crown, hind-
head, and nape suffused with purple; loins and tail-coverts blue-grey, the
latter tipped with umber. Wing-quills blue-black, the first four narrowly
edged, the secondaries tipped, with white, primary-coyerts and winglet
black ; greater and middle secondary-coverts pure white with grey bases,

WHITEWING DOVE. > 305

white band on the wing is at any distance a suffi-
cient distinctive mark. It is the only gregarious
Dove we have; for the small companies of the
Ground Dove can hardly entitle it to be so called :
the Whitewing, however, associates in flocks of
twenty or thirty, which, when removing, fly in a
body, as do tame Pigeons. In the early months
of the year, when the physic-nut (Jatropha cureas )
is ripening, and oranges come in, the Whitewing
becomes plentiful in open pastures, and the low
woods in the neighbourhood of habitations ; the seeds
of these fruits, and the castor-oil nut, forming the
principal part of their food. At this time they are
very easily shot, as they walk about on the ground.
They are also taken very readily in springes,
and in traps called calambans, baited with orange
seeds, Sometimes when the foot is caught in the
springe, the bird will remain very quietly; at others
it struggles much, so as almost to be deplumed: cats
often find them, and leave little but feathers to the
owner. Occasionally the bird is caught by the neck,
and I have been told of an instance, in which a
Whitewing taken thus, flying with impetuosity on
the alarm, cut its head absolutely off with the string,
the body falling one way and the head another.
From the ease with which they are procured, they
forming a broad band from shoulder to hind angle, Uropygials umber,
tail-feathers grey with broad bluish-white tips, the grey becoming black at
its termination, and ending abruptly: the white is more pure, and the
grey nearly black on the under surface. Neck, throat, and breast pale
umber, glossed on the side with green, crimson, and gold reflections ; a

spot of deep blue under the ear ; belly, sides, and under tail-coyerts grey -
ish white. Sexes alike, Intestine 41 inches: no cecum,

306 GYRANTES.—COLUMBADZ,

are a good deal eaten, though seldom fat, and rather
subject to be bitter.

When the rains fall, we see the Whitewings but
seldom; they betake themselves to the deep woods
and impenetrable morasses, when their presence is
indicated by their loud stammering coo. The full
coo consists of more notes than that of any other
of our Doves; rendered into negro-English, it runs
thus: “ Since poor Gilpin die, cow-head spoil,”
the last note protracted and falling moaningly.
This, however, is not uttered, as far as my experi-
ence goes, when coming out into “ the open” to feed.
Two which I had with other Doves, caged, were
usually silent; but in Mr. Hill’s larger collection,
the Whitewings were most pertinaciously vociferous,
All the day long, the four-fold coo, * two bits for
two,” or “ what's that to you?” loud and vehement,
saluted our ears. Sometimes it was replaced by
a sort of chorus, more musical, ‘ toora-loora, toora-
loora.” ‘The other Doves cooed occasionally, but
the Whitewings incessantly.

The food of this Pigeon, when retired from view,
I am not acquainted with; it is probably the seeds
and berries which supply its congeners. The seed
of the sour-sop is perhaps agreeable to it, for one
of my lads once caught a Whitewing by bird-lime
set for Blue Quits at a ripe sour-sop. Farinaceous
and pulpy berries are found in the woods at all
seasons, so that the Pigeons and other frugivorous
birds have not only abundance but variety. Its
nest is not very often met with. I am informed
that it occasionally builds in a pimento; Robinson

a I

PEA-DOVE. 307

says that it builds also in the orange, and sea-side
grape, in May, a very slight and narrow platform
of rude twigs, and lays two eggs, of a pale drab
hue.

The general form, the shortness. of the tarsus, the
length of the tail, and its manners, associate this
species rather with the arboreal than the terrestrial
Doves. It, however, approaches the latter. Those
which I kept in a cage, habitually rested on the
highest perches, while the Pea-doves generally rested
on the floor.

The Whitewing is swift and strong on the wing;
but its flight 1s not accompanied with that peculiar
whistling, produced by the wings of the Pea-dove.

PEA-DOVE.*
(Zenaida Pigcon.—Bon.)
Zenaida amabilis.

Columba Zenaida, Bonap.—Aud. pl. 162.
Zemaida amabilis, Tbid.

THE open pastures, or the grassy glades of pi-
mento pens, are the favourite haunts of this pretty
Dove, where it walks on the ground singly or in
pairs. In such open situations, it can discover, and

* Length 11} inches, e se 194, flexure 64, tail 4, rictus 1, tarsus
gt xpanse 193, ¥
1» middle toe 153,.

308 GYRANTES.—COLUMBADZ.

mark the motions of an intruder, and long be-
fore he is within gun-range it is upon the wing.
Few birds are more difficult of approach, unless
the intervention of a wall or a thick bush permit
a concealed access. Its flight is rapid and forcible,
and performed with a peculiar whistling of the wings,
by which it is at once recognised, though unseen.

The Pea-dove is frequently seen in the middle
of dusty high-roads, but whether they resort thither
for the purpose of dusting, or to procure gravel, I
cannot say, as they usually fly as soon as seen
When the rains have ceased, the increasing drought
renders these, as it does many other birds, more
familiar; and they may be seen lingering on the
borders of streams and ponds. Indeed they seem,
of all our Doves, to haunt most the vicinity of
water; particularly those dreary swamps or morasses
which are environed by tall woods of mangrove.
In the winter months, when the pastures are burnt
up with drought, we may hear all day long their
plaintive cooing, proceeding from these sombre
groves, though it is not much heard in any other
situation. The coo consists of five deliberate notes,
loud but mournful, ‘* Sary-coat-true-blue,” all in
the same tone, save the second, which is short and
elevated. It resembles the note of the Carolina
Dove.

The Pea-dove subsists on various fruits and seeds :
pimento-berries, orange-pips, sop-seeds, castor-oil
nuts, physic-nuts, maize, and the smaller seeds of
pasture weeds are some of his resources. His flesh

is white and juicy, and when in good condition is

———aEEEeEeEe

PEA-DOVE. 309

in general estimation. His form is plump, and
his plumage beautifully smooth; though its colours
are sober, they are chaste and pleasing; and the
aspect of his countenance, with his dark liquid
eye, is remarkably engaging.

I kept several of these birds in a cage for nearly
a year, but they were too timid: to be interesting
in confinement. They could not bear any approach
- to them, without fluttering violently. They were
very restless, walking rapidly about the cage-floor
all day long, invariably walking over each other,
rather than deviating from their course. Only one
or two ‘habitually perched. The Pea-dove has-the
habit of jerking the head by quickly shortening,
and then lengthening the neck, immediately and
invariably followed by a flirt upward of the tail;
this action my captives were perpetually perform-
ing at intervals of a few seconds, when not walk-
ing. They slept on the floor of the cage, but
were extremely wakeful. I have many times crept
silently into the room at various hours of the night,
taking off my shoes and moving with extreme cau-
tion, but always found them wide-awake ; perhaps
sensible of the light of the candle, even when the
eyes were closed. My servant, however, found
them asleep very early one morning, when they awoke
with a start: the head was not behind the wing.

They were jealous of other birds, and, notwith-
standing their gentle physiognomy, irritable and
pugnacious. A Cashew bird that was a fellow-
prisoner, they would strike at with the wing, and
even if I myself-suddenly approached, the wing

810 GY RANTES.—COLUMBADZ.

was raised in defence. - They were spiteful towards
an unoffending Kildeer Plover, pecking at him so
violently as to pull the feathers from his side, and
make him cry out. I fed them with maize.

I have now in my possession a Pea-dove, shot
by Sam in December, the lower mandible of which
is distorted by the point being turned on one side,
so that the mandibles cross as in the Cross-bill.
The tips, however, could be brought into contact.
It was shabby in plumage, and in very poor con-
dition, the cause of which was obvious, for, open
the plumage of the under parts wherever I would,
the body was swarming with lice (Nirmus); and a
large proportion of the body feathers were crowded
with nits to such a degree, that on one feather which
I placed under a lens I counted upwards of 170; and
there were other feathers more crowded than this. I
judged it to be a moderate estimate, that on this
unfortunate bird there were not less than 500 lice,
and 10,000 nits. On one of the thighs, where they
were very thick, there was an ulcer. In addition
to this, two large bird flies (Ornithomyia) flew from
the plumage, while I was examining it.

The nest is, as usual, a loose platform of twigs in-
terlaced, with scarcely any hollow, and no leaves;
it is often built in an orange, or a pimento, and
contains two eggs of a drab hue. Near the end
of March we started a Pea-dove from the centre
of a lofty Ebby palm (Z/ais) in Mount Edgecumbe ;
it immediately alighted on the ground just before
my lad, and began to tumble about in a grotesque
manner, affecting inability to fly. Sam was not to

GROUND DOVE. 311

be caught, however ; but calling my attention to the
circumstance, we began to peer among the fronds
of the tree, where we presently discerned the pro-
jecting ends of the twigs that constituted her nest,
the centre of her fears and anxieties. It was inac-
cessible, however, when discovered.

GROUND DOVE.

Chameepelia passerina.
Columba passerina, Linn.—Aud. pl. 182.
Chamepelia passerina, Sw.

THovueHu it would be scarcely proper to term this
little bird gregarious, it is certainly social, being
rarely seen alone. In pairs or small companies of
three or four, it frequents pastures, on the short
turf of which it runs with considerable speed; and
is rather loath to take wing, often allowing a person
to approach within a few yards. If one fly, how-
ever, all fly; but seldom go far; alighting either
on the ground again, or on some neighbouring tree
of small elevation. As it runs along, the tail is
usually erected, which gives it the aspect of a
miniature fowl.

I have found the craw full of small seeds of

* Length 63 inches, expanse 104, flexure 34, tail 254, rictus 56, tarsus
32, middle toe 33. Irides lake-pink ; feet pale flesh colour ; beak orange,
black at the tip ; eyelids yellow.

312 GYRANTES.—COLUMBADZ.

grasses; they also eat the seeds of the Jatropha
and of the castor-oil plant, and particularly those
of the gamboge-thistle, (Argemone,) so common in
pastures. They are fond of picking about the beds
of shallots and escalions, for minute seeds exposed
in the newly-turned earth. They are, therefore,
readily taken in springes made of horse-hair; they are
more commonly caught by the neck than by the
feet, and not seldom, as I am assured, is the neck
quite cut off; though I presume the springe in
such cases must be of stronger material.

The Ground-dove is numerous all the year round.
In March, I observed it particularly abundant on
the banks of the Rio Cobre, especially on a flat
gravelly bed, partially surrounded by the bending
stream near Spanish Town. The boys of the neigh-
bourhood took advantage of the thirsty birds’ resort
to the water, by strewing about the spot the seeds
of the cockspur, (Pisonia aculeata); a burr so ad-
hesive, that if one touch but a feather, it is immoy-
able; a very little struggling entangles other feathers,
and the bird is utterly helpless. So firmly tenacious
is the hold, that even when the bird is in the hand
the seed can be removed only by plucking away
each feather it has touched. Many are caught. by
this singular artifice.

It is very easily deprived of life.. I have known
one fly into a room, and, striking its head against
the ceiling, fall down and die in an instant.

From April to June the low woods resound with
the coo of this little Dove. Sometimes it resembles
the word meho? in an interrogative tone, loud,

WHITEBELLY. 313

querulous, and pertinacious in iteration. At others
it is like children calling whoop. It is not at all
plaintive in its character.

There is a singular projection on the outline of
the inner web of the fourth primary, in this genus,
and more slightly on that of the fifth. The object
of this peculiarity it is not easy to conjecture.

Dr. Robinson, having weighed one, records the
weight as one ounce sixteen grains, troy. He men-
tions also, what I have not seen, that “the irides
consist of, first, one ring of yellow, then one of
black, a narrower of black, and another of yellow,
broader.” (MSS. ii. 97.) Wilson’s description ap-
pears to me to have been taken from a preserved
skin.

WHITEBELLY.*

Peristera Jamaicensis.

Columba Jamaicensis, Linn.
Columba rufaxilla, Ricu. et BERN.
Columba frontalis, Temm. Pig. 10.

Tuts lovely Pigeon is chiefly confined to the
upland districts; where its loud and plaintive cooing

* Length 12% inches, expanse 18%, flexure 64, tail 4}, rictus 1, tarsus
1,3,, middle toe 1,2,, outer and inner toes 2. Intestine 30 inches; no
ceca. Irides whitish, with a granulated appearance, reddish at the outer
edge. Feet crimson. Beak black. Forehead pure white, becoming
slate blue on erown ; hind-head delicate grey-blue ; neck reddish brown,

|

314 GYRANTES.—COLUMBAD&.

makes the woods resound. The negroes delight to
ascribe imaginary words to the voices of birds, and
indeed for the cooings of many of the pigeons, this
requires no great stretch of imagination. The beau-
tiful Whitebelly complains all day, in the sunshine
as well as the storm, “‘ Rain-come-wet-me-through !”
each syllable uttered with a sobbing separateness,
and the last prolonged with such a melancholy fall,
as if the poor bird were in the extremity of suffering.
But it is the note of health, of joy, of love; the
utterance of exuberant animal happiness; a portion
of that universal song wherewith “ every thing that
hath breath may praise the Lord.” The plumage, as
usual in this family, is very soft and smooth, the ex-
pression of the countenance most engagingly meek
and gentle. And it is a gentle bird: I have taken
one into my hand, when just caught in a springe, full
grown and in its native wildness; and it has nestled
comfortably down, and permitted its pretty head
and neck to be stroked, without an effort to escape,
without a flutter of its wings.

This is one of those species which habitually live
on the ground: in unfrequented woods, as well
those which are open, as those which: are choked
with underwood, the Whitebelly walks about singly
or in pairs picking up various seeds. About Con-

changing to amethyst, the lowest feathers brilliant green and purple.
Back, wing-coverts, and uropygials dusky-brown, with slight reflexions.
Wing-quills deep brown, the outer edge narrowly white, the basal part of
inner webs, chestnut ; true tail-feathers blue grey, with white tips. Under
parts pure white, tinged with flesh colour on breast: inner surface of
wings chestnut. Eyelids bluish, the edges and angles dark lake.

eee es

WHITEBELLY. 315

tent, a densely wooded mountain side, it is very
numerous in June and July, feeding on sop-seeds,
and many are taken in springes. The physic-nut
forms a large portion of its food; as well as orange-
pips; and fragments of the large seeds of the mango,
chewed by hogs. Its flesh is generally esteemed ;
it is white, juicy, and well-flavoured, without being
liable to bitterness.

As it walks to and fro, it frequently flirts the
head and tail, but not so markedly as the Pea-dove.
If flushed, it betakes itself to a low tree not far
off, whence, if unmolested, it is soon down again.
Often when seen in the woods, it runs a few yards,
and then rises to fly, but as if trusting less to its
powers of flight than to those of running, alights
again immediately, and runs swiftly off among the
bushes. It has no regular roosting-place, often
spending the night on a stone, or a log, or a low
bush that happens to be near the spot where it was
feeding at nightfall. This is not the case with the
other Doves.

The aspect and air of the Whitebelly are unlike
those of its kindred. Its round head, the prevalence
of light hues, and its. height upon the legs, contri-
bute to this peculiarity. Essentially a ground-
pigeon, its length of tarsus enables it to run with
ease and celerity; perhaps more rapidly than any
other of the family.

Unlike the tree-doves, the Whitebelly usually
builds in rather a low situation; often a logwood, a
favourite tree with this, and the Whitewing. If in

the large woods, one of moderate height is chosen.
P 2

316 GYRANTES.—COLUMBADZ.

The nest consists of a few loose sticks, with some
leaves in the centre; the eggs are white.

MOUNTAIN WITCH.*

Geotrygon sylvatica, MIHI.

No description can give an adequate notion of the
lustrous radiance of this most lovely bird; though
it has not yet found a place in our Ornithologies.
I presume it to be the “ Columba silvatica major
nigro-cerulescens,” of Browne’s Jamaica, p. 468,
but he has given no description; his ‘‘ Mountain
Witch, Mountain Partridge, or Mountain Dove,”
is doubtless the bird described in the following
article. Mr. Selby, in his beautiful volume on the
Pigeons, in the Nat. Lib., named, without charac-
terising, the genus Geophilus, which, while he ap-

* GzorryGon. Generic Character.—Beak robust, rather long; both
mandibles strongly arched at the tip; nostrils opening far forward.
Wings short, and rounded: third quill longest ; second and following
quills strongly and abruptly sinuated on the outer edge; first quill sickle-
shaped, not attenuated. Tail nearly even, short, (viz. less than thrice the
length of the tarsus). Tarsus longer than middle toe, unfeathered,
covered in front with transverse plates. Inner toe longer than outer ;
hallux shorter than outer toe. General form stout and plump.

G. Sylvatica. Length 12 inches, expanse 19, flexure 6, tail 4, rictus
1, tarsus 14, middle toe 13;. rides blood-red ; orbits grey, edge of eye-
lids scarlet; beak reddish-black ; feet pale flesh colour, front of tarsi and
of toes, pink, claws blackish, small and blunt. Head high and sub-coni-
cal ; feathers of occiput projecting and overhanging the neck, as if a notch

MOUNTAIN WITCH. 317

plied it with confidence to Carunculatus and Nico-
baricus, he assigned doubtingly to the larger ground
doves of Cuba and Jamaica, But these species have
no generic identity; nor if they had, could this
name be adopted, as it had been previously used
for a genus of Myriapoda.

This magnificent bird inhabits the most retired
mountains, and the deepest woody glades there;
places difficult of approach and rarely traversed.
In the dense and lofty forest that clothes the brow
of Bluefields Peak, it is very numerous, usually
seen singly or in pairs, walking on the ground;
the freedom of the forest there from underwood
allowing it to exercise its fleetness of foot to ad-
vantage. If alarmed, it generally seeks to escape
by running, its bulk and shortness of wing rendering
its flight burdensome and ineffective. Its coo con-
sists of two loud notes, the first short and sharp,
the second protracted and descending with a mourn-
ful cadence.. At a distance its first note is inaudi-
ble; and the second, reiterated at measured in-

had been cut with scissors ; or still more, as if the head were covered with
a hood which hung down behind. Forehead blackish grey, softening into
a brownish tint behind: below the eye and ear is a large undefined patch
of buff; chin of same hue; the rest of head, throat, neck, breast, and
belly, bluish-grey ; the whole neck richly glossed with pale crimson,
changing to brassy-green, especially behind, where the feathers meet in a
sharp ridge. Abruptly separated from the neck, a broad belt of dark red
extends from each shoulder across the back, reflecting the richest purple.
The remainder of back, rump, tail, and wing-secondaries and tertiaries,
deep-sea-green, or black, according to the light, glossed with rich purple:
on the secondary and primary coverts, the green merges into a dark
bistre: primaries bright chestnut, with black shafts and tips. Inner sur-
face of wings, thighs, lower belly, vent and under tail-coverts, chestnut.

318 GYRANTES.—COLUMBADZ.

tervals, sounds like the groaning of a dying man.
These moans, heard in the most recluse and solemn
glens, while the bird is rarely seen, have probably
given it the name of Mountain Witch.

About a score yards from the high road, just
opposite Bluefields gate, is a house lately occupied,
but now deserted; the space between it and the
road is now overgrown with young trees sprung up
with the luxuriance of tropical vegetation, and is
already a wilderness. Among the bushes, the castor-
oil plant and the physic-nut are numerous; and
under these in the dry season, the Whitewings as-
semble in search of seeds. One day in November,
Sam had gone thither to set a springe, when he
was surprised by the sight of a Mountain Witch
on the ground almost close to him. He had, the
moment before, discharged his gun, and it shows
the fearlessness of this beautiful bird, that it had
not flown at the report. Immediately on the dis-
covery, the lad drew back to re-load, but before
he could accomplish this, the bird began to run,
and was presently lost among the bushes. On several
successive days it was seen at the same spot, in-
variably on the ground; generally it allowed a very
close approach, running when the lad advanced,
but stopping to gaze if he stopped. As it stood
it was observed to jerk the tail in the manner of
the Pea-dove. At length Sam shot it. It was a
young bird, rather smaller in size and less iridescent
than the adult. Its craw was full of castor-oil nuts,
and contained also a little snail. This is the only
instance, I ever heard of, in which this species

MOUNTAIN WITCH. 319

came down to the lowlands: it was seen chiefly
in the evening, and its object so far from its moun-
tain home, was probably the search after water,
the weather being very dry.

The relation which the development of the power
of flight or of walking, bears to the colour of the
flesh, is well shown by a comparison of this species
with the Bald-pate or Blue Pigeon. The flesh of
the tree dove is dark red; that of the Mountain
Witch is whiter than a chicken’s: the former the
more juicy, the latter tender, but dry; both are
delicious in flavour.

Various seeds and nuts I have found in the giz-
zards of many that I have examined, some hard
and stony; others farinaceous, and comminuted.
The seed of the lance-wood is said to afford it
food.

The Mountain Witch is generally spoken of as
rare, in the island; but I suspect the remoteness
and difficulty of access of its recluse solitudes, have
contributed to this opinion. Robinson gives Claren-
don as one of its localities: he says it is the most
beautiful pigeon in Jamaica. I should be inclined
to say ‘‘the most beautiful bzrd,” if we except the
Long-tailed Humming-bird.

I had been assured by intelligent men, very fami-
liar with these birds, that the Mountain Witch
lays in March, in the angle of the roots of a tree,
on the ground; that the young leave the nest about
a week after they are hatched, and are led about
by the mother, who scratches for them in the man-
ner of a fowl. Some have declared that they have

320 GYRANTES.—COLUMBADZ.

been eye-witnesses of this; persons who have never
heard that this pigeon has any systematic affinity to
the Gallinacee. I made many inquiries and found
the statement very general, almost universal. A
female shot in March had an egg in the oviduct,
shelled and perfectly ready for exclusion; it was
of a dull reddish-white, unspotted; and measured
14 inch by 4.

Of many which were procured for me in May,
nearly every one was of the male sex; and they
were shot from trees ; on inquiry into this anomaly,
I was told that during incubation the male in-
variably lodges in a neighbouring tree; a singular
deviation from its ordinary habits.

There is no appreciable difference between the
sexes, except that the male has the vent, under
tail-coverts, and thighs of a deeper chestnut, and
empurpled. The red of the quills is also brighter.

PARTRIDGE DOVE.*
Mountain Partridge.
Geotrygon montana.

Columba montana, Linn.
Columba Martinica, Tremm. Pig. 5, 6.
? Peristera cuprea, WaAGL.
I am convinced that our Partridge dove is the
montana of Linnzeus, and not his Martinica; the

* Length 94 inches, expanse 174, flexure 6, tail 3,4, rictus 1, tarsus

Sa ipa: we

ni > en “

PARTRIDGE DOVE. 321

Martinica of 'Temminck, and not his montana; the
Pigeon roux de Cayenne of Buffon, and not his P. de
la Martinique; and that it is not the montana of
Audubon ;— provided the descriptions and figures
of these naturalists faithfully represent their ori-
ginals. - e

This bird, the female of which is the least beau-
tiful of all our Doves, is generally scattered. It
affects a well-wooded country, and is found in such
woods as are more choked with bushes than such
as the Whitebelly prefers; though they often dwell
together. It is essentially a ground-pigeon, walking
in couples or singly, seeking for seeds or gravel
on the earth. It is often seen beneath a pimento
picking up the fallen berries; the physic-nut also
and other oily seeds afford it sustenance. Sam once
observed a pair of these Doves eating the large
seed of a mango, that had been crushed. With
seeds, I have occasionally found small slugs, a species

_ of Vaginulus, common in damp places, in its giz-

zard. Often when riding through the Cotta-wood,

1}, middle toe 13,. Irides golden yellow; feet flesh-colour, front of
tarsi bright red ; beak reddish horn-colour, base dark-red; naked skin of
face blue, red in the centre; edge of eyelids scarlet.

Male. Upper parts bright chestnut, more or less flushed with a purple
iridescence, chiefly on neck and back. Breast pale purplish-brown,
softened to white on throat and chin; a band of deep chestnu truns for-
ward from the ear to the throat. Belly and under tail-coverts, buff
white.

Female. Upper parts dark olive, glossed ; a few (sometimes nearly all)
of the feathers tipped with bay; head rather browner. Wing-quills
blackish: tail blackish, outmost feather tipped with white, a broad spot of
chestnut on the inner web. Throat whitish ; breast and sides dusky ;

under parts reddish-white.
P 5

322 GYRANTES.—COLUMBADZ.

a dense and tangled coppice near Content, I have
been startled by the loud whirring of one of these
birds, and at the same instant its short, thick-set
form has shot across on rapid wing, conspicuous
for a moment from its bright rufous plumage, but
instantly lost in the surrounding bushes. When
on the ground it is wary and difficult of approach;
but if it takes a tree, it seems less fearful, and
will allow the aim of the sportsman. It is in the
dry season, and particularly during the parching
norths that prevail at intervals from November to
March, that the Partridge, as well as one or two
other species of Dove, is numerous in the lowland
woods. In the summer it is much less frequently
seen and then only in the deep woods.

In some districts it is very abundant, though Dr.
Chamberlaine intimates that it has become scarce
in the neighbourhood of Kingston. He mentions,
as localities in which it may still be found, “ the
pastures beneath the Ferry-hills, and other cool and
retired retreats in the parishes of St. Catherine’s,
St. John’s, St. Ann’s, &c.” To these I can add
from my own observation, that it is common about
Auld Ayr and Shrewsbury woods, and abundant at
Content, the Cotta-wood, and Vinegar Hill, in St.
Elizabeth’s and Westmoreland. In the last named
locality, a lad caught twenty or more, in springes,
during two or three days, in February. It is readily
kept in a cage with other Doves, and fed with
maize. .

In the Short Cut of Paradise, where the sweet-
wood abounds, the Partridge is also numerous; in

ee

PARTRIDGE DOVE. 323

March and April when these berries are ripe, their
stomachs are filled with them. Here at the same
season, their cooing resounds, which is simply a very
sad moan, usually uttered on the ground; but on
one occasion we heard it from the limb of a cotton
tree at Cave, on which the bird sitting, with its
head drawn in, was shot in the very act. But at
a little distance,- the voice is not distinguishable
from the moan of the Mountain Witch.

A notion prevails that the dark coloured bird is
the male, and the rufous one the female; but I
have proved the contrary, by repeated dissections.

One day in June, I went down with a young
friend into a wooded valley at Content, to look at
a Partridge’s nest. As we crept cautiously towards
the spot, the male bird flew from it. I was sur-
prised at its rudeness; it was nothing but half-a-
dozen decayed leaves laid one on another, and on
two or three dry twigs, but from the sitting of the
birds it had acquired a slight hollowness, about as
much as that of a skimmer. It was placed on the
top, (slightly sunk among the leaves) of a small
bush, not more than three feet high, whose glossy
foliage and small white blossoms reminded me of
amyrtle. There were two young, recently hatched ;
callow and peculiarly helpless, their eyes closed,
their bills large and misshapen,—they bore little
resemblance to birds.

On another occasion, I saw the male shot while
sitting ; the nest was then placed on a slender bush,
about five feet from the ground. There were but

324 GYRANTES.—COLUMBAD&.

two eggs, of a very pale buff colour; sometimes,
however, they are considerably darker.

When seen alive, or recently killed, the affinity
of the Partridge-dove to the Mountain Witch is
very apparent; the stout form, the colour of the
feet, of the beak, and of the eyelids, and particularly
the conical form of the head, and a tendency to the
projecting hood-like plumage of the occiput, help
to indicate its true place. It has little resemblance
to either a Zenaida or a Peristera. The flesh is
very white; like that of its congener.

The woodsmen speak of a Blue Partridge, and
a Red-necked Dove; the former is figured by Ro-
binson, and is no doubt a ground pigeon. The
Spanish Partridge (Starnenas cyanocephala) is not
considered as indigenous in Jamaica, though it is
frequently imported thither from Cuba. It may,
however, yet be found in the precipitous woods
of the north side; Albin, Brisson, Buffon, and
Temminck, attribute it positively to our island.

= a

ae a

GUINEA-FOWL. 325

Orver.—_GALLINA. (Poultry.)
Fam.—PHASIANIDA. (The Pheasants.)
GUINEA-FOWL.*

Numida meleagris.—11nN.

IN a country whose genial climate so closely
resembled its own, and which abounded with dense
and tangled thickets, the well-known wandering
propensities of the Guinea-fowl would no doubt
cause it to become wild very soon after its intro-
duction. It was abundant in Jamaica as a wild
bird, 150 years ago, for Falconer mentions it
among the wild game, in his amusing ‘‘ Adventures.”
I shall confine myself to a few notes of its present
habits, which are in all probability those of its
original condition.

The Guinea-fowl makes itself too familiar to
the settlers by its depredations in the provision-
grounds. In the cooler months of the year, they
come in numerous coveys from the woods, and scat-
tering themselves in the grounds at early dawn,
scratch up the yams and cocoes. A large hole is
dug by their vigorous feet in very short time, and
the tubers exposed, which are then pecked away,
so as to be almost destroyed, and quite spoiled.

* Length 21} inches, expanse 314, flexure 103, tail 53, rictus 14, tar-
sus 34, middle toe 2-4. Irides hazel ; feet black.

326 GALLINZ.—PHASIANIDZ.

A little later, when the planting season begins, they
do still greater damage, by digging up and devouring
the seed-yams, and cocoe-heads, thus frustrating
the hopes of the husbandman in the bud. “ The
corn is no sooner put into the ground than it is
scratched out; and the peas are not only dug up
by them, but shelled in the pod.” (Dr. Cham.)
The sweet potato, however, as I am informed,
escapes their ravages, being invariably rejected by
them. To protect the growing provisions, some of
the negro peasants have recourse to scarecrows,
and others endeavour to capture the birds by a
common rat-gin set in their way. It must, how-
ever, be quite concealed, or it may as well be at
home; it is therefore sunk in the ground, and
lightly covered with earth and leaves. A springe
is useless, unless the cord be blackened and dis-
coloured so as to resemble the dry trailing stem
of some creeper, for they are birds of extreme
caution and suspicion. Itis hence extremely difficult
to shoot them, their fears being readily alarmed, and
their fleetness soon carrying them beyond the reach
of pursuit. But the aid of a dog, even a common
cur, greatly diminishes the difficulty. Pursuit by
an animal whose speed exceeds their own, seems
to paralyze them; they instantly betake themselves
to a tree, whence they may be shot down with
facility, as their whole senses appear to be con-
centrated upon one object, the barking cur beneath,
regarding whom with attent eyes, and outstretched
neck, they dare not quit their position of defence.
Flight cannot be protracted by them, nor is it trusted

GUINEA-FOWL. 327

to as a means of escape, save to the extent of gain-
ing the elevation of a tree: the body is too heavy,
the wings too short and hollow, and the sternal
apparatus too weak, for flight to be any other than a
painful and laborious performance.

The Guinea-fowl is sometimes caught by the
following stratagem; a small quantity of corn is
steeped for a night in proof rum, and is then placed
in a shallow vessel, with a little fresh rum, and the
water expressed from a bitter cassava, grated; this is
deposited within an inclosed ground, to which the
depredators resort. A small quantity of the grated
cassava is then strewn over it, and it is left. The
fowls eat the medicated food eagerly, and are soon
found reeling about intoxicated, unable to escape,
and content with thrusting the head into a corner.
Frequently a large part of the flock are found dead,
from this cause.

Though savoury, and in high request for the table,
the Guinea-fowl sometimes acquires an insufferably
rank odour, from feeding on the fetid Petiveria
alliacea ; and is then uneatable.

The eggs are deposited in the midst of a dense
tussock of grass, to the amount of a dozen or more.
It is said that occasionally the number is greatly
higher; and that they are laid stratum super stratum,
with leaves between. If this is true, probably more
than one hen participates in the maternity. The wild
bird’s egg measures 1,45 by 144 inch; and weighs

6 dr., 1 sc., 2 gr.—(Rob. MSS.)

328 GALLINZ.—TETRAONIDZ.

Fam.—TETRAONIDA, (The Grouse.)
QUAIL.*
Ortyx Virginiana.

Tetrao Virginianus, Linn.—Aud. pl. 76.
Ortyx Virginiana, STEPH.

Tuts beautiful game-bird, a native of North
America, was introduced into Jamaica about a hun-
dred years ago, where it was very soon naturalized,
and became abundant. It is found in almost all
situations, where there is cover; and from its pecu-
liar manners, its loud call, and the sapidity of its
flesh, is familiar to all.

It is scarcely seen but in coveys of a dozen or
more, which run among the grass, and, if alarmed,
lie so close, as to be unseen till a person is at the spot;
when suddenly they rise from beneath his feet, and
fly on rapid wing, and with loud whirr, to a short
distance ; then descending, run so swiftly as to defy
pursuit. If, however, on springing a covey of
Quail, we remain perfectly still, and keep a watchful
eye on the spot whence they arose, we may chance
to see one or two still squatting among the grass;
for often some remain after their companions have
departed.

Various kinds of pulse, and graminaceous seeds

* Length 94 inches, expanse 143, flexure 44, tail 24, rictus +4, tarsus
14, middle toe 154,.

QUAIL. 329

afford it food; in winter it lives largely on the
small spotted peas of the lesser fee-fee, (Clitoria
Virginiana.)

Robinson describes the egg :—* the colour, white;
length 11, breadth 12 inch. Nineteen were found
in one nest.”—(MSS, iii. 159.) He afterwards
says, ‘A nest has been known to contain no less
than thirty.”

Before I dismiss the Gallinaceous birds, I may
mention an interesting fact, of which Mr. Hill in-
formed me; that the Turkey is, as far as European
knowledge is concerned, indigenous to the greater
Antilles, having been found by the Spanish dis-
coverers, already domesticated by the Indians; and
that the European domestic breed is descended from
West Indian, and not from North American parent-
age. This would perhaps tend to confirm, what has
been suspected, that the domestic Turkey is spe-
cifically distinct from the wild Turkey of North
America.

330 GRALLZ.—CHARADRIADZ.

Orper.—GRALL. ( Waders.)

Fam,—CHARADRIADZ. (The Plovers.)
SHORT-BILLED PLOVER.*

A gialites melodus.
Charadrius hiaticula, Wus.—Aud. pl. 220.
Charadrius melodus, Oro,

I HAVE nothing to add to Wilson’s memoir of
this little bird. About the beginning of Novem-
ber, they arrive in Jamaica from the north; after
which they may be seen running swiftly on the
mud of morasses, and on the sea-beach, in com-
pany with Sand-pipers. They feed on small mol-
lusca, worms, &c.

KILDEER PLOVER.*+
Tilderee,—Tell-tale.

Aigialites vociferus.
Charadrius vociferus, Linn.— Aud. pl. 225.
Aigialites vociferus, Bore.

Ir is in the large open pastures of the lowlands
that the Tell-tale dwells. The traveller, as he passes
along, is startled by the sudden rise of a dozen or

* Length 7 inches, expanse 143, flexure 4%, tail 2,4, rictus =5,, tarsus
1, middle toe 1,4,. Intestine 14 inches: two ceca, 1 inch long.

+ Length 93 inches, expanse 18, flexure 54, tail 3,4, rictus =5,, tarsus

1,8,, middle toe 32.

KILDEER PLOVER. . 881

twenty of these birds, almost from under his feet,
before unseen, but now manifesting their presence
by the shrillest cries, as they wheel swiftly round
in a large circle, alighting near the spot whence
they arose. In winter great numbers flock to the
~ stony plains, which flying in a dense body afford
a fair mark to the sportsman, by whom their flesh
is esteemed. The majority of these birds seem to
be merely winter visitants, but a few certainly do
remain with us through the summer. Robinson says,
they lay their eggs among the stones near the rivulets,

One which was shot and wounded in the wing I
introduced to the doves, in a large packing-case, the
front of which was removed, and replaced by gauze.
Immediately on being put in, it began vigorously
charging at the gauze, as if it had no idea of any
impediment there, running backward a little way,
and then dashing at it; and this without an instant’s
intermission, now and then leaping up, and uttering
its wild cry. For a few minutes its impetuous
motions seemed to stupify all the doves, who gazed
in astonishment; but presently a young Bald-pate,
who occupied one of the front corners, a very cross
and surly fellow, began to peck and beat the little
Plover, driving him about the cage without mercy.
I had been struck at the first entry of the bird
with its remarkable height, owing to the length of
the tarsi, and the upright, bold attitude in which
it stood. At length to escape the persecutions of
the Bald-pate, it suddenly squatted down in one
of the back corners, bringing the tarsi flat on the
ground, and the tibiz on them, so that I was now

332 GRALLZ.—CHARADRIADZ.

struck with its flatness and closeness to the ground ;
and I saw how it is that we so often hear their cry
very near, when we can see no trace of them, and
often suddenly lose sight of them when watching
them running. I feel assured that this squatting
is the bird’s natural resource for concealment; for
on being alarmed suddenly, its first impulse is to
bend partially the heel, bringing the body nearer the
ground; if the danger appear to increase, it brings
the tarsi flat, the tibiz still being inclined; the
body seems now in contact with the ground; but
a greater terror brings it still lower, so that it really
appears as if half sunk in the earth; and now no
advance of the danger affects it, if there be no open-
ing to run} it lies quite passive; its resource is
exhausted.

My captive lay thus unmoved for a while, though
the restless Pea-doves, in running from side to side,
walked over it, trampling it under foot at every
turn. When it did get up, however, and came to
the front, it was again instantly assaulted by the
Bald-pate, who struck it with his wing, and seized
its beak with his own, and pinched it. Pitying it
under these inflictions, I took it out, and allowed it
to run about the room, Its actions now became
quite entertaining; it ran backward and forward
with surprising fleetness, but, not being used to the
smoothness of board, though the floor was not at all
polished, and wanting the support of the back-toe,
its speed was continually causing it to slip, the feet
sliding forward, so as to bring the bird down upon its
tail, Now and then it would stop, and make re-

—

a

_

KILDEER PLOVER. 333

peated efforts to jump over the skirting-board, which
being black, and the wall white, I suppose it mis-
took the latter for empty space. While doing
this, it ever and anon emitted its loud pipe with
startling shrillness. Having run into a corner, it
allowed me to take it up in my hand without flut-
tering. When it stood, it jerked its head up and
down. It was exceedingly active, when not lying
close for concealment; it was not still a moment;
besides the flirting of the head and tail, a tremulous
motion pervaded the body, so that it seemed to} be
shivering. When about to take a single step, this
was manifested in an odd manner; the foot touching
the ground three or four times before it was put
down. When it had become more at home, it
devoured earthworms greedily, and would pick
minute shells and entomostraca from a. saucer of
water, in which was a root of water-cress. In the
cage it delighted to stand in its water-saucer, but
when loose, the saucer being placed in one corner,
it would run rapidly in and out, now and then
stopping to pick at the contents.

My own acquaintance with the Grallatorial and
Natatorial visitants of Jamaica is but slight. On
the authority of Mr. Hill, I add to the Charadriade
above mentioned, the Ring Plover (Zgialites semi-
palmatus), the Golden Plover (Charadrius Virgi-
niacus), the Squatting Plover (Squatarola Helvetica),
and the Turnstone (Strepsilas interpres).

334 GRALLZ.—ARDEADZ.

Fam.—ARDEAD A. (The Herons.)
COMMON GAULIN.*
Lgretta nivea.—MIul.

Ir was on the Ist of August, the anniversary of
freedom to the slave, that I first met with this beauti-
ful bird. By a singular coincidence, Sam had been
just describing it to me, as a bird not yet obtained,
when, scarcely five minutes after, on going into the
yard, he instantly came running in, saying, “‘ Here
is a Gaulin, Sir!” I snatched up my gun and ran
out, and saw the snow-white bird sitting on a castor-
oil tree, just over the brook. I crept softly towards
it, but there being no concealment, it took alarm,
and flew before I could approach, and I lost it among
the woods. I determined, however, to seek it, and
bade my lad follow me. We had noted the direc-
tion which it had taken, and pursued it towards a
bend of the river. Before we had gone a hundred
yards through the bush, Sam sung out; and there
was the bird wheeling round in the air close to us,
and in a moment it alighted on the topmost twig of
a low tree. I fired, nervous with expectation, and
the next instant the lovely bird was at my feet, with

* Length 214 inches, expanse 354, flexure 94, tail 34, rictus 39, tar-
sus 4, middle toe 2.8;. Irides pale straw-yellow ; feet, cheeks and orbits,
pale pea-green; beak bluish-grey, tip black, gonys white. Plumage
snow-white ; tips of the first six primaries dashed with pale grey.

COMMON GAULIN. 335

unruffled plumage, and but a single drop of blood
oozing through the neck.

Some weeks after 1 saw another directing its
flagging flight over the pasture; it rose gradually
as it proceeded, till, when over the river, it began
to wheel in large circles at a considerable height.
After perhaps half-a-dozen gyrations, it flew off in
nearly a straight line for a quarter of a mile or
more ; then circled in like manner; and again pur-
sued the same course until I lost it from sight.

The Gaulins, or Egrets, are usually shy and
vigilant birds, but not invariably. One day in
May, as I was riding past Cave, my attention
was called to one of this species, which was fish-
ing in the shallows off the rivulet’s mouth, whither
it had resorted for several days past. Its tame-
ness was remarkable; for negro women were wash-
ing within a few yards, and it permitted me to
ride towards it, and to approach almost close, with-
out being alarmed, merely walking slowly away;
till at last, when I was within three or four yards,
it slowly rose to flight, but alighted not half a
stone’s cast distant. I was pleased to watch it a while,
observing the spotless whiteness of its plumage,
and the gracefulness of its form and motions, as
it arched its beautiful neck with the elegance of
a swan.

In some situations this is not a scarce bird.
Passing along by railway from Kingston to Spanish
Town, I have observed in June, the white forms
of many Gaulins studding the verdant meadows
called the Ferry marshes, taking their morning

336 GRALLZ.—ARDEADZ.

meal in the shallows, and by the borders of Fresh
River. Six or eight were within the space of
a hundred yards, all feeding, yet not associating.

On a moringa-tree near the house at Robin’s
River, the young friend, to whom I am indebted
for several notes, used to see the nest of a White
Gaulin, consisting of sticks and twigs, and about
as large as a washing-basin; but being in an en-
closure, he could not examine it. He used often,
in passing, to see the bird sitting in it, and look-
ing fearlessly at the passengers; for it is close to
the high-road. He described its beautiful appear-
ance, as it sat in its unspotted purity, with its long
neck gracefully bent into sigmoid curves, as it
gazed hither and thither.

This bird is closely allied to the following spe-
cies, from which it is distinguished by the colour
of the beak, lores, and feet, and by the ashy tips
of the quills.

BLACK-LEGGED GAULIN.*
Snowy Heron.—W 11s.
Egretta candidissima.

Ardea candidissima, GmeL.—Aud. pl. 242.
Egretta candidissima, Bonar.

Tuts is much more rare than the preceding spe-
cies; but two specimens having fallen under my

* Length 22 inches, expanse 343, flexure 9), tail 34, rictus 3%,
tarsus 4, middle toe 2,4. (A female.)

BLUE GAULIN. 337

observation, both of which occurred in the mid-
dle of the winter. It is probably a migrant from
the continent ; the preceding, however, is a per-
manent resident with us.

From the rarity of its occurrence, I can add
nothing to Wilson’s account of this species; except
that in the stomach of one I found twenty-nine
small silvery fishes, a species of Smaris.

BLUE GAULIN.*
Blue Crane, or Heron.—WI.s.

Ligretta cerulea.

Ardea cerulea, Linn.—Aud. pl. 307.
Ardea ceerulescens, LaTH.
Egretta cerulea, Bonap.

Tue slender contour of this bird, its arching pur-
ple neck, its filamentous crown-plumes, and the long
pointed scapulars arching down over its back, com-
bine with its graceful motions and delicate hue,
to give this bird an aspect of peculiar elegance.
Less suspicious than most of its tribe, it will fre-
quently allow the beholder to stand and admire
it, without alarm, as it stands in some shallow
stream, or secluded pool, intent on its occupation,
while the glassy surface gives back its beautiful

form, unbroken, Its motions are deliberate and

* Length 22 inches, expanse 37, flexure 11, tail 355,, rictus 3,4, tarsus
4, middle toe 2,8,. One cecum, rudimentary, 23 inches from cloaca.

Q

338 GRALLZ.—ARDEADZ.

slow while watching for prey; yet its seizure of
prey is sudden, and as quick as-the lightning-
flash. It feeds principally on small crabs and
prawns; which I have always found changed in >
appearance, by the process of digestion; the shell
reddened and the flesh coagulated, as if by boiling.
In one I have found a number of minute eel-
like fishes, about an inch and a quarter long, pro-
bably the fry of a murena; in another, insects. It
is usually found excessively fat.

A specimen, shot from a tree, fell into rather
deep water; and though one foot was disabled,
it struck out vigorously with the other, and swam
in an upright posture, with the head drawn back
(not struggling,) several yards, before it was seized.

It is not common enough for me to determine
whether it is migratory or not; I have obtained
specimens on the 16th of September and on the 9th
of April, and through the intervening winter.

RED-NECKED GAULIN.*

Egretta ruficollis.—M1H1.

I First met with this undescribed species in
a little excursion up the beautiful Burnt Savanna

* Length 253 inches, expanse 363, flexure 93, neck 10, tail 24, rictus
44, tarsus 4, middle toe 34.

Indes cream-white ; lores deep fulvous, with an oblong dusky spot
near the edge of upper mandible ; beak, black above, clay-colour beneath ;

RED-NECKED GAULIN. 339

River, on the 25th of November. The immense
morass through which it flows, looking like a sea of
rushes, relieved here and there by clumps of the tall
and slender palmetto, affords shelter and sustenance
to immense numbers of aquatic birds, in common
with Black River, of which this is a main branch.
Of this species of Gaulin, which is not remarkable
for beauty, the only specimen, besides, that I met
with, was shot by Sam, at Bluefields Creek, on
the 7th of May. Both individuals had been feed-
ing on a small species of Gobius, called mud-fish.

Though birds which feed exclusively on animal
matters are ordinarily marked by the shortness
of the intestinal canal, the tribe betore us forms
a remarkable exception to this rule; while the body
of this bird was less than four inches in length, the
intestine measured seventy-two inches. The neck is
more than usually long in this species,

It is doubtless a permanent resident in the Is-
land.

feet dull pea-green. Crown, cheeks, and neck pale brick-red, mingled
with dark grey feathers. Back ashy-grey, with pale reddish tips; sca-
pulars and quills blue-grey ; coverts grey with red tips, almost wholly red
towards the edge of the wing. Rump and tail-coverts white. Tail dark
grey. Chin, throat, and whole under parts yellowish-white, but down the
front of neck an irregular series of rufous feathers, forming dashes on the
white ; and a few blackish feathers on the breast.

340 GRALLZ.— ARDEADZ.

GREEN BITTERN.*
Crab-catcher.
Herodias virescens.

Ardea virescens, Linn.—Aud. pl. 333.
Hercdias virescens, Bonap.

Tuis richly-coloured species is found wherever
there is running water; and most abundantly, where
in the plains the sluggish streams expand into broad
reedy pools, or spongy marshes. Though perfectly
solitary in its habits, one may frequently see in such
situations a dozen within a quarter of a mile; and
as we walk on, another and another long neck is
suddenly reared above the grass, to gaze at the
intruder and estimate the danger. Usually they are
too wary to allow of a near approach; but this
varies according to the locality ; for while, in lonely
places, as Paradise marshes, one may easily get
within shot, in such streams as Bluefields and
Robin’s River, where persons are continually passing,
an approach within a long distance instantly puts
the watchful bird upon the wing. In the former
case it alights again immediately, but in the latter it
does not stay its flight, until it gains the shelter of
the woods, or a distant part of the stream. But
in the morning, as soon as its appetite has been

* Length 18 inches, expanse 254, flexure 73, tail 2,4, rictus 3, tarsus
245, middle toe 1-3. Intestine 443 inches, very slender.

RE eae Dem co a

GREEN BITTERN. 341

sated, its stomach gorged with prey, it often rests on
some dry tree in the vicinity, whence it is less
willing to fly, and may often be approached and
shot with ease.

Near where the Sweet River roars and boils
beneath the bridge, on the road from Bluefields
to Savanna le Mar, there runs along by the side of
the road, a narrow stream with grassy banks. As I
was riding by, one day in July, I observed one of
these Bitterns on the bank. It was not sufficiently
alarmed to take flight as I passed, and I therefore
drew up under the shade of a cocoa-nut palm on the
other side to watch it. A few minutes it remained
in suspicious stillness, eyeing me askant. At
length with much deliberation it walked towards
the edge, where it stood, intently watching the
grass and short reeds that fringed the side. Pre-
sently it picked something from a stalk of grass,
which it swallowed; it then waded slowly into the
stream till the water reached above the tarsus, and
there stood gazing motionless, except that now and
then it suddenly altered the direction of its glance.
A quick stroke of its powerful beak brought up
something of considerable size, with which it walked
ashore ; it dropped its prey on the grass, and began
to pick from it. Wishing to know what it was,
I drove the bird away, but it was cunning enough
to pick up its booty and carry it off, so that I was
none the wiser. It was probably a root of some
aquatic plant. The Bittern, however, soon re-
turned, and taking its former place, resumed the
occupation of picking insects from the grass, that

342 GRALLAZ.—ARDEAD&.

grew in the stream. As it walked hither and thither,
the beautiful chestnut neck was alternately thrown
forward and bridled up, with a pretty affectation,
and the short tail was depressed and agitated with
a rapid perpendicular vibration. 1 would have ob-
served it longer, but a rude group of negroes pass-
ing, it flew away over the adjacent logwood bushes.

The flight of all the Herons is flagging and
laborious: I have been amused to see a Humming-
bird chasing a Heron; the minuteness and arrowy
swiftness of the one contrasting strangely with the
expanse of wing and unwieldy motion of the other.
The little aggressor appears to restrain his powers
‘in order to annoy his adversary, dodging around
him and pecking at him like one of the small fri-
gates of Drake or Frobisher peppering one of the
unwieldy galleons of the ill-fated Armada. Now
and then, however, I have noticed this and other
species of Heron intermit this laborious motion,
and sail swiftly and gracefully on balanced wings,
particularly when inclining their flight towards
the earth.

When wounded, so as to be unable to fly, the
Green Bittern seeks to escape by running, which
it does swiftly, the neck projected horizontally,
uttering a low cluck at intervals. Its ordinary
call, often uttered from the morasses and man-
grove swamps, is a loud scream, harsh and gut-
tural.

In each specimen that I dissected, the stomach was
enormous, occupying the whole length and breadth
of the body; it usually is found distended with the

LITTLE YELLOW BITTERN. 343

larve of libellulade and dyticide, and with fresh-
water prawns. The latter lie in the stomach always
in the same way; viz. doubled up, the head and
tail pointing forwards, the only way in which they
could be swallowed with safety.

In all the Ardeade that I have examined, there
are on the breast two masses of filamentous down,
commonly of a pale buff hue, lying just over the
furcula; beneath which, attached to the inner surface
of the skin, are two flat glandular bodies of singular
appearance. A similar tuft and structure are found
just above the tail. With their object Iam quite
unacquainted. |

LITTLE YELLOW BITTERN.*
Tortoiseshell-bird.
Ardeola exilis.

Ardea exilis, GmeEL.—<Aud. pl. 210.
Ardeola ewxilis, BonaP.

Tuis minute Heron is not unfrequently seen
dodging about the edges of the tall reeds that
clothe the morasses, or among the rank sedgy grass
that borders the streams. If alarmed it does not
usually fly, but darts into the rushy cover, where
the thinness of its form.enables it to make its way

* Length 133 inches, expanse 164, flexure 44, tail 14, rictus 23, neck
6, tarsus 155, middle toe 13. Intestine 4], body 24.

344 GRALLZ.—ARDEADZ.

with ease. Frequently it crouches, as if hoping to
lie unobserved.

The stomachs of several that I have dissected con-
tained small fishes and crustacea.

QUOK.*
Night-heron or Qua-bird.—W 11s.

Nycticorax Americanus.

Ardea nycticorax , Linn.—Aud. pl. 236.
? Ardea violacea (immature), Ibid.
Nycticorax Americanus, STEPH.

THouGH a common inhabitant of the deep and
fetid morasses, where the sombre mangrove crosses
its tangled roots in inextricable confusion, this fine
bird is much oftener heard than seen. The supersti-
tious negro, whose heart is in his throat if he is
compelled to stir beyond his threshold by night,
is often startled by the loud and hoarse quok of
this bird, suddenly emitted from the dark solitudes
on either side of the road, or from the branches of
a tree above his head, where the bird is roosting for
the night. Occasionally, when out before day,
seeking some birds which are to be shot only at
dawn, I have myself heard the same loud cry

* Length 24 inches, expanse 414, flexure 12, tail 4%, rictus 3%, tarsus
4}, middle toe 23. A male, immature ; occipital plumes 34 inches long.
I have not seen the adult.

Cen aed

QUOK. 345

repeated with deliberation, while the sudden flap-
ping of large wings told that the bird, not less
startled, was seeking a station less liable to inter-
ruption, farther within the morass. In floating
down such broad streams as Burnt Savanna, or
Black River, where they are margined by tall over-
hanging mangrove-woods, we often see this bird,
seated on some high branch, which commands a
wide prospect; but no sooner is the canoe espied,
than he spreads his immense wings, and sails heavily
off with the customary vociferation. Vigilant and
suspicious, it is not an easy thing to shoot the
Quok, unless the sportsman see it first, and conceal
himself before he is discovered, or cautiously creep
towards the secluded retreat where he hears the
voice. But this is almost a forlorn hope; for the
senses of the bird are very acute, and he takes
alarm from the slight sounds made by the most
circumspect footsteps, and escapes in time. Any
unusual noise will provoke the utterance of the
unmusical voice; a shout, or the report of a distant
gun, will be answered from several parts of the
morass; and not only by this species, but in various
tones by other Herons and Bitterns.

It is a noble bird; its commanding height, erect
attitude, stout built frame, fiery eye, powerful beak,
hanging crest, and handsome plumage, give it an
imposing aspect. Crabs and other crustacea form
its principal diet; evidently swallowed entire, though
often of considerable size. The flesh is dark; the
fat, which is usually abundant, is of a deep yellow
tinge. Notwithstanding the powerful voice of this

Qs

346 GRALLZ.—ARDEADZ.

bird, the trachea is weak, and destitute of convo-
lution or enlargement, save at the divarication of
the bronchi.

A specimen was shot in April, in the spotted
plumage, which is supposed to indicate youth. It
fell into the water, wounded, where it began to
swim, the head erect, and the body no more im-
mersed than that of a duck; it struck out with
both feet, and made rapid way towards the roots
of a mangrove near, on reaching which it jumped
out of water, and ran up, but was then secured.
In this state it is sometimes called the Guinea-hen
Quok, from the white spots on the grey ‘ground ;
and I am not sure that it is not distinct. One that
was shot in May in this plumage, a female, had
eggs in the ovary as large as pepper-corns.

Mr. Hill mentions to me as indigenous Ardeade,
besides such as have come into my hands,—the
Great Heron (Ardea Herodias), the Great White
Heron (Egretta deuce?), the American Bittern (Bo-
taurus minor), and the Roseate Spoon-bill (Platalea
ajaja).

The first of these was not an unfamiliar visitant
in the vicinity of Bluefields, being often seen
by myself and others at early dawn on the sea-
shore, and at the edges of the mangrove swamps.
Once or twice we have known a particular tree
on which the bird roosted, and Sam has repeatedly

HERONS. 347

watched both before break of day and after dusk,
but could never succeed in obtaining a shot at the
bird, so excessive was its vigilance.

The second I once saw at a great distance while
on the Burnt Savanna River in November, its long
white neck towering above the thick reeds; I judged
it to be between four and five feet high. At length
it flew to a distant tree; the morass precluding the
possibility of my gratifying my desire to possess
it.

This is, I presume, the species alluded to by
Mr. Hill in the former part of the following note.—
*T must not omit to mention that in Cuba I saw
very usually, in the small farms by the sea-side,
the large White Egret or Garzota in a state of
mansuetude. The Flamingo was not unfrequently
its companion in this unrestrained captivity, if we
may use this contradictory expression to represent a
state where reconcilement to servitude included a
full permission to the birds to use their wings in
flight. The abundant food obtained from the re-
fuse of the fishermen’s nets on the beach at day-
break, supplied them with an early and full meal
for the day, and explained the mystery of this
willing captivity. In St. Domingo I visited a wood-
land farm, situated by the side of some fine fresh-
water ponds, the resort of numerous wild ducks in
the season, where the submission to life among
the poultry, on the part of one of the small Egrets,
was the result of association only. What was most
remarkable was the determination of this bird always
to occupy the centre of the roost, by the side of

348 GRALLZ.—SCOLOPACID.

the patriarchal cock. I stayed purposely till roost-
ing time, to see him shift his place after gaining
the roost-tree, until he got his station in the middle
of the dormitory,”

In some seasons the Scarlet Ibis (Ibis rubra)
is not an uncommon visitant on the shores of
Jamaica; but I have not met with it, The pre-
sent winter, 1846-7, Mr. Hill informs me, has
brought it in somewhat numerously. On the same
authority, I mention two species of Curlews, the
one known as the Black Curlew, which is Nwmenius
longirostris, the other called the White Curlew,
which may be N, Hudsonicus, or perhaps Ibis alba,

Fam.—SCOLOPACID A. (Zhe Snipes.)

LITTLE SANDPIPER.*

Pelidna pusilla.
_ Tringa pusilla, Wis. pl. 37.
Pelidna pusilla, Cuv.

Axsovut the end of the year, this little species
becomes numerous in the open morasses, associat-

* Length 53 inches, expanse 114, flexure 3-8,, tail 14, rictus 7%, tar-
sus 5, middle toe =4;. Intestine 11 inches, two ceca $ inch long. —

C—O

SPOTTED SANDPIPER. 349.

ing in flocks of about half a dozen, which run
swiftly over the boggy and wet soil, as the other
Sandpipers do.

Out of the same flock I found some, both males
and females, which had the beak considerably broad-
er and flatter than others; some also have the feet
blackish, and others clay-colour. In other respects
the specimens were undistinguishable.

I found in the stomach comminuted animal mat-
ter, and fragments of shells.

SPOTTED SANDPIPER.*
Actitis macularius.

Tringa macularia, Wus.—Aud. pl. 310.
Actitis macularius, Born.

TuIs is a common species with us, affecting prin-
cipally the margins and shallows of rocky streams,
such as Bluefield River. It arrives from the north
about the end of August, and remains certainly
till after the middle of April, and I am not sure
that individuals do not stay all the summer.

Wilson has delineated the manners of this bird in
a very interesting manner, to which I have nothing
to add. One which was wounded in the wing,
I put into a cage for an hour or two; during

* Length 73 inches, expanse 12, flexure 4, tail 1,%,, rictus 1,4, tarsus

135, middle toe %. Intestine 9 inches ; two ceca 14 inch from cloaca,
1 inch long, very slender.

350 GRALLA.—SCOLOPACIDZ.

which time it frequently made a succession of
charges at the wires, squatting down at intervals
on the belly. When it walked, it was in a singular
manner; the heel much bent, the tarsus forming
an acute angle with the ground, and the toes
thrown forward.

BAR-TAILED SANDPIPER.*
Totanus chloropygius.

Tringa solitaria, Wus.
Totanus chloropygius, VIRILL.

Asovut the ponds of pastures, and fresh-water
morasses, this Sandpiper or Gambet is frequently
seen ; and that not quite so solitarily as Wilson found
it. The gizzard of one that I dissected was filled
with a blackish, unctuous, filamentous substance,
among which I detected some fragments of minute
water-insects, a small larva of a dibellula, &c.

One day, as I was seeking Herons in Paradise
marshes, I aimed at a bird twice in succession, but
each time the cap detonated without igniting the
charge: the slight sound alarmed two or three
Bar-tails, that were close by, and caused them to
rise a few yards into the air, where they remained
several seconds, hovering, the wings held perpen-

g ? xp ? > > 3 ?

YELLOW-SHANKS GAMBET. ° 351

dicularly, and nearly meeting over the back, after
which they settled down again. One, whose wing
had been broken, I allowed to run about my room,
having first cut off the dangling joint. It had much
of the manners of the Kildeer (see p. 331), but fre-
quently held up the wings perpendicularly, when
running.

That the power of swimming does not depend
on webbed feet, is now pretty well known; some
instances I have mentioned already. A Bar-tail, shot
at Mount Edgecumbe pond, plunged into the water,
and swam vigorously, striking out with both feet.
On another occasion a Sandpiper, I do not know
of what species, being wounded, plunged into a
river, and swam some distance; but Sam pursuing
and approaching it, it dived, and swam swiftly under
water, like a Grebe, coming up at the distance of
several yards, then instantly diving again, till at
last it effected its escape among the reeds and bushes
at the margin.

YELLOW-SHANKS GAMBET.*

Totanus flavipes.
Scolopax flavipes, Wits.—Aud. pl. 288.
Totanus flavipes, BEcust.

DurineG the winter we met with this species on
one or two occasions, always solitary, wading in

* Length 103 inches, expanse 193, flexure 64, tail 24, rictus 154, tar-
sus 2~;, middle toe 14.

352 GRALLZ.—SCOLOPACIDZ.

the shallows of Crab-pond, and picking. The
stomachs of those I obtained, contained a mass of
pulverulent matter, which, on being separated in
water, seemed to consist largely, if not wholly, of
insects. Some soft larve, apparently dipterous, and
parts of rather large yellow ants, I recognised
in one, and in another the remains of Notonecte.

BAR-FLANKED GAMBET.*
Totanus melanoleucus ?

Scolopax vocifera, Wirs.—Aud. pl. 308.
Totanus melanoleucus, VIEILL.

I know this species only by an individual brought
to me at Spanish Town on the 21st of March. In
the succeeding month, however, Mr. Hill informed
me, that both this and the preceding species were
particularly abundant; the numbers of these birds
procured by the market sportsmen of Spanish-town
and Kingston, being quite extraordinary.

The specimen I obtained does not exactly agree
with the descriptions I have read, the breast and
sides being marked with zigzags of black, which are
large and conspicuous on the flanks. The gizzard,
which was muscular, contained a greenish unctuous
mass, which showed traces of scales, or else the
plated covering of crustacea.

* Length 133 inches, expanse 24, flexure 73, tail 3, rictus 2-4, tarsus
2,8,, middle toe 15%, hind toe 4;.

a

SNIPE. | 353

SNIPE.*
Gallinago Wilsoni.

Scolopax gallinago, Wis.—Aud. pl. 243.
Gallinago Wilsoni, Bonap.

From November to April this beautiful and de-
licious bird is rather common in the morasses of
Jamaica. In the fetid swamp that borders Blue-
fields Creek, I have principally met with it, run-
ning on the boggy places, some of which are dan-
gerous and difficult of approach. When the tide
comes in, however, the wading birds are driven
to the edges of the morass, and may then be seen
from the high road at Belmont, walking and feeding
deliberately in the shallow water, among the slender
stems of the black mangroves, not half a stone’s
cast from the passers by. When the water stands
just above the tarsal joint, the beak can just reach
the bottom: and thus it walks deliberately about,
momentarily feeling the mud with the sensitive
beak-tip, striking with short perpendicular strokes.
Now and then we perceive the motion of swal-
lowing. So absorbed is the bird in its occupa-
tion, that I have shouted aloud, without its tak-
ing any notice; nor when its eye at last caught
the motion of my hand, did it more than run,
somewhat leisurely, away.

* Length 103 inches, expanse 17, flexure 54, tail 24, rictus 255, tarsus
14,, middle toe 1,3.

354 GRALLZ.—SCOLOPACIDE.

The present season (1846-7,) seems to be more
than usually favourable to the influx of the mi-
grant Gralle from the north. Mr. Hill mentions,
in a recent letter, that a friend, R. Wilkie, Esq.,

bagged twenty-two brace of Snipe in one day’s
shooting, in October.

Other Scolopacide that have been observed in
Jamaica are the Knit (Tringa Canutus), the Sand-
erling (Calidris Arenaria), the Willet (Catoptro-
phorus semipalmatus), and the Little Woodcock
(Rusticola minor). These I have not seen, but
the first three, Mr. Hill writes me, are plentiful
there, this winter. A second species of Woodcock,
also, has been reported to have been met with in
the island.

CLUCKING-HEN. 355

Fam.—RALLIDA. (The Rails.)
CLUCKING-HEN.*

Aramus scolopaceus.

Ardea scolopacea, GmeL.—Aud. pl. 377.
Rallus ardeoides, Sprx.

Rallus gigas, Bonar.

Aramus scolopaceus, VIEILL.

TuHIs curious bird, which, from its anomalous
formation, has been a subject of considerable in-
terest to ornithologists, seems to be much better
known by its form and plumage, than by its habits.
I am glad to be able to give some particulars
of its history from my own observation, as well
as from that of my friend, Mr. Hill.

The Clucking-hen derives its provincial name
from its ordinary voice, when ranging its moun-
tain solitudes. One day in August, I was col-

* Length 25 inches, expanse 394, flexure 13, tail 5, rictus 3,%,, bare
part of tibia 2, tarsus 4.3,, middle-toe 33.

Irides hazel ; feet dull grey, front of tarsi and toes blackish, polished ;
beak grey, blackish at tip, tinged with flesh-colour at base; tongue end-
ing in a long horny point; no naked skin on head. General plumage
brown, each feather marked through the centre with a pointed pencil of
pure white. On the crown the hue is dusky, the centres being merely
paler; on the neck the centres are large, and give the prevailing hue;
it is on the fore-back and wing-coverts that the centres assume their beau-
tiful form and distinctness. The quills, greater coverts, loins, ramp, and
tail, are destitute of white centres. On the inner wing-coverts, the
breast, belly, and thighs, the brown is dull, and the centres large and well

356 GRALLZ.—RALLIDA.

lecting mosses on the Bluefields Peak, where it
is densely covered with tall but slender wood, when
Sam called my attention to this bird, which we
heard walking at a little distance, around us, crack-
ling the dried sticks and stones, and clucking delibe-
rately with a voice exactly resembling that of a saun-
tering fowl. I sent the lad round to drive it gently
towards me, while I remained still; and presently
I saw it walking swiftly to and fro, but a few
yards distant. While Sam was pursuing it it rose
to wing, and alighted again immediately ; but soon
ran into the recesses of the woods beyond reach.

The negroes often assured me that a precipit-
ous gully, that cleaves the mountain behind Blue-
fields, thickly clothed with large timber, abounded
with these birds, but it was not until February
that I obtained a specimen. At that time the
parching drought having wasted the mountain pools,
I was told that Clucking-hens might be met with
in numbers, at the edge of the woods around
the spot where the spring of Bluefields River gushes
out of the mountain’s foot. It was said that many

marked ; the edges of the feathers loosely webbed. On the cheeks, the
markings pale and indistinct; chin impure white. The brown of the
back, wings, and tail is of an exceedingly rich deep hue, very silky, and
displaying an iridescent glow of purple, like that of shaded silk. Wings
short, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth quills, equal. First quill short, sickle-
shaped ; the outer web attenuated, and the inner dilated, towards the
point. Tail broad, rounded, of twelve feathers. Under tail-coverts,
large, nearly reaching the tip. Claws obtuse. Beak slender, upper man-
dible curved, blunt at tip; lower mandible straight; both rounded at
edges ; the rami of the lower soldered together at about half the length,
where the cavity is nearly obliterated. The mandibles do not close accu-
rately. Nostrils perforate.

.

CLUCKING-HEN. 357

were in the habit of selecting high trees in that
vicinity as roosting-places. My servants having on
several evenings heard the loud cries of these birds
proceeding from the spot, I sent them thither
one evening to watch. As night drew on, the
birds were seen and heard around, and though
they could not obtain a shot, they succeeded in
getting a more definite knowledge of the individual
trees selected.

An evening or two afterwards, I myself went
to the spot with them: before sunset the loud
cry of one was heard, apparently descending the
mountain, but it was not until the grey twilight
was fading into darkness that we began to hear
them screaming and flying around. The notes
were singular; sometimes a series of shrill screams
were uttered in succession, then a harsh cry, krau,
krau, krau, kreaow. All were loud, sudden, and
startling. More than one alighted on a large hog-
plum not far off, a tree which they seem to af-
fect, but were too wary to allow of my approach-
ing within gun-shot. Sam, who was watching a
hundred yards distant, was more fortunate, for
as I was stealthily creeping towards my bird, I
heard the report of his piece, and had the satis-
faction of learning that he had secured his: game,
the first specimen of this interesting bird that I
had an opportunity of examining.

The ordinary spring-rains were distressingly de-
ficient in 1846; and hence I presume it was, that,
through the month of April, several birds of this
species were in the habit of frequenting the morasses

- 358 GRKALLZ.—RALLIDA.

on each side of the swiftly-flowing Paradise River.
Where the bridle-path called the Short Cut crosses
the stream, there grow many bushes of Black-
Withe, about as large as an ordinary apple-tree ;
many of these are clothed with a dense and matted
drapery of convolvolus so thick as to hide the
bush completely. On the very summit of these
bushes, the Clucking-hens might often be seen at
early day, the tangled creepers affording a sup-
port for their broad feet, where they stood and
turned without sinking and without embarrassment.
They stood boldly erect, as if watching, their dark
figures relieved against the sky, in an attitude
exactly like that of an Ibis, though they flirted
the tail in the manner of a Rail. At brief in-
tervals they uttered a short sharp sound, and some-
times the loud harsh scream, kréaow. On _ being
alarmed, they flew heavily and slowly, with the
long legs hanging down, and the neck stretched
forward, having a very awkward appearance in the
air.

About June, they had again retired to the loftier
elevations: at the middle of that month, I used
to hear their loud cries at an early hour, on the
mountains of Grand Vale and Hampstead, above Con-
tent. There was a large pond just within the woods,
to which they resorted; for the drought still pre-
vailed. My young friend, who had often seen them
there, informed me that they scratch and pick like a
fowl.

The head and beak of the Clucking-hen bears
an obvious resemblance to those of the following

CLUCKING-HEN. 359

species, Rallus longirostris, except that the nasal
grooves are nearly obliterated in the 4ramus. The
feet also are similar. The sternum is that of neither
Rallus nor Ardea, but is closely like that of Pso-
phia.

A female was brought me on the Ist of April,
in the afternoon, which had been just shot as it
was standing in shallow water at Bluefields river-
head, fishing. The freshness of the subject enabled
me to examine it carefully. The stomachic sac
consisted of a gizzard separated by a narrow con-
striction from a long proventriculus, about twice
as large as the gizzard, and of a sub-oval, flattened
form. This was divided by the structure of the
parietes into two very distinct parts, the upper
portion being much thickened, and studded with
small round glands, so as to look like shagreen.
The lower and larger portion was muscular, the
inner surface having longitudinal ruge. The giz-
zard was comparatively smooth within, and thinner
than the proventriculus. The latter was stuffed
with small water-snails (Ampullaria), divested of -
the shells, but not, in all cases, of the opercula,
which filled even the cesophagus almost to the
fauces. In the upper part of the proventriculus,
the snails were little changed; in the lower they
were macerated and more slimy, but in the giz-
zard there was nothing but a hard mass of black-
ish, almost homogeneous matter, nearly dry by the
expression of its moisture. The intestinal canal
measured fifty inches; (in another specimen forty-
two inches;) about an inch from the cloaca, the

360 GRALLE.—RALLID,

czeca branched off, the left longer by half an inch
than the right. I could find no gall-bladder. The
body, when divested of the integuments is com-
pressed, but not so decidedly as in either Herons or
Rails.

In the male bird the trachea at the distance of
about two inches above the furcula, takes an im-
mense convolution, forming a complicated knot;
the form of the turnings is not always the same,
nor is their extent; I have seen one much more
complicated than in the specimen dissected by Mr.
Eyton,* and some less so. The volutions are con-
nected by a mesentery. At the point where the
bronchi divaricate, the trachea dilates into a large
oval box. In the female the trachea is quite simple,
having no trace of the convolution, nor of the
bronchial box. I hence infer that the loud start-
ling cries are uttered only by the male. As in
the Rails, the abdominal viscera are very large ;
the ceca in particular, when distended, are enor-
mous.

Robinson states that the Aramus feeds upon
snakes, toads, and lizards, as well as wood-snails,
and gully-crabs, yet not on his own observation,
but on the authority of “people of credit, who
have seen junks of undigested snakes and lizards
taken out of their craws.” ‘This is not confirmed,
however, by my own observation, gasteropod mol-
lusca having been found in every specimen I have
examined. Mr. Hill’s observation does not con-
firm the former statement. Of one which was

* Ann. and Mag. of N.H., Jan. 1846.

CLUCKING-HEN. 361

sent to him in July 1842, he remarks, ‘“‘ Having
opened the craw for the purpose of ascertaining
the food it had been eating, I found nothing but a
quantity of a dark pulverulent substance, very much
resembling decayed wood; a substance which a bird
with such a bill as the Clucking-hen has, might be
supposed to pick up with the worms it might find in
the decaying wood. There was no trace of any animal
body, neither wings of beetles, nor vertebre of
lizards.” It may be added that this specimen when
discovered, ‘flew from where a limb of. rotten
log-wood had been broken off; perhaps it was
eating some of the large wood-worms.”

Mr. Eyton’s bird was sent from Honduras: if
it had been a Jamaican specimen, I should have
guessed that the zoophyte which seemed to resemble
a sea-anemone, was a large species of Vaginulus
common in the mountains.

From the general, though not total, absence
of the shells of the snails which I have found, I
judge that the shell is crushed with the beak,
and shaken off before the snail is swallowed. The
opercula, which are frequently found attached, have
enabled me to recognise the genera Ampullaria,
Cyclostoma, and Helicina; the latter two, terrestrial
snails.

The piercing cries with which the Clucking-hen

_ salutes the approach of night, are little heard at

any other time: during the day it more commonly

emits the deliberate clucking above mentioned, as

it saunters hither and thither in the mountain-

woods, or among the cocoes of the provision-grounds.
R

362 GRALLZ.-—RALLID&.

We sometimes hear the harsh sounds proceeding
from the forest, even after night has established its
dominion, and hence, probably, it has been con-
sidered a nocturnal bird; I suspect, however, that
these cries are not the accompaniments of activity,
but the harbingers of repose, emitted while sitting
on the roosting tree, or while flying to and fro in
preparation for alighting; the cries which are heard
at a rather later hour marking, probably, the awak-
ing from the first sleep, as they soon relapse into
silence,

In the woods of the parish of St. David’s these
birds are said to be abundant, as also in the moun-
tainous districts of St. Ann’s, St. Dorothy’s, and
the Coona-coonas. Swift of foot, if not of wing,
the Aramus does not confine itself, however, to one
or two localities, but ranges, with rapid sidelong
strides, the lonely woods from the mountain-tops
to the mangrove morasses of the shore. Solitary
and shy, it isa difficult bird to approach, but when
obtained is esteemed by some as “the best wild-
fowl of the country.” ‘* The flesh of this bird,” says
Dr. Chamberlaine, “‘ acquires, about the termina-
tion of the year, that plumpness, which gives it
a claim to be placed in the catalogue of edible
birds, It is then esteemed fit for the table, and
may be dressed in two ways; viz., in fricassée, or
roasted like the Guinea-birds, and smothered, after
being cut up, in a rich salade.” Mr. Hill observes
of the specimen which came into his possession ;
**T directed the whole of the muscles on either
side of the sternum to be cut out and cooked. I

CLUCKING-HEN. 363

found its flavour indescribably fine, a compound of
hare, partridge, and pigeon. The flesh was of
peculiarly close and compact texture, and as pe-
culiarly tender.” I would add to these, my own
testimony to its excellence.

Of its domestic economy, I know nothing, ex-
cept that Robinson asserts, that “‘it lays nine eggs
in December.” In February, I found eggs in the
ovary of a female, as large as small peas: another,
in June, had about half-a-dozen a little larger than
peas, about a dozen as large as pigeon-shot, and
many small.

Mr. Hill, in a letter written since my return to
England, informs me, that ‘for the last month
of the late drought, [summer of 1846] numbers
of Clucking Aramuses made their appearance about
the river-swamps and marshes in the Caymanas
district of this parish. They were a bird almost
unknown in these plains. As slugs and snails were
very plentiful in these, the only moist places at
that time, we perceive what the attraction to this
locality was, that brought them so numerously to-
gether, beside the desire for water.”

The Clucking-hen was among the birds sent from
Cuba by Mr. Mac Leay.

364 GRALLZ.—RALLIDA.

MANGROVE-HEN.*
Rallus longirostris,x—LATH.
Pl. enl. 849,

Tue reader shall be introduced to the bird before
us, by the delightful pen of my friend, Mr. Hill.

** 14th of March, 1842. I have visited Passage
Fort at a season when Wild-ducks are stretching
from one side of the Bay to the other in strings,
and Plovers and Sandpipers are feeding in little
flocks on the beach. The nights and the mornings
are quiet, but the day is one uninterrupted bluster
of the sea-breeze. The country is dry. Many of
the large trees are leafless, and there is no ver-
dure in the grass. Such a picture would seem to
afford no great diversity for amusement: the sea,
however, is always an interesting object. Whether
calm or stirring it has a variety of features, all dif-
ferent at different hours of the day. The repose
of morning; the slumbering ocean; the sleepy
mountains kerchiefed in clouds; the awakened day-
light peeping through the curtains of night; the
birds just risen and moving; the little flocks wend-
ing about as if the day had its business to attend
to; the Herons and Egrets shaking their wings
by the mirrory waters, and making their toilet

* Length 15} inches, expanse 204, flexure 54, tail 2) rictus 2,5,
tarsus 254,, middle toe 2,4. Irides hazel.

- MANGROVE-HEN. | 365

there. All this is a pleasant mixture of repose
and activity; of the stir from sleeping to waking ;
in which nature is never seen to such advantage,
as in the magnitude of a view that mingles the
ocean with the earth,

“The day is gathering brighter and brighter;
but the mountains rise between me and the sun,
and are one dull blue mass, neither deeply nor
faintly blue, but clear, and yet obscure. On the
beach the fishermen are silently hauling their seine,
sweeping, with its line of dotted corks, such a circuit
on the waters, that it seems to take in half the
bay. At a distance off, the flats loaded with grass
are getting under weigh. Busy men and women
are on the beach launching canoes and preparing
for the market. The sails are hoisted, and the
masses, that lay like logs upon the water, just
stir, and. glide out into the glaring bay. Amid
all this hushed movement, there is one pervading
sound, the murmurs .of the distant breakers. This
voice is seldom silent; in the stillest lull there will
be heard this roll of the restless surge. There is
a sweet melancholy voice that comes from the bor-
dering mangroves along the river: it is the morn-
ing call of the Pea-dove. It is responded to by
a faint low cooing from the hill-side woods. It
is repeated again and again; and again it is replied
to far away. And now there are other sounds.
The Crotophagas are trooping to the river-shal-
lows, and calling to each other to settle among
the sedges, where the receding tide has left them
living food. There is a sound overhead like the

366 GRALLE.—RALLIDA.

hurtling of arrows. It is a flock of Wild-ducks
flitting from the Salt Island ponds to the Lagoons
on the other side the bay : and again there is another
sound of gathered tribes moving through the air.
It resembles bubbling waters. It is a flight of
Tinklings shifting from their rookery to their feed-
ing grounds in the morasses. Streams of smoke
are curling up from various points of the moun-
tains, like the morning sacrifices of hill-worship-
pers of old. A shower has scudded along the loftiest
of the ridges and shown the deep indentings of
the elevated country, by the different depths
of the misty haze.—It has passed away, and the
heights are now lighted by the full blaze of the
uprisen sun. The clouds cast deep shadows on
the mountain declivities, and the highest points
of the chain pierce through the masses, rolling
one upon the other, thick and accumulated.

“The sea-breeze is in, It comes as no other
breeze comes, and feels as no other,breeze feels.
At first two or three whiffles make darkened tracks
on the glassy waters. Then half the sea afar off
is covered with ripples. The ripples come creep-
ing on, and the wind has reached the shore. Two
minutes pass, and a line of small breakers are
chasing each other on the beach. From this time
the constant wind never lulls, but sweeps with ‘a
steady unrelenting force from the bright east.’

“Noon. In a small stretch of marsh land, through
which the river has cut two or three channels,
and left several smaller meandering dykes very
clear and open, with pools and little lakes shut

MANGROVE-HEN. | 367

in from the sea by sand-banks, there is a good
deal of rank grass (Digitaria stolonifera) growing,
on which the village goats congregate ‘to feed at
mid-day, that being the time when the ground is
least swampy. Among the.sedge and bulrushes
that cover the flooded parts, at the same noon-
tide hours, the crek, crek, crek, of the Water-rail
is heard, with that kind of impatient reiterated
sound, with which Guinea-fowl call to each other.
This call is a summons for the birds to quit the
sedges, and seek the muddy shoals and half-dry
ooze, to feed, Two or three birds nearly, if not
quite, as large as half grown pullets, of a dingy
ash-colour, come over a low intervening wall where
I am, and feed in the open yard. The country
people call this bird the Mangrove-hen, from its
appearance, its habits, and its haunts. It greatly
resembles the dappled grey variety of the common
fowl; and in the breeding season it rambles about
with its callow brood, like a hen and chickens.
After one of these visits, I went and traced the
footmarks in the mud, and found that the Man-
grove-hens had been searching for small crabs.
Worms, shell-fish, insects, and crustacea are its
animal food, and the seeds and shoots of aquatic
plants, its vegetable. As the rank-growing herbage
is necessary for its concealment, and creative wis-
dom has adapted it, like the rest of its tribe, by
an extraordinary expansion of the foot, for walking
on weedy waters, and so compressed its body that
it threads with alacrity reeds and rushes; the man-
grove thickets, which it commonly haunts, are those

368 GRALLZ.—RALLIDZ.

that grow in tide-waters, and at the mouths of
rivers, and in neighbourhoods luxuriant in aqua-
tic herbage. These are the prevailing thickets at
Passage Fort: I therefore find every body there
familiar with the Mangrove-hen. As these birds
have much of the character of the gallinaceae, and
are able to run and feed themselves as soon as
they are hatched, they are, when half grown, as
helpless on the wing as half-fledged poultry. At
the pullet age, when feeding out on the mud and
shoals, they are run down with great facility. At
this time they are delicious eating.. Persons, on
whose taste I can depend, tell me, that, though a
Plover be undoubtedly a fine bird for the table,
and the Sanderling a great delicacy, the Man-
grove-hen exceeds both;. as it combines all their
peculiarity of flavour with the fleshiness of the
Quail. This is no small commendation.”

To this interesting note, I have little to add. At
Crabpond, where rounded clumps of mangroves
are scattered like islets in a lake, we have observed
it frequently running quickly and timidly from one
cover to another, exposing itself in the open pond
as little as possible. As it walks under the arched
roots, it holds its short tail nearly erect.

In a specimen dissected in December, I found
fragments of crabs; and a large one, nearly whole,
was in the craw: the stomach is a muscular giz-
zard. ‘This individual was excessively fat.

One brought to me alive in May, taken in a
springe, bit fiercely and pertinaciously at anything

RED RAIL. 369.

presented to it, shaking it like a dog. It uttered
in rapid succession the most deafening screams.

The long beak, and the spurs upon the wing-
let, distinguish this species from our other Rails.

RED RAIL.*

Water Partridge.
' Rallus concolor.—wMIHt.

Tue gallinaceous form common to the Rails,
and the red hue of this species have given to it the
provincial name of Water Partridge. It affects fresh-
water morasses, and secluded streams, rather than
saline swamps, and is found even on the moun-
tain acclivities. I have shot it skulking among the
aquatic weeds at Basin Spring. As it roams, it
utters at intervals of a few seconds, a cluck, like
a hen. The remarkable thinness of body, common
to all this tribe, beautifully adapts them for making
their way through close herbage.

It is sometimes seen perched on a low tree by
the road-side, at which time it seems to have lost
its usual shyness, and sits looking at the sports-

* Length 10 inches, expanse 154, flexure 4,§,, tail 2, rictus 134, tar-
sus 1,9,, middle toe 14. Irides vermillion ; beak yellowish-green, black-
ish above; feet dull purplish-crimson, or pink. Plumage reddish-brown,
dark on back and wings ; brighter and redder on sides; paler and more
ashy on belly. Wing-quills blackish.

R O

370 GRALLZ.—RALLIDZ.

man until he nearly comes up to it. Its flight
is singularly ineffective ; slow, heavy, and laboured ;
the head is projected, and the body hangs down,
as I have seen the body of some unwieldy Bombyx,
distended with eggs: the feet also are pendent.

I have never found in the gizzard of the Red-
Rail, (which though small, is muscular) anything
but a homogeneous cream or mud of a dark brown
hue; or a green mucus.

The flesh is pale and flabby; the fat of a rich
salmon-red.

A specimen sent to Mr. Hill by Dr. Hay from
the neighbourhood of the Black River, in St. Eliza-
beth’s, illustrated, in the manner of its capture, the
habits of the genus. The Doctor observed, while
standing on the steps of the house at Elim Estate,
this Rail sauntering through the grass. He pur-
sued it, and ran it among some oleanders that grew
in clumps about, and succeeded in getting it. When
brought into the house, the bird shot rapidly across
the floor, and getting into a darkened corner of
the room, remained quiet there, believing itself
concealed. On being driven out from that hiding-
place, it again scudded away over the floor to
another dark corner, in which it remained quiet
as before. These recesses seemed to represent the
dense coverts in which it ordinarily conceals itself
in apprehended danger ; its reliance on which, doubt-
less, made it so easy a prey to its captor’s hand,
when it had taken refuge among the stems of the
oleanders,

STRIATED CRAKE. 371

STRIATED CRAKE.*
(Carolina Rail—Wus.)
Ortygometra Carolina.

Rallus Carolinus, Linn.— Aud. pl. 233.
Ortygometra Carolina, LEACH.

Tue only specimen of this bird that I possess
was shot among the reeds in Salt Spring morass,
near Black River, the habitation of incredible num-
bers of these and similar birds. It was near the
end of November. Though it slightly differs from
Wilson’s description, in the buff hue of the vent
being scarcely noticeable, I conclude that it.is of
his species; the rather, since Mr. Hill has procured
aspecimen from Passage Fort, in which the buff hue
was conspicuous. His specimen was obtained in
March. It is probably a winter visitant from the
United States, where Wilson describes it as an
abundant species.

In the stomach of that which I dissected, I found
only mud and coarse siliceous sand.

Le petit Rale de Cayenne of Buffon, (Pl. enl. 847)
is probably a female of this species.

* Length 9 inches, expanse 133, flexure 3,%, tail 1,5, rictus 9, tar-
sus 14, middle toe 1%.

372 GRALLZ.—RALLIDZ.

MINUTE CRAKE.*
Ortygometra minuta.

Rallus minutus, var. B, LATH.
Ortygometra minuta, Lzacu.

In travelling from Bluefields to Savannah le Mar,
we save about two miles by taking what is called
the Short Cut, a bridle-path through the deep
matted woods. The trees are largely sweet-wood,
tangled, near the edges of the broad morass, which
occupies so much of this plain, by spreading bushes
of black-withe and cockspur. Two streams are to
be forded, the one a sluggish water that crosses
the path immediately on our entering the woods,
the other is the deep and rapid Sweet River. After

* Length 6 inches, expanse 8,4, flexure 2%, tail 1,4, rictus 4, bare
portion of tibia =4,, tarsus 1, middle toe 1,4. Irides brick-red; beak
dark olive, edges at base paler green; legs and feet clay-colour. Fore-
head, crown, and occiput black, softening at the sides and nape; a black
band from rictus passes through the eye, above which is a band of white,
interrupted by black immediately over the eye. Sides of head and
neck, yellowish-ash, blending with the black. Back, shoulders, sca-
pulars, and loins yellowish-umber, each feather deepening in the centre to
dark brown, with a conspicuous stripe of pure white running through the
middle of the terminal half. Wing-coverts yellowish-brown ; the greater
coverts and the tertiaries have dark centres, and terminal white spots.
Primaries and secondaries greyish black. Tail coverts black, with broad
spots and tips of white; tail as the tertiaries. Chin, throat, and whole
under parts white, slightly tinged on the breast with buff. Sides, flanks,
under-tail-coverts, and outer part of thighs, marked with transverse bands
of black and white.

MINUTE CRAKE. 373

pursuing for more than a mile the track through
the bush, which here and there opens on each side
into secluded grassy glades, adorned with many
flowers, and haunted by gay butterflies, the gradual
predominance of marsh plants, sagittaria, ginger-
fern, bulrush, and black-withe, to the exclusion
at length, of every thing else, warns us of our ap-
proach to the river, and at length we come sud-
denly upon it in all its beauty. Emerging. darkly
into view from beneath overhanging trees on the
right, upon which is spread a thick drapery of con-
volvuli, whose lovely festoons, gemmed with purple
and green, depend to the very surface of the water,
the stream gurgles along a pebbly bed, or here
and there glides with treacherous smoothness over
quicksands hidden by the waving tresses of the dark
green equisetum; and is presently lost again in
the meandering of its tortuous course through the
bushes.

Many sorts of water-fowl haunt this darkling
stream: scarlet-fronted Gallinules, that were feed-
ing at the edge, alarmed at our approach, flutter
along the surface with much splashing of the water
and laborious flapping of their wings, to seek con-
cealment; while the less timid, but more beautiful
Sultana bridles its purple neck, and peeps at us
from the shadow of the overarching withes, or walks
calmly away over the shallows. The harsh scream
of the Little Bittern comes fitfully from the reedy
morass, and the cry of the Clucking-hen from its
watch-post above; the little Squat-ducks are diving
in the eddies of the stream, the Blue Kingfisher

374 GRALLZ.—RALLID.

darts across with his rattling call, while the snowy
form of the White Gaulin is seen in the distance,
relieved against the dark bushes, as it drags its
heavy flight across the swamp. All the while
gushes of rich melody are pouring from the throats
of a dozen Mocking-birds around, soothing us as
we recline on the soft beds of thyme that profusely
cover the bank and fill the air with delicious fra-
grance,

It was in this situation that Sam found the little
Crake before us, on the 30th of March. It was
at first standing at the edge of the stream, whence
it ran up the large marsh-fern, vulgarly known as
Wild-ginger, and peeped from among the fronds,
until the lad shot it. It was a male. I found in
its stomach, which was not very muscular, merely
a little yellowish mucus, and some small gravel.
We never met with the species again. I suspect,
however, it is a permanent inhabitant of the mo-
rasses; but the impenetrable character of these
sombre and foetid recesses, renders an acquaint-
ance with their inhabitants very difficult. The
swiftness of foot, and the retiring habits of most
of these birds, as well as their nocturnal rather
than diurnal activity, add to this difficulty. The
naturalist is often indebted for his knowledge of a
species to “‘ the fortune of the hour,” more than
to his own efforts. Hence, I have no doubt, many
birds of this tribe, unknown to me, exist in Ja-
maica.

LITTLE RED-EYED CRAKE. 375

LITTLE RED-EYED CRAKE,*
Ortygometra Jamaicensis.

Rallus Jamaicensis, GmeL.—Aud. pl. 349.
Oriygometra Jamaicensis, STEPH.

A sPEcIMEN of this little Crake was brought
to me in April, alive and unhurt. It lived in a cage
two days, but though I enclosed with it a vessel
containing water and mud, with aquatic weeds
in a growing state, and scattered on it crumbs
of bread and pounded corn, it scarcely ate. Once
or twice I observed it picking in the mud, but in
general it would not even walk on it. Yet it was
not at all timid. Its motions were very deliberate ;
slowly raising its large feet, and then setting them
down, often without making a step. The neck
was usually drawn in, short; and then it had
little of the appearance of a Rail, but rather of
a passerine bird; but when it walked, the neck
was more or less extended horizontally, and now
and then bridled up: the head was carried low.
The throat was often in slight vibration, when
standing still. I observed no flirting, nor erection
of the tail. |

On two or three occasions, I have seen the species.
Near the end of August, pursuing a White Gaulin

* Length 6 inches, expanse 9%, flexure 3, tail 1,%,, rictus +4, tarsus

14, (nearly), middle toe 14. Intestine 123 inches; two ceca, slender,
one 4 inch, the other § inch, long.

376 GRALLE.—RALLIDE.

in the morasses of Sweet River, several of these
little Rails, one at a time, flew out from the low
rushes before my feet, and fluttering along for
a few yards, with a very laboured flight, dropped
in the dense rush again. ‘Their manner of flight,
and their figure greatly resembled those of a
chicken; the legs hung inertly down. I saw another
in February, by the border of the River at the
Short Cut, flying with the same feeble and la-
borious motion, from one tuft of herbage to another,
whence it would not emerge till almost trodden
on.

I have not heard it utter any sound; but Ro-
binson, in describing two that were brought to
him alive in October, 1760, says, “‘ their cry was
very low, and resembled that of a Coot, when
at a great distance.” He notices also their pecu-
liar mode of flight, as well as their habit of squat-
ting. ‘‘Several,” he observes, “were killed ac-
cidentally, by the negroes at work; as they are
so foolish as to hide their heads, and, cocking up
their rumps, think they are safe, when they are
easily taken.” (MSS. iii. 112.) He says elsewhere,
*‘The negroes in Clarendon call it Cacky-quaw,
by reason of its cry, which consists of three ar-
ticulations; the negroes in Westmoreland call it
Johnny Ho, and Kitty Go, for the same reason,”
(iii. 134.)

The gizzard of the one that I examined, con-
tained a few hard seeds. The body is much com-
pressed,

The speckled plumage, rufous neck, and scarlet
eyes, constitute this a species of much beauty.

SULTANA. 377

SULTANA.*
(Martinico Gallinule—W1.)

Porphyrio Martinica.

Gallinula Martinica, Gmet.—Aud. pl. 305.
Gallinula eyanocollis. VIEILL.

Porphyrio tavoua, Ibid.

Porphyrio Martinica, G. R. Gray.

Tuts magnificent bird is not uncommon in some
of the lowland ponds and marshy rivers of Jamaica.
The road from Savannah le Mar to Negril, passes
through the immense swamp of the Cabarita River,
the tall and dense rushes of which form a wall
on each side of the way, which in the wet season
is overflowed. Riding there one day in January,
IT saw a Sultana walking in the middle of the
road; a horseman had passed an instant before,
who certainly had not disturbed it; and on my
approach it took no more notice than a common
fowl, sauntering about, and picking here and there;
allowing me to come within three or four feet
of it. [ stopped and gazed at it, and at length
made a noise and a sudden motion with my hands;
but it merely half-opened the wings, and gave
a little start, exactly as a chicken would do, but

* Length 124 inches, expanse 214, flexure 63, tail 23, rictus 1,3,
breadth of shield =%, height from base of lower mandible to point of
shield, 1 inch, tarsus 3, middle toe 3. Hind claw largest.

378 GRALLZ.—RALLIDZ.

neither flew nor ran. I never saw a bird, fere
nature, so tame.

I afterwards found that this vast morass abounded
with them, and that their presence in the high
road was a thing of daily occurrence; and though
I never saw them quite so fearless as the one I
have mentioned, still they were very bold, walk-
ing out from the rushes and strolling across the
road in the sight of passengers.

The aspect of the living bird is not that of
a Gallinule; it stands high on the legs, which
are placed more forward; its air is much like
that of a fowl, but its contour is much slen-
derer. As it walks, the neck is bridled up, and
thrown forward alternately, and the short black
and white tail, which is semi-erect, is, at every step,
flirted up with a jerk into a perpendicular posi-
tion.

I was struck with the remarkable elegance of
one, that I saw by the roadside, about mid-way
between Savanna le Mar and Bluefields. It was
at one of those pieces of dark water called Blue-
holes, reputed to be unfathomable. The surface
was covered with the leaves and tangled stems
of various water-plants, and on these the Sultana
was walking, supported by its breadth of foot;
so that the leaves on which it trod sank only
an inch or two, notwithstanding that the bird, ac-
cording to its usual manner, moved with great
deliberation, frequently standing still, and look-
ing leisurely on either side. As it walked over
to where the water was less encumbered, it be-

SULTANA. 379

came more immersed, until it seemed to be swim-
ming, yet even then, from the motion of its legs,
it was evidently walking, either on the bottom,
or on the yielding plants. At the margin of the
pool, it stood some time, in a dark nook over-
hung by bushes, where its green and purple hues
were finely thrown out by the dark back-ground.
I could not help thinking what a beautiful ad-
dition it would make to an ornamental water in
an English park; and the more so, because its con-
fiding tameness allows of approach sufficiently near
to admire its brilliancy. Nor are its motions void
of elegance: the constant jerking of its pied tail
is perhaps rather singular than admirable, but the
bridling of its curved and lengthened neck, and
the lifting of its feet are certainly graceful.

That the Sultana could be easily domesticated
is probable: Mr. Hill once kept one for three
months, which fed eagerly on Guinea-corn (Holcus
sorghum).

The immense length of the toes in this bird
is a wise and beautiful provision for its support
on the aquatic herbage, which usually covers the
surface of standing waters in warm countries.
Xenophon, in the Retreat of the Ten Thousand,
if I mistake not, has mentioned a country, where
they were in the habit of affixing hurdles to the
horses’ hoofs, to enable them to cross rivers with-
out sinking. This device, however, could be avail-
able only on a weedy surface.

Robinson, who has a drawing of this species,
says, ‘* This is called the true Plantain Coot, by

880 GRALL.—RALLIDA.

reason of his great affection for that fruit.” In
describing what he calls the Carpenter Coot, which
seems merely the present bird in immature plumage,
he says, “It has its name from the noise it makes ;
it being customary for these birds to assemble,
and knock against pieces of felled timber with
their beaks, either in search of insects, or fo break
the shells of the water-snails, which are common
in the ponds and rivers of these parts. The noise
they make when thus busied has been not badly
likened to that of carpenters at work. And I
am deceived if the Clucking-hen makes not a like
noise, and for a similar purpose. I have been
since credibly informed they do. The Carpenter
Coot: lays in March, and has young in April.”
(MSS.)

On taking off the skin, one is struck to observe
the bases of all the feathers projecting from the
interior surface, to an extent seen in no Other
birds than those of this genus.

SCARLET-FRONTED GALLINULE, 381

-SCARLET-FRONTED GALLINULE.*

Gallinula galeata.
Gallinula chloropus, Bon.—Aud. pl, 244.
Gallinula galeata, Licut.

By a confusion of terms this species is called in
Jamaica the Coot, while the following is known by
the name of Water-hen.

This bird is scarcely to be distinguished from
the European Moor-hen, in appearance or in man-
ners. It delights in any water where there is cover;
sometimes a swiftly running stream, as Sweet River,
where the bushes dip their. branches into the water,
or the margins are fringed with high weeds; but
more usually large ponds, in which tall and thick
bulrushes densely grow, or masses of the great
ginger-fern. On approaching such a piece of water
early in the morning, or at any hour of the day,
if the place be unfrequented, we may see the
Gallinules playing on the surface, some by their
black plumage and scarlet shields, known to be
females, the browner males less dressy, as becomes
their sex, and some smaller and greyer,. which
are young. As they swim to and fro, they utter
a loud cluck at short intervals; but on alarm
each one sounds the note in a higher key, and

* Length 134 inches, expanse 203, flexure 63, tail 29, rictus 12,
breadth of shield 4, height from base of lower mandible to top of shield 1,
tarsus 24, middle toe 3. Hind claw smallest.

382 GRALLZ.—RALLIDA.

the whole company dashes into the cover. Here
they continue to call to one another; but if much
pressed, they lie close, or conceal themselves in
some way, so as to elude search even in a very
small area; probably by keeping under water, hold-
ing on the roots of the rushes. But if the ob-
server remain quite silent and concealed, in about
half an hour the cluck is again raised, and they
begin cautiously to re-emerge, and play at the
margin of the reeds. I think the sense of sight
is less acute with them than that of hearing.

One which I slightly wounded, on my carrying
it by the legs, repeatedly turned up its head to
bite; its force, however, was insufficient to break
the skin, though it could pinch a little. Another
in similar circumstances, I also found vicious in
its attempts, though ineffective. On arriving at
home, I wished to observe its manners in the water
more closely, and for this purpose I fastened a
cord to its foot, having bandaged it to prevent its
being hurt or cut, and then let it swim in the
pools of Bluefields River. Its first impulse was
to dive, and then to swim along about a foot be-
neath the surface, which it did for a considerable
distance, aiding its progress by striking out, not
only the feet, but also the wings, which were ex-
panded. It thus reminded me of a turtle. When
immerged, the whole plumage was coated with a
pellicle of air, which had a singular and beautiful
effect. When it swam at the surface, little of the
body but the back was exposed, and sometimes
only the neck and head. It made constant efforts to

—-_ ”- —-

SCARLET-FRONTED GALLINULE. 383 _.

reach the weeds and grass at the margins, and if
allowed to do so, crept in among them, and re-
mained motionless. Sometimes, when thus retired,
it put its whole head beneath the water, and re-
mained still, so long that I feared it was drowned;
but on being touched, it raised its head unin-
jured. It seemed unwilling to walk; perhaps
because its legs were stiff, from having been held
in the hand; on a boarded floor, it could only
shuffle along on its belly: and on the turf, it
seemed capable of maintaining a walking posture
only as long as its motion was rapid; the moment
its speed abated, its breast came to the ground,
owing to the backward position of its legs. Its
foecal discharges, when first secured, were a thin
black mud, but afterwards were merely a clear
water, slightly tinged with green.

The belly in these birds is always protuberant;
the intestines being both very long and very large;
the ceca are also enormous. ‘The stomach, a very
large and muscular gizzard, is usually filled, as
well as the craw and intestine, with a greenish
earth, which under a lens is seen to contain much
organized matter, as minute seeds, decaying leaves,

‘&c. From the circumstance of an excessive quan-

tity of matter being taken into the stomach, con-
taining a comparatively small proportion of nutri-
tive substance, we see the need of the digestive
organs being both capacious and lengthened. |

The young of the season have the legs and feet
of their full size and development, while the fea-
thers of the wings are only beginning to protrude;

384: GRALLZ.—RALLIDZ.

showing how subordinate the organs of flight are
to those of swimming.

Early in December we found an egg in Mount
Edgecumbe pond, undoubtedly of this species, for
no other large bird frequents it. It was larger
than a hen’s egg, but more regularly oval: and
appeared to have been of a pale blue tint, but
covered with a coat of white chalky substance. It
was lying on some crushed reeds at the surface,
but evidently had been floating a long time, for
it was discoloured, and the contents were coagu-
lated by decomposition.

CINEREOUS COOT.*
Fulica Americana.—GMEL.
Aud, pl. 239.

In the immense morass behind Savanna le Mar,
the dense rushes afford shelter to innumerable
aquatic birds, among which one may recognise, even
at a distance, the Sultanas by their graceful air
and slender form, the Gallinules by their scarlet
shields, and the Coots by their conspicuous ivory
beaks. In the broad spaces of open water, which
here and there margin the reeds, as at Radonda,

* Length 15% inches, expanse 27}, flexure 73, tail 24,, rictus 1,4,

height of shield from base of lower mandible 1, tarsus 24, middle toe
345, width of middle membrane 8.

OO

ee

CINEREOUS COOT. 385

they may be seen at all hours of the day, if un-
disturbed, hundreds congregated within an acre.
Wary, however, to an excess, the distant sight of
a man, or the snapping of the twigs beneath his
tread, alarms the whole, and away they flutter into
the covert, splashing the surface as they go. Yet
the noise made by the cattle walking on the shore,
or trampling and munching the reeds, as they
wade breast-high, has no such effect. The best
way to shoot them is to lie very quiet, if the
musquitoes will allow you, behind a bush, and
take them as they come out, sometimes two or
three at a shot; or else to wade in among the
reeds, and bring them down as they rise; though
sometimes you cannot flush them. A good water
dog is indispensable to success.

As far as my observation goes, the white shield is
the mark of mature age: in the young it is dark
brown; I have not seen any with the shield wholly
white, the upper part still being brown. After
having been carried head downward for some time,
I found the beak of one, instead of white, livid
purple, as if filled with blood. The stomachs
usually contain small seeds, and decaying vege-
table matter mixed with mud and sand.

386 GRALLZ.—RECURVIROSTRADZ.

Fam.— RECURVIROSTRAD A. (The Avocets.)
ROSEATE STILT.*
Himantopus nigricollis.

Recurvirostra himantopus, Wus.—Aud. pl. 328.
Himantopus nigricollis, VIEILL.

Tuts beautiful and singular bird first fell under
my observation in December. It was wading in
the water of Crab-pond, picking from the mud
at the bottom, with the beak, the water reaching
not quite half-way up the tarsus. It did not feel
with the beak in the manner of the Snipe, but
struck at the prey that caught its eye, as it walked
with the head erect. The statement of Cuvier
that walking is painful to this bird, is as con-
trary to fact as to reason. ‘This specimen was walk-
ing in the shallow firmly enough; and even when
shot in one leg so as to break it, it stood for some
time on the other in a firm erect attitude, the
broken limb being held up and dangling.

Three were shot at Bluefields Creek on the Ist
of May, in the evening, out of a large flock that
were wading on the little bar at the mouth,—
and were brought to me. One which had the
wing broken was alive, and otherwise unhurt. It

* Length 14 inches, expanse 269, flexure 84, tail 2-2,, rictus 2,4,

naked tibia 3, tarsus 43, middle toe 15%. Intestine 12 inches, two caca
attached by a mesentery, 1 inch long, 13 inch from cloaca.

ROSEATE STILT. 387

ran actively enough, without the slightest vacilla-
tion, taking long strides; but when it was on its
belly, it could not get on its legs without help,
sprawling about with opened wings: it is quite
likely, however, that this was owing to one wing
being rendered useless, for in attempting to rise,
I perceived, it always tried to balance itself by
opening and extending horizontally the wings.
Probably this is the compensation given to it by
the Allwise Creator, for the want of purchase
which must be felt in raising the body at the
end of levers, so long and so slender as the legs.
It frequently stopped abruptly, essayed to go on,
and stopped again, in that hesitating manner com-
mon to the Plovers; and like them it often jerked
the head up and down. Its usual attitude, when
standing still, was with the neck shortened, so
that the head projected from between the shoulders,
the beak pointing obliquely downwards, and the
hinder parts of the body a little elevated. Now
and then it lifted one foot, and held it dangling
behind the other for a few seconds. Once or twice
I saw it pick at the floor, and probably it took
a small insect. Its ery, which was uttered once
or twice, was a short clank, loud, harsh, and abrupt.
I cannot by any means agree with Wilson, that
this bird manifests no resemblance to the Plovers.
The stomachs of these contained a few small
shells, Turbo and Nerita: two which Robinson
dissected contained “a kind of Cornu-ammonis,”
probably Planorbis. He notices also, what I have

not seen mentioned in print, but which was con-
s 2

388 GRALLZ.—RECURVIROSTRADZ.

spicuous enough in my specimen, a beautiful rosy
blush on the white of the neck and breast; but only
in the male. The females had eggs in the ovary
at this time, (Ist May) as large as pigeon-shot.
They were all very fat, the fat being of a deep
yellow hue.

Mr. Hill has favoured me with the following
notes on this species: ‘* In addition to the extraor-
dinary length of leg of the Himantopus, it has been
asserted that its leg-bones are as limber as a leathern
thong, and that they can be bent up without being
broken. The accurate Wilson has made this state-
ment. I will not merely say that it is at variance
with my experience, but that it is absolutely absurd.
The bones of this bird are as rigid as those of any
other. [To this I add also my own testimony.]
The only peculiarity I observe in them, is a flatness
in the make of the leg. While the measurement
is a fourth of an inch one way, it is scarcely an
eighth of an inch the other. The tendon that runs
all along the limb is very large, and the skin
that envelopes the whole leg very fleshy. A fleshy
feeling of softness is the only approach to the
leathery peculiarity so confidently spoken of. The
bill has a trifling trace, almost imperceptible, of re-
euvature. It is very rigid. Out of sixteen or
eighteen birds carefully examined, I saw only one
with a very decidedly marked recurved character.
There was another cireumstance I observed, very
worthy of notice; viz. that the length of the legs
of no two birds was precisely the same. Nearly
half an inch of difference was found between the

ROSEATE STILT. 389

tibia and tarsus of the longest, and of the shortest
specimens. [My own observation fully bears out
this statement. |

**The birds brought me were shot while feeding
in some shallow pools of water in the Salines at
Passage Fort. They were wading deeply. They
fed in small flocks, and winged about sportively,
mingled with Sandpipers of the Tringa cinerea
species. A variety of Teal were there also; and
the Shoveler Duck (Rhynchaspis clypeata), a peculiar
insect-feeder, being among them at the same time,
makes us pretty distinctly acquainted with the
food of Himantopus.

“In March 1842, I noticed several Stilt Plovers
fishing breast-high in a lakelet at the mouth of
the Rio Cobre, which I used to look upon from
the window of the dwelling I stayed at, at Passage
Fort. I saw some eight or ten together, when a
Kingfisher was fishing at one end of the pond,
and an Osprey at the other; the Kingfisher con-
fining himself to the tranquil stream, and the Osprey
to the broken waters, where the current of the
river contended with the shoaling sea. I saw the
Stilts there an hour together, beating breast-high
over the pond. It was evident that their food
floated on the surface.”

My friend adds Reeurvirostra Americana, as an
occasional visitant of Jamaica.

390 ANSERES.—ANATIDZ.

Orper.—ANSERES. (Swimmers.)
Faw.—ANATIDE. (Lhe Ducks.)
RED FLAMINGO,*
Phenicopterus ruber. Lxyn.
Aud. pl. 416.

THE dimensions given below are from a specimen
shot on the beach at Negril, in March 1764; from
the Doctor’s description, it seems to have been
scarcely mature. He adds, “I once saw a living
one at Kingston. Its food-was white bread steeped
in water in a washing basin. In feeding, it im-
merged its upper mandible in the bottom of the
basin, resting on the elbow or angle of that man-
dible, and by quick repeated motions, like those of a
duck in the mud, sucked up the finest parts of the
dissolving bread.”

As Ihave never met with this beautiful bird in
Jamaica, [ am the more obliged for the following
memoir from the pen of my kind friend, Mr. Hill.
‘** T believe the Flamingo is never seen now upon our
coasts, but as a solitary bird, or, at most, associated
with three or four companions, when they make
excursions in small groups, preparatory to pairing

* “ Length from beak to toes extended 62 inches, expanse 573, tail 53,

beak 5}, neck 23, leg [tarsus] 11, middle toe 3, hind toe 3.”—( Rob.
MSS.)

RED FLAMINGO. 391

and breeding. The congregated flocks of the neigh-
bouring islands disperse themselves; and stragglers
appear upon the sand-bars at the mouths of our
rivers, occasionally, in seasons remarkable for visits
of the Hyperborean and the Canada Goose. We
are best acquainted with them as inhabitants of
Cuba. The waters between the thinly peopled
shores of that island, and the clustered green kays
of the coast, to which Columbus gave the names of
the Gardens of the King and Queen, are low and
shoaly. In these shallow seas, in adjacent swamps,
in river-lakes, in marshes and lagoons, and salina-
ponds, they are to be always seen moving in flocks,
or flying and feeding in ranks of two and three hun-
dred together. Their lengthened lines and red
plumage have led the colonial Spaniards to call them
English soldiers, a name not inappropriate to birds
that marshal themselves under a leader, and regulate
their movements by signals, when the remotest dan-
ger threatens; and obey the bugle-blast of their
sentinel, when he summons the cohorts to the wing,
and to betake themselves to other feeding-grounds.
**T visited the district of Boyamo on the south
side of Cuba in the year 1821, and was on the
coast from January to April. I was much among
the marshes and swamps about the river Conta, a
stream that receives the tidal waters, which here
rise and fall six or seven feet, at fifty miles along
its course. At the mouth of this river there are
long stretches of shoal ground, where the floods of
the river and the sea form lakelets, and successively
deposit their stores of living atoms, with the rising

392 ANSERES.—ANATIDZ.

and falling tides. Here the Flamingoes flock and
feed. They arrange themselves in what seem to be
lines, in consequence of their finding their food
along the edges of these shallows; and though it is
true that whilst their heads are down, and they are
cluttering with their bills in the water, they have
one of their number on the watch, standing erect,
with his long neck turning round to every point,
ready to sound the alarm on the apprehension of
danger,—what appears to be a studied distribution of
themselves back to back, as some observers describe
their arrangement, is nothing but their regardless
turning about in their places, inwardly and outward-
ly, at a time when all are intent on making the most
of the stores which the prolific waters are yielding.
** The vessel I was with on the coast of Cuba was
loading timber. Our raftsmen brought us from
Juanita, a town on the Rio Conta to which the
tidal influences of the sea extend, a pair of Fla-
mingoes. I was struck with their attitudes, with
the excellent adaptation of their two-fold character
of waders and swimmers, to their habits, while stand-
ing and feeding in the sort of shoal which we made
them in a large. tub upon deck. We were here
able to observe their natural gait and action. With
a firm erectness, like a man treading a wine press,
they trod and stirred the mashed biscuits, and
junked fish, with which we fed them; and plied
their long lithe necks, scooping with their heads
reversed, and bent inwardly towards their trampling
feet. The bill being crooked, and flattened for ac-
commodation to this reversed mode of feeding, when

RED FLAMINGO. 393

the head is thrust down into the mud+shoals and
the sand drifts, the upper bill alone touches the
ground. The structure of the tongue, of which
Professor Owen has given so minute and interest-
ing a description, is admirably adapted for a mode
of feeding altogether peculiar. The spines with
which the upper surface is armed, are arranged in
an irregular and alternate series, and act with the
notches on the edge of the upper mandible, on
which they press when the bird feeds with the
head reversed. In this reversed position, the weight
and size of the tongue becomes a very efficient in-
strument for entrapping the food. The bird mud-
dles, and clatters the bill, and dabbles about, and
the tongue receives and holds as a strainer whatever
the water offers of food. :

“When I made my notes of the Flamingo, I
thought I had remarked what had hitherto been
unobserved, respecting the ceaseless trampling of
the feet while feeding; but I find Catesby has
described it... A correspondent of Buffon’s also,
I perceive, communicated the same fact, with other
incidents equally striking....

“There is nothing of the Heron character in
the Flamingo. Extraordinary length of neck and
legs is common to both, but a firm erect posture
is its ordinary standing attitude. The neck is
never curved inward and outward, convex and con-
cave, like a Crane’s, but its movements are in
long sweeping curves, which are peculiarly pleasing,
when the bird is preening its plumage.

‘The bar at the mouth of the Rio Conta stretches

s 5

394 ANSERES.—ANATIDZ.

some two miles and a half out to sea, with a narrow
inlet about nine feet deep at high water. Here the
Flamingoes, at the season when they associate in
flocks, are congregated by hundreds. They feed
divided into the lines I have explained already,
and subdivided into companies. A scout on some
advantageous point apart, where he may glance
alternately at the lengthened reach of the river, and
at the sweeping sinuosities of the coast, right and
left, sounds his orders to the squadron. A sort of
long-drawn trumpet-call is the signal of danger.
At the warning to retreat, the whole troop rise on
the wing crying and screaming. They fly in a stiff
cruciform posture, with the neck extended swan-
like, and the legs depending, but stretched behind
so as to balance the flight. When thus suddenly
alarmed, they rise to the height of the belt of
mangroves that close in some neighbouring lagoon,
and clearing the fringing woodland, drop witbin
the impervious wilderness, and then feed no longer
congregated, but dispersed about.”

Robinson states that “ the flesh is tough: they
skin them and boil them. The broth is very good
and rich. The fat of the bird being orange-coloured,
like that of the Great White Curlew, gives it a
very agreeable and rich appearance.” The Doctor
also observes, ‘‘ The body appears depressed, not com-
pressed as the Ardee.” (MSS.)

BLACK-BILLED WHISTLING DUCK. 395

BLACK-BILLED WHISTLING DUCK.”
Dendrocygna arborea.

Anas arborea, Linn.—PI. enl. 804.
Dendrocygna arborea, .Sw.

Tue Whistling Duck is well known in Jamaica,
by the singular note which has conferred on it
its provincial name. This note uttered in its cre-
puscular flights to and from its feeding-places,
and also when alarmed, is peculiarly shrill, and
bears no small resemblance to the sound produced
by blowing forcibly over the pipe of a drawer-
key.

It is much dreaded by those who plant Guinea-
corn; in February, when this grain is im the milk,
the ducks in a compact flock dash forcibly into
the corn, striking down a large breadth, on which
they can stand, and eat the soft grain at ease.
But for this impetus, they could have no means
of reaching the panicle, from its loftiness; nor
of bringing down the stalk with their beaks,
from its firmness: nor, from its slenderness, would
their arboreal habits avail them to perch on it.
Numerous flocks of both young and old birds,
frequent the millet-fields from December till the
_ * Length 21 inches, expanse'39, flexure 10, tail 34, rictus 21, tarsus 34,

middle toe 23. Intestine 54 inches, two caca, about 4 inches long.
Irides dark brown ; beak and feet iron-grey. Sexes exactly alike. ©

396 ANSERES.—ANATID&.

end of February, when this corn is reaped. They
are most busy in their depredations on moonlight
nights; and as they sweep round in circles, their
remarkable whistle always betrays their move-
ments.

The young are frequently taken, and brought
up in the poultry yard with the tame ducks,
either pinioned, or sufficiently subdued by kind-
ness to be allowed liberty. These are always
found to attract large flocks of their wild brethren
to the farm-ponds, and are often preserved for
that purpose. The tame birds, which are allowed
to roam, even go to a considerable distance in
search of the wild flocks, and bring them home.
Some, with which Mr. Hill was familiar near
Spanish ‘Town, always led the whole flock of
aquatic poultry, invariably marching at their head,
when called from the pond to be fed, and when
fed, returning in the same order to the water again.

A gentleman of Spanish Town informs me that
the nest of this bird is usually at the foot of a
mangrove, and that it lays eight or nine eggs.
Robinson, however, gives it a different mode of
nidification, having been informed by Mr. Thistle-
wood of Savanna le Mar, a copious contributor to
his ornithological notes, that ‘*the Whistling
Ducks sometimes make their nests in hollow
trees above thirty feet in height, and the hollows
or cavities several feet deep, which makes him at
a loss to know by what method the little duck-
lings either get up the hollow, or down the tree
when up; but he thinks the old one must carry

BLACK-BILLED WHISTLING DUCK. 397

them; and I believe this must be soon after
they are hatched; for I cannot suppose she can
carry food and water for them into such a place;
it being not known that any birds of this kind
ever feed their young. [See Wilson, on the Sum-
mer Duck.] However, I believe the young ducks
may jump out of such a cavity; for a day or two
after they have been hatched, they have been
‘known to jump out of a barrel, and far above
that height.” (MSS. i. 85.)

“The Whistling Duck endeavours to save her
young, when pursued, by throwing herself into the
man’s way; that is, by rushing up so close to
him as to draw his attention, that her young, who
are very active, may have an opportunity of es-
caping. Accordingly, the man, seeing the duck
so near him, looking upon her as a much better
prize than the young ones, leaves pursuing the
ducklings, and endeavours to catch the subtil
dame, who runs before, but takes special care to
keep out of his reach; yet stopping in front of
him, occasionally, to make him renew the pur-
suit, till the young are entirely out of danger;
when she flies away, leaving her pursuer to fret
at his double disappointment. This I had from
a person of credit, who affirmed that himself was
thus deceived. The Whistling Duck is very hard
to catch, if its wing only is disabled; and will
outrun a man, if he be not very nimble.

“ The Whistling Duck breeds numerous in the
morasses of Westmoreland; in such places they
remain all day, and in the evening disperse them-

398 ANSERES.—ANATIDZ.

selves over the ponds in the open plains to feed,
till near morning, when they return. It is usual
for people to watch for them in the evening, when
they go to feed, and to shoot them. When the
gunner hears them whistling in their flight, he
imitates the sound, and thus lures them to where
he is, and, of course, to their destruction. A
duck and mallard with their young brood com-
monly fly together.” (Rob. MSS.)

Mr. Swainson’s conjectures that this is the male
of the Red-billed species, (Anim. in Menag. p.
223.) and also that it is the female (Ibid. p.
224.) are both groundless. The Red-bill is per-
fectly distinct ; and the sexes of the present species
do not differ from each other. The difference in
depth of the warm brown tint on the belly and
chin is common to both sexes. The trachea is
terminated by a trilateral bony capsule, where the
bronchi divaricate. There is but one pair of tra-
cheal muscles. The feet-webs are so concave, as
to be little more than semi-palmate.

It is very common in Hayti, where its Indian
name, [guasa, is adopted by the Spaniards.

All Ducks are fond of shaking their tails and
their feathers, but in the Whistling Ducks of
both species, from their height, this is particu-
larly conspicuous.

The Red-billed Whistling Duck (D. Autumnailis)
though much less common in Jamaica than the
preceding, is found there in some seasons, as an
autumnal visitant from the Spanish-main. I -have

GREEN-BACKED MALLARD. 399

seen several in a state of domestication, allowed
to run in a yard at Kingston, but they had been
imported.

GREEN-BACKED MALLARD.*

Anas maxima.—MIHI,
? Anas boschas et Cairina moschata ; hybrid.

I HAVE ventured to give a name to the mag-
nificent Duck described below, notwithstanding the
opinion of so high an authority as Mr. G. R. Gray,
who, on inspecting my specimen, considered it a
hybrid. Though I have the greatest respect for
the judgment of that gentleman, I cannot feel
quite free from doubt on the subject for the fol-
lowing reasons. At Radonda water, near Savanna
le Mar, where my specimen was shot, it seemed

* Length 303 inches, expanse 42, flexure 123, tail 53, breadth of
beak 1, height at base 1, rictus 23, tarsus 23, middle toe 3}. Irides
dark brown ; feet orange, front of tarsus, of middle and of outer toe, and
claws, black ; beak blackish brown, with a bar of deeper hue. Head,
chin, throat, and upper neck, deep velvety purple, changeable to sea-
green. Lower neck and fore-back rich chocolate, with purple gloss, se-
parated from the purple of throat by a demi-collar of pure white. Back,
wings, rump, and tail deep purple brown, with brilliant green reflexions.
Secondaries and scapulars rich metallic green ; the secondaries tipped
with white ; primaries dull black; first and fourth equal, second and
third equal, longest. Breast deep chestnut, paling to greyish white on
belly, sides, and vent ; the feathers on the upper belly and lower breast,
black-disked. Sides and vent minutely pencilled with dusky; under
tail-coverts black, with green gloss, Weight 4} lbs.

400 ANSERES.—ANATID&.

well known to the negro gunners, who had been
accustomed to call it Wigeon, and who stated that
others had been lately (at the end of February)
seen in the neighbouring waters.

Robinson was acquainted with this identical spe-
cies, (or variety?) nearly a hundred years ago.
‘Mr. Thistlewood shot a Duck and Drake, which
he called the Wild Muscovy Duck and Drake, not on
account of their resembling those birds in colour,
but in size, for the Drake equalled the Muscovy
Drake, and the Duck the Muscovy Duck. The
Wild Muscovy Duck, Mr. T. says, was covered
with a most elegant, beautiful plumage, far sur-
passing that of any bird of this kind he ever
saw.” (MSS. ii. 86.) From an elaborate descrip-
tion and admeasurement, which the Doctor after-
wards gives, I find the male agrees accurately
with mine, save that its expanse was 48 inches,
and its tail 74, the extremity being curled up-
wards. The female also was shot, but dived and
escaped: it was in the great pond at Egypt,
(close to which mine was obtained,) November
19th, 1753. :

I leave the question thus; merely adding that
the trachea of mine, (a male) terminated in a
large pear-shaped bony capsule, on the left side.
The stomach contained hard seeds of sedges, with
some vegetable fibre. The testes were compara-
tively small.

LUNATE BLUEWING. 401

LUNATE BLUEWING.*

Cyanopterus discors.

Anas discors, Linn.—Aud., pl. 313.
Cyanopterus discors, EYTON.

Tuts is one of the ducks which, being in high
estimation for sapidity, are largely brought to mar-
ket in the towns. My acquaintance with it is in-
deed confined to this condition. Robinson notices
it, as frequently met with in the wet months.
He saw one in the yard of Edward Long, Esq.,
of Spanish Town, where it fed amongst the poultry:
**it was coloured like that painted in Mr. Catesby’s
History of Carolina, i. p. 100, and was known to be
a° female by having laid an egg, though Mr. Catesby
says the female is all over brown.” (MSS. -1. 120)
Robinson agrees with Browne in considering this
a permanent inhabitant of Jamaica, having known
them shot, even during the dry season.

Of those which I examined, the stomachs con-
tained coarse siliceous sand, and small black seeds;
the cesophagus of one contained several small fishes.

* Length 16 inches, expanse 243, flexure 71, tail 24, breadth of beak
+5, height +4, rictus 1%, tarsus 15%, middle toe 133.

402 ANSERES.—ANATIDZ.

PLAIN BLUEWING.*
Cyanopterus inornatus.—MIHI.

Tue Teal which from the absence of the white
crescent in both sexes, I have thus named, is well
known in Jamaica, and has probably been mistaken
for the female of discors, with which it associates.
Its manners are said to be identical with those of
its congener. It much resembles C. Fretensis of
Eyton, but has not the broad yellow spot on the
beak, nor the barred flanks.

The stomachs of such as I have dissected, con-
tained small seeds, and coarse sand. One was
brought me alive in March; its voice, when alarmed,
was a very subdued hissing, like that of a goose,

* Length 153 inches, expanse 244, flexure 7, tail 2%, breadth of
beak 5S, height 3%, rictus 1,%,, tarsus 1,5,, middle toe 13.

Irides hazel; beak black; feet dusky clay colour; (in summer,
yellow.) Crown and hind-head dark brown, speckled with pale dashes ;
sides of head paler brown, with black specks ; throat and chin drab-
white. Lower neck, back, and tail-coverts bistre, with horse-shoe lines
of pale brown. Scapulars dark brown, with green gloss, a narrow border
of pale brown. Wing-coverts pale blue ; winglet, primaries, and primary
coverts blackish, with pale inner webs ; secondary greater-coverts white,
with large spots of metallic green, which sometimes become disks.
Secondaries, outer webs rich golden-green, edge of tips pale; tertials
long, pointed, brown with pale shafts, slightly glossed. Tail feathers
dark brown, with pale edges, and transverse spots on the outmost.
Breast, belly, vent, and under tail-coverts silky drab, irregularly mottled
and spotted with blackish ; sides marked with horse-shoes of dark brown
and pale. Inner surface of wings white.

PLAIN BLUEWING. 4.03

but very softly. I have met with this species
only in Spanish Town.

The eastern point of Old Harbour is occupied
by a salt-morass, immediately opposite Goat Is-
land, which affords the principal supply of Ducks
to the Spanish Town market; and more particu-
larly since the construction of the railway has driven
the birds from Passage Fort. The morass borders
the little cove called Galleon Harbour, and extends
over a small projecting peninsula, where it is cut
into natural channels, intersecting each other at
right angles, through which the sea flows, which
are almost as regular as if cut by art. The surf,
driven through them by the sea-breeze, and the
frequent passage of boats, keep these singular
canals open, and prevent the growth in them of
the mangroves, which are perpetually throwing out
their bow-like roots, and encroaching on every
unoccupied space. It is at the open pans formed
by the intersection of the canals, that the Ducks
of various species congregate: when the gunners
approaching in boats up the canals, come sud-
denly upon the flocks, and taking them in enji-
lade, bring down numbers at a shot.

404. ANSERES.—ANATIDZ.

SPINOUS SQUAT-DUCK.*
Erismatura spinosa.
Anas spinosa, Laru.—PI. enl. 967.

In a broad piece of water near Radonda, which
is crossed by the high road from Savanna le Mar to
Negril, and which is connected with the vast mo-
rass that lies behind the former town, I have seen
these curious little Ducks. Rarely more than
three are visible at’ one time, scattered over the
water, often very near the road. They pay very
little attention to passing travellers; but if one
stop and gaze at them, they take alarm, and sink
the body lower into the water, until the back is

* Length 13% inches, expanse 193, flexure 545, tail 23, breadth of
beak at tip 48, rictus 14, tarsus 15%, middle toe 2. Irides black ; beak
glaucous green, culmen blackish, under mandible colour of the nails ; feet
yellowish-grey, webs paler. Upper head deep bistre; neck minutely
mottled with bistre and pale umber. Back, scapulars, and less wing-
’ coverts bistre, each feather tipped and transversely banded with pale
umber ; feathers on rump velvety, minutely mottled with deep brown
and whitish. Tail-coverts mottled with dark brown and bright bay.
Tail of 18 feathers, very narrow, black, worn at tips, the shafts extend-
ing beyond the vanes. Wings’smoke-black ; first primary rudimentary ;
second and third sub-equal; the first five secondaries have the basal
three-fourths of the outer webs pure white, and their greater coverts
wholly white, forming a white patch in centre of wing. Sides of head
marked by two bands of brown, one passing through the eye, the other
from rictus to.ear ; over each of which is a parallel band of pale brown,
Chin and throat pale bay, satiny ; breast and belly pale buff, mottled
obscurely with blackish. Tail-coverts both above and below, hardly dif-
fering from clothing-feathers. Inner surface of wings shining grey.
Form broad and flattened.

SPINOUS SQUAT-DUCK. 405

level with the surface. If they suspect danger,
they gradually sink wholly under water; and if
suddenly alarmed they thus immerse themselves
in a moment, not diving as other water birds do, but
sinking as they sit, causing scarcely a ruffle of
the surface. I have found them excessively wary,
and difficult to shoot; because if they come up
and still suspect danger, they immediately sink
again, and remain beneath an incredible while,
even for several hours, unless they can manage
to expose the nostrils to the surface without
appearing. When they do rise, it is in the
same noiseless, almost imperceptible manner, and
in the same posture as they went down. Occa-
sionally they fly, or rather flutter with much
flapping of wings, and apparently painful exer-
tion, across the pond, splashing the surface as
they go; and I have seen one take a higher
flight across the road to the lower water. When
undisturbed, they sit long in one place, and spend
a good deal of time in smoothing their plumage.

The stomach of the specimen I obtained, a male,
from which the description was taken, contained
only seeds mostly comminuted.

From a recent letter of Mr. Hill’s I extract
the following notes. ‘We have certainly two if
not three different Pond Ducks. With two | am
familiarly acquainted. One is a very beautiful
little bird, with such a prevalence of yellow and
red ochre in the plumage, and with the usual

406 ANSERES.—ANATIDA.

crescent shaped ocellated markings of the Duck
tribe, so dark, as to give it a very quail-like ap-
pearance. It has in consequence been commonly
designated the Quail-duck.* The secondaries of
the wing are white; the head is dappled black and
ochry-white, and the bill is a brilliant cobalt-blue.
The tail is stiff and curved upwards, with (I think)
16 black feathers which radiate broad and distinct,
without any lapping of one feather over another.
In the nestling bird the feathers are differently
formed. They are unwebbed in the centre of
the shaft, the terminal plumes being few, and
curved like the T of the Greek alphabet.

**The other is a short squat Duck, almost square
in form, the breadth of its body being equal to
its length, and uniformly coloured wood-brown ;—
a description of the plumage not perhaps very
precise, but so much so with respect to the ordi-
nary hue of the bark of trees, as to make it
sufficiently indicative of the prevailing colour.
The centre shafts of the tail of this bird termi-
nate in long stiff spines, as stiff and as long as
those of a horse-comb.

“IT shall not venture to say how far similarity
of structure in the tail of the Erismaturine family
of Ducks with that of the Cormorant, indicates
a similarity in the application of this organ for
diving purposes, as Mr. Eyton has conjectured ;
but a bird kept in a small pool in a flower
garden, into which pond-weeds were daily thrown,
particularly chara and duck-weed, (pistiacee)

* Hence my friend proposes to name it Lrismatura ortygoides.

SQUAT-DUCK. 407

upon which it was supposed to feed, would lead
me to think that one important purpose that
this remarkably constructed organ was applied to,
was to move aside the dense vegetation of shal-
low pools in which it fed. The habit of this
bird was to turn round quick. By this motion
it opened out the weeds on the surface, so gra-
phically described by Shakspeare as ‘the green
mantle of the standing pool,—and made a clear
space for ‘swithering with its neb,’ as Lincoln-
shire decoy-keepers would say. It dived frequently,
and the period it remained submerged was prodi-
giously long. It swam backward as frequently
as forward, and, I apprehend, found its peculiarly
made tail a powerful lever in dilating the space
behind it. The little garden, in which the bird
was kept, that furnished me with these observa-
tions, was a fair representation of its natural haunts.
Tufts of flowers, composed of lilies, kincalmias, and
Indian-shot, with intermixtures of young vegetating
bananas, were an apt substitute for the heliconias,
nympheas, cyperaceze, juncales, and marantaceous
plants, among which it delighted when wild and
at large. It sometimes crept on the bank, and
sheltered itself among the bowery herbage; but
the clots of damp weed, strewn around its pond,
were its favourite resting place when out of the
water; and there it sat crouching, not sitting up-
right as the Grebe does. In its natural haunts
it is occasionally flushed, but its flight is execeed-
ingly short, not usually more than from the bank
into the mantling herbage of the pond, where it

408 ANSERES.—ANATIDZ.

instantly disappears in those long submersions I
have already noticed.”

The remaining Anatide which have been ob-
served in Jamaica, I shall dismiss with a bare enu-
meration, furnished by my esteemed friend to whom
this work is so deeply indebted. Though some of them
have fallen under my own notice, | have nothing
to add to their known history. I treat them in
this summary manner, the more willingly, because
my friend is himself preparing for the press a trea-
tise on the migratory birds of Jamaica, the fruit of
many years’ close observation.

Chen hyperboreus, Snow Goose.
Anser Canadensis, Canada Goose.
Dafila acuta, Pintail.
Peecilonetta Bahamensis, Ilathera Duck.
Mareca Americana, Wigeon.
Aix sponsa, Summer Duck.
Querquedula Carolinensis, Greenwing Teal.
Rhynchaspis clypeata, Shoveler.
Chaulelasmus streperus, Gadwall.
Anas obscura, Dusky Duck.

** boschas, Mallard.
Cairina moschata, Muscovy Duck.
Oidemia perspicillata, Surf Duck (Dr. Chamb.).
Fuligula Americana, Pochard.

“ affinis, Scaup Duck.

“ — rufitorques, Tufted Duck.

Nyroca leucophthalma, White-eyed Duck.

RUFOUS-NECKED PELICAN. 409

Fam.—PELECANIDZ. (The Pelicans.)
RUFOUS-NECKED PELICAN.*
Pelecanus fuscus.—LINN.

Aud. pl. 251.

Tue high-road from Bluefields to Savanna le Mar
winds round the broad bend of the coast, called
Bluefields Bay; for nearly half the distance, run-
ning close to the shore, which in some parts is a
low sandy beach, in others, rocky and precipitous.
About a mile from Bluefields the road recedes
about a hundred yards from the sea, the interven-
ing space being occupied by tall and dense wood,
consisting chiefly of manchioneel, crablight, sweet-
wood, and tropic-birch, much tangled by an under-
wood of briers and supple-jacks. As we approach the
brow of the cliff, we perceive that the descent, just
here, is not a perpendicular rock, but is a very
steep slope, covered with a loose and shifting rub-
ble, very unpleasant and even dangerous to the
feet. Two enormous birches and a fig, at some
distance from each other, springing out of the brow,
spread their immense boughs even over the sea
that boils among the rocks beneath; and the ob-
server needs no informant to tell him that these
trees are occupied as resting places by many large

Length 47 inches, expanse 794, flexure 183, tail 5, rictus 125, tar-
sus 3}, middle toe 44.

T

410 ANSERES.—PELECANIDZ.

birds. The earth, and bushes, and rocks beneath,
are splashed widely with white ordure, the fishy
fetor of which is diffused all through the woods,
and is but too perceptible even at the highroad.
Scattered upon the ground lie the long bones, bleach-
ed in the wind, and the sable feathers, of several
Frigate-birds, who met their death where they had
been accustomed to live; the victims perhaps of
disease, or perhaps of mutual encounters. High
up on the loftiest and outmost limbs sit many
Pelicans, some preening their plumage, others, with
the long beak resting on the breast, enjoying a
sluggish repose. Frigates and Boobies are asso-
ciated with them, but of these we shall speak
presently. .

From many visits to this place, which commonly
goes by the name of the Pelican hole, I have ob-
served that the Pelicans which resort hither, leave
the roost at early dawn, and fish for two or three
hours ; they return about eight o’clock and rest on
the roosting trees until about eleven; then they go
abroad again and fish along the shore or sit lazily on
the rocking sea, till dusk, when in long strings they
fly wearily homeward, and spend the night upon
their favourite trees.

It is a pleasant sight to see a flock of Pelicans
fishing. A dozen or more are flying on heavy,
flagging wing over the sea, the long neck doubled
on the back, so that the beak seems to protrude
from the breast. Suddenly, a little ruffling of the
water arrests their attention; and, with wings
half-closed, down each plunges with a resounding

RUFOUS-NECKED PELICAN. 411

plash, and in an instant emerges to the surface
with a fish. The beak is held aloft, a snap or
two is made, the huge pouch is seen for a mo-
ment distended, then collapses as before; and
heavily the bird rises to wing, and again beats
over the surface with its fellows. It is worthy
of observation that the Pelican invariably per-
forms a somerset under the surface; for descend-
ing, as he always does, diagonally, not perpen-
dicularly, the head emerges looking in the oppo-
site direction to that in which it was looking be-
fore. When the morning appetite is sated, they
sit calmly on the heaving surface, looking much
like a miniature fleet.

In the evening, as I have stated, we see them
pursuing their laborious course to repose. Stand-
ing at the door of Bluefields, which from a
slight elevation, commands a wide prospect of
the beautiful Bay, I have often watched, in the
evening,—while the sun, sinking among his gilded
piles and peaks of cloud on the horizon-sea, leaves
the air refreshingly cool and balmy, while the
dying sea-breeze scarcely avails to break the glassy
reflection of the surface,—the straggling flocks of
Pelicans, from a dozen to forty or fifty, passing
slowly along over the shore. On such occasions,
they manifest a decided tendency to form long
continuous strings, like ducks. When the flocks
are beating for fish, or sailing round and round
on the watch, there is no such arrangement, but
all circle in a confusion equal to that of the

planets of the Ptolemaic system. Yet at any
T 2

412 ANSERES.——PELECANID&.

time of the day, in taking a lengthened flight,
whether shifting their locality, or slowly sweeping
over the sea, they usually take a lineal order.

In flying thus in lines, I have been struck with
the unity which they manifest in their motions:
the flight is performed by alternate intervals of
heavy flappings, and sailing on outstretched mo-
tionless wing; and the resumption or suspension
of the one or the other state, is regulated by
the leading bird of the line. For example; the
first begins to flap; in an instant the second be-
gins, then the third, then the fourth, and so on,
with perfect regularity of succession; and neither
ceases till the first does, and then only each in
his own turn. That this does not depend on the
period of each motion being constant, is shown
by the fact, that the duration of either state is
very varying and arbitrary. If a bird be follow-
ing the same course, near at hand, but not within
the line, he does not regard the succession at
all, but governs his own motion.

The Pelican on alighting on the water to swim,
brings his feet, which before had been stretched
out behind, into a standing position, and, as it
were, slides along the surface, for several yards
before he swims. 2

Voracious and formidable as is the Pelican to
the smaller of the finny races, he is not without
his enemies among them. I once observed a large
Shark gliding along at the surface of the water
near a flock of swimming Pelicans, wilily endea-
vouring to approach some unwary one within seizing

RUFOUS-NECKED PELICAN. 413

distance, his triangular dorsal cutting the water
and revealing his progress, and his intentions. The
Pelicans were alert, however, and did not .choose
a near acquaintance with their insidious admirer,
each one rising into safety upon the wing as
he approached. I fear he went without his sup-
per on that occasion. ,

The following interesting note, I quote from
a valuable paper by Mr. Hill, “On the aerating
powers of birds,” read at a meeting of the Ja-
maica Society, June Ist, 1840. ‘‘ The facility with
which the Pelican resigns itself to fasting, or
rouses itself to feasting, was very interestingly ex-
hibited to me in a bird, I saw the other day at
Passage Fort. It was a domesticated Pelican, of
mature age: it winged backward and forward,
visiting the wild flocks, and feeding with them
in the harbour during the day, and withdrew
from them to roost in its master’s yard during
the. night. In that period of restraint, when it
was necessary to observe the caution of drawing
its quill feathers, to keep it within very diminish-
ed capabilities of flight, until it became familiar
and domesticated, it was wholly dependent on the
fish provided for it by the fishermen of the beach.
Sunday was no fishing day with these men; and
this was regularly a day on which there were no
supplies for the Pelican. It became in time so
conscious of the recurrence of this fast-day, that
although at all other times it went daily down
to the sea-side to wait the coming in of the
canoes, on the seventh day it never stirred from the

414 ANSERES.—PELECANIDZ.

recumbent trunk of a tree on which it roosted within
the yard. It had been found necessary to pluck its
wing within the last two or three months to restrain
it within bounds, in consequence of its absence lat-
terly with the wild birds for several days in suc-
cession; and in this state it was reduced as for-
merly to depend on the fishermen for food. The
old habit of abstinence and drowsy repose on the
Sundays again recurred, and when I saw it, it
was once more a tranquil observer of the rest,
and with it the fast, of the Sabbath day.”

Robinson describes one in captivity, as “a bold
fierce bird, which would snap his beak not only
at dogs and other small animals, but even at men
and horses, that came inadvertently within his
reach.” (MSS.)

The Pelican is sometimes taken much in the
same manner as Gannets in England. A fish is
fastened to a board, which is swiftly drawn through
the sea by a canoe under sail; the Pelican plunges
down upon it, and breaks his neck with the
violence of the contact. Although the beak is
not pointed, but hooked at the extremity, Sam
has assured me that it has been known to be
driven through the soft wood of the cotton tree,
when that has been used for the board. The
flesh is eaten by some of the negroes, notwith-
standing its insupportable fishy odour; to over-
come which in some degree, they bury it for some
hours in the sand of the beach, after which they
subject it to three or four boilings before it is
eaten.

SS See

RUFOUS-NECKED PELICAN. 415

The term fuscus is but poorly applicable to this
bird in adult plumage: the long and _ pointed
feathers, being black with a central stripe of pure
white, give a hue rather hoary or silvery than
fuscous; and the pale yellow head, and deep
chestnut neck, margined with a white edging,
adds a considerable degree of beauty to the
whole.

I dissected a female in May; an operation which
though performed in the open air, was almost suffi-
cient to take away the breath. I found the stomach
a long capacious sac without constriction, with thick
muscular walls; there was a round cavity just
beyond the pyloric bend; the intestinal canal was
nearly uniform in size, slender, but long, with
many convolutions; it measured 99 inches; near
the middle was a curious conformation, which I
have observed in the intestine of the Ardeade;
as though the tube had been abruptly terminated
and closed, and another tube let in at the side of
the former a little way from the end, which end thus
projected like a teat. Two czca, about 1} inch
long when distended. The appearance of the vis-
cera corresponded in most particulars to that de-
scribed by Prof. Owen (Pr. Zool. Soc. 1835) in
P. rufescens. The right lobe of the liver was
three or four times greater in volume than the
left; the former had its edges rounded; the latter
was sub-globose. The gall-bladder small; the gall
deep brown-yellow. The spleen was large, oval,
about 1? by 14, soft, and greenish-black. Kaid-
neys about equal, 2 inches by 1 inch. The fat

416 ANSERES.—PELECANID®.

about the viscera, which was in series of small
lumps, was of a deep orange, or almost salmon-
red. I may add that our species seems much
more arboreal than that described by Prof. Owen.
On bending the heel-joint, so as to bring the
tarsus up towards the tibia, the toes were strong-
ly incurved; and on my placing a stick beneath
the toes, and then forcibly bending the heel, the
stick was grasped with so much power that it
could with difficulty be dragged away. I per-
ceived from the form which the foot assumed
under such circumstances, that the hind toe is
opposed to the others in grasping or perching,
notwithstanding their continuity of membrane; the
web which connects the hind-toe being wide
enough to admit an object like the branch of a
tree, when the toes are opposed.

The tongue is singularly minute; the rami of
the hyoid bone, passing on each side of the
larynx, are simply enveloped in the membranes
of the pouch, and at their convergence, there is a
minute projecting point of cartilage about 4 inch
long, which is the only apology for a tongue. !

I was astonished to observe that the whole in-
ner surface of the skin on the trunk, was cellu-
lar, especially on the breast; composing an im-
mense congeries of membranous cells, inflated
with air. The pouch held seventeen pints of water,
which when full dripped out at a wound in the
fore-arm.

DUSKY BOOBY. 417

DUSKY BOOBY.*
Sula fusca.

Pelecanus sula, | Linn.—Aud. pl. 207.
Sula fused, Briss.

THE trees described in the preceding article as
constituting the lodging place of.the Pelicans, are
frequented also, though less regularly, by a_con-
siderable number of these Boobies. They usually
huddle together, in little groups, sitting closely
side by side, so that four and five may frequently
be brought down at a shot.

I have invariably found the stomachs of those
thus obtained, quite empty, and as the Frigate-
birds assemble on the same trees, I conjecture that
the Boobies examined had been compelled to disgorge
the prey they had taken, by the assaults of their
powerful neighbours: to avoid whose attacks, pro-
bably, they took refuge on the trees. As they ~
sit, they frequently utter a loud croaking cackle.

One which was disabled, manifested great fero-
city, striking forcibly with the opened beak, en-
deavouring to pierce with its very acute points,
as well as to cut with its keen saw-like edges.
It had the sagacity to! neglect a stick presented,
and strike at the hand that held it; and my

* Length 29 inches, expanse 58, flexure 143, tail 73, rictus 4,5, tar-

sus 14, middle toe 3.
tT 5

418 ANSERES.—PELECANIDZ.

fingers could testify to the lacerating power of
their formidable weapon.

The tails of all the specimens that fell into my
hands, were much worn at the extremity; pro-
bably from incubation on the rocks. The use of
the very singular pectination of the middle toe,
was indicated, by its being choked up in each
one with down. The great length of the body
in these birds is particularly observable when the
integuments are removed. In one specimen, I
found lying among the folds of the intestines, a
tape-worm, about three feet in length.

The above is the only Sula that we know any-
thing of, about the coast of Westmoreland; but
Mr. Hill has identified three others from the
Pedro Kays, some of which appear to frequent
the little Kays of the coast near Kingston. I
believe they are the Sula fiber, or drab-coloured
Booby, S. piseator, or White Booby, and S. parva,
or Black and white Booby. Of this last Mr. Hill
has a pair domesticated, of whose habits he has
favoured me with the following pleasing notes.

**The sympathy shewn by gregarious birds for
their wounded companions is usually never more
strongly manifested than in the Boobies. In the
wanton sport of shooting at them when sailing
past the kays and islets they resort to, there are
few who have not witnessed the extraordinary
efforts made by the clamorous flock to assist a
wounded bird, when fluttering in the water, and

BOOBY. 419

unable to regain the wing. An accident which hap-
pened to one of the two Boobies we have in our
yard, gave us an opportunity of seeing traits of this
feeling, and of its attendant emotions. My little
nephew, in chasing with a small whip one of our
birds, entangled the lash about its wing, and snapped
the arm-bone. The one bird not alone shewed
sympathy for the other, but exhibited curiosity
about the nature and character of the accident.
Our two birds are male and female. The wound-
ed Booby withdrew into a lonely part of the yard,
and stood there drooping. The female sought him
as soon as she heard his cry of agony, and after
ascertaining, by surveying him all round, that the
injury was in the wing, proceeded to prevail on
him to move the limb, that she might see whether
he was really disabled beyond the power of using
it for flight. After a quacking honk or two, as a
call to do something required of him, the female
stretched out one of her wings;—the wounded
male imitated her, and, making an effort, moved
out, in some sort of way, the wounded member
to its full length, He was now required by a
corresponding movement to raise it:—he raised
the broken arm, but the wing could not be ele-
vated. The curiosity of the female was at a stand-
still. After a moment’s pause, her wounded com-
panion was persuaded to make another trial at
imitation, and to give the wings some three or
four good flaps. He followed the given signal,
gave the required beats upon the air with so
thorough a good will, to meet the wishes of his

420 ANSERES.—PELECANIDZ.

curious mate, that he twirled the broken wing quite
round, and turned it inside out. The mischief
was prodigiously increased. It was now necessary
to put a stop to this process of investigation of
the one bird into the misfortune of the other.
I came in just as these exhibitions had occurred,
and taking up the bird with its twisted wing, I
was obliged after setting the limb, to restrain him
from any further gratification of his mate’s curio-
sity by tying. the wing into place, and keeping
it so tied, till the bone united. The one now
attended the other, and- carefully examined, day
after day, the broken limb. Calling on him to
make an occasional effort to raise the disabled
and immoveable member, she used her ineffectual
endeavours to persuade him to lift it, though tied,
by lifting her own from time to time.

“Though this fellow-feeling was so strongly and
so remarkably manifested with regard to the broken
wing,—when feeding together, the abler female
did not. hesitate to take advantage of her greater
agility, by snatching away from her mate | his
share of victuals, and grappling with him for one
and the same piece of meat. Instinct seems to
exhibit simple, not complex emotions. If the
male bird had been utterly unable to feed- him-
self, the female would, possibly, herself have sup-
plied him with food:—but, able to eat, the un-
divided passion was the feeding appetite; and the
instinctive habit of striking at the prey, and grab-

bing it, was not capable of restraint, or of any
modification whatever.

BOOBY. 421

“The Booby has an uncontrollable predilection
for elevated spots as perching places. If a single
stone be higher than others in the yard, the Booby’s
eye perceives it, and there he takes up his station,
and stands, when he has fed, and is satisfied. If
a log or a bundle of wood lie about, he mounts
it, and perches upon it to sun himself, extending
his wings over his tail, and erecting his dorsal
feathers for the admission of the genial beams of
morning. He roosts upon similar vantage spots,
generally on the tops of the triangular coops in
which are kept our fattening poultry. He has
great prehensile power with his foot; and _ his
serrated middle-toe is frequently applied to scratch
the naked skin about his eyes and face. Our
birds are fonder of flesh meats, such as beef and
pork, than of fish. They dislike fat, and gene-
rally reject it, if it be given separately from the
lean. ‘They never drink, and are just as re-
gardless of the water about the yard, as if they
had been as unadapted for it, as hens and turkeys.” *

* The following note I received from my friend, since the above was
prepared for the press. ‘“ My male Booby died the other day. I found
animalcules in the liver. Its anatomy exhibited, in a remarkably inte-
resting manner, the fine adaptation for the purposes of buoyancy, de-
tailed by Professor Owen in the dissection of the kindred Gannet. The
muscles showed the air-vessels interspersed among them, in a manner
altogether surprising. They had the appearance, as he expresses it,
of being dissected. The bird, in the act of expiring, had almost en-
tirely discharged the air from about the chest ; but very considera-
ble inflation still subsisted in the thighs. The large femoral mus-
cle might ,be said to be almost entirely detached from the enveloping
integument. The septa of the cells seemed alone to attach it to the
adjacent flesh. There was no adhesion, but along one of its edges.”

422 ANSERES.—PELECANIDZ.

FRIGATE-BIRD.*
Man-of-war bird.

Fregata aquilus.

Pelecanus aquilus, Linn.—Aud. pl. 271.
Pelecanus leucocephalus, (young), GMEL.

Fregata aquilus, Cuv.

Tachypetes aquilus, VigILL.

But that the history of the Pelican and the
Booby made allusion to the roosting place near
Bluefields necessary, I should have preferred to

The cells were strongly united to the skin ; and the roots of the feathers
protruded into the internal cavities, as if they grew out of nothing.
The cells must have performed their office with marvellous readiness,
for the nerves were easily traceable among them. The air-vessels were
like so many colourless bubbles.

“The bird had died during the night by the side of the coop on
which they both usually roosted, but without attempting to perch. As
I removed the dead bird before the other Booby had quitted its morn-
ing roost, it was interesting to see it, under a sense of loneliness, run-
ning its head into every opened door, to seek its lost companion.”

* Length 38 inches, expanse 85, flexure 26, tail 173, rictus 54, tar-
sus 1, middle toe 3. Male. Irides black ; feet black ; beak bluish-
grey, blackish at tip: throat-pouch colour of red-lead, slightly pendent
at bottom like a dewlap. Whole plumage black, sometimes brilliantly
glossed, the head and wings with green, the neck and fore-back with
purple,

Female. Feet delicate pink (perhaps not constant); orbits and
pouch pale blue ; plumage unglossed, back and wing-coverts smoke-
brown ; breast pure white, which forms a narrow collar. Under parts
smoke-brown..

Young. Feet bluish-white. Head, upper-neck, throat, breast and
belly pure white. The rest of the plumage black, with some iridescence.

FRIGATE-BIRD. 423

describe it under the present article; for though
the trees are common to the three species, the former
two frequent the place less numerously, and less
constantly than the Frigates. At most hours of
the day, one either sees a large number of these
birds resting on the lofty trees, or else soaring and
circling round and round over the place. Occa-
sionally, in the middle of the day we see half a
dozen sailing at an immense height in the air;
where their size and colour, the graceful free-
dom of their motions, and the sublimity of their
elevation, might cause them to be confounded with
the John Crow Vulture, were it not for the cur-
vature of their wings, the long-pointed tail, often
opened and closed, and a superior elegance in their
general form.

Being desirous of knowing at what hour the
Frigates came home to the roosting place, I vi-
sited it on several evenings. On the first occasion,
arriving there just as the sun was setting, I found
I was not sufficiently early to witness the con-
gregating of the birds, for my ears were saluted,
even when in the high-road, by the loud and un-
pleasant croaking of the Boobies. On my getting
to the foot of the first Birch-tree, I could dis-
cern many of these sitting on the branches; but
as the view was much intercepted by the bushes
and trees around, I scrambled down the shingly
precipice, to the sea-side. Then on looking up
I saw the boughs of the birch immediately over
my head, studded with these noisy birds, preen-
ing their plumage, or scolding and fighting harshly

424 ANSERES.—PELECANIDA.

with one another, as they sat side by side. While
thus gazing upward, I narrowly escaped the mis-
fortune of Tobit. There may have been thirty
Boobies in sight, and about eight or ten Frigates,
but no Pelicans except three on a tree at a little
distance. All on a sudden, however, the Fri-
gates flew off as by common impulse, accompa-
nied by at least fifty more, which I had not seen,
they having been concealed by the foliage, or
having been sitting on the neighbouring trees,—
and by as many Boobies, leaving a good number
of the latter, however, still remaining.

Though they all flew about in various direc-
tions over the sea, they did not retire from the
vicinity; but the Frigates presently separated from
the Boobies, taking a loftier elevation, where they
sailed and circled in silent dignity, while the Boobies
were clamorous in their evolutions.

The latter soon sought their perches again; and
this gave rise to incessant squabbles, for if a flyer
attempted to alight beside a sitter, the latter, as
if affronted at the intrusion, began, with elevated
wings and opened beak, to resist, croaking voci-
ferously. The Frigates were long before they re-
turned; some sailed out half a mile, and there per-
formed their elegant manceuvrings, while others
still hovered above the roosting trees. Among
these some were ‘wholly black, some had the white
breast of the female sex, and others the white
head of youth, and one was conspicuous by his
blood-red pouch, inflated into a tense bladder be-
neath his chin. From the fact that very few, in-

FRIGATE-BIRD. : 425

deed, possess this red pouch, I incline to think it
a peculiarity of mature age; for many had the
livery of the adult male, whose pouch was incon-
spicuous, and of a pale buff hue. At length, as
the increased darkness gathered in, they also be-
gan one by one to settle, very charily, often mak-
ing a feint to alight, and again sailing off. Some
slowly wended their way farther down the bay,
and some I left still in the air.

A few days after, I again went between three
and four o’clock, but even then the Frigates were
reposing in great numbers, but few Boobies, and
no Pelicans. I shot a Frigate, which of course
aroused the whole flock: and I then had an opportu-
nity of ascertaining their numbers. As they sailed
gracefully round, I counted them twice, and both
times made them about fifty, but of course I could .
not be quite exact: from other observations, I should
estimate the number of those which habitually re-
pose there to be about sixty, more or less. Dur-
ing an hour and a half that I remained, they did
not again alight, and when the sun was close to
the horizon they were still soaring in their sublime
evolutions. About one sixth of the number were
white-headed, their snowy heads and breasts gleam-
ing now and then, as the slanting rays were re-
flected from them to the observer; and_ several
displayed the inflated scarlet pouch, a little con-
stricted in the middle. As the Frigate flies, the
form of its wings reminds one of enormous bats,
but for the lengthened tail. When about to alight,
they sometimes cackle a little, but are generally

426 ANSERES.—PELECANIDZ.

silent. As they sit on the branches they are in-
cessantly employed in picking the vermin from
their bodies, with which they are much infested.
This is done partly with the beak, but partly with
the foot; and I have seen them, after scratching
themselves, put up the foot to the beak, appa-
rently delivering something into the mouth. Occa-
sionally they throw the head back, and make a
loud clattering with the beak. Passing along the
road one forenoon in May, a large number were
wheeling round the roosting place, some alight-
ing, and others rising. Those which were on the
wing uttered, particularly as they swooped near
the tree, on which they made as if they would
alight, a repeated chuck, not loud, with a rather
rapid iteration.

It would appear that this place has been fre-
quented by the Frigates, for at least a hundred
years. Robinson has this note: ‘ On a large cotton-
tree, between Mr. Wallo’s and the Cave, by the sea-
side, come to roost many Man-of-war birds, about
four o’clock in the evenings, which tree may be
easily approached by a canoe, whence the Men-
of-war and other sea-fowl may be shot, either in
the evening, or before sunrise; for the Man-of-
war birds will not leave their roosting-places be-
fore sunrise, in this resembling the Noddy. Dr.
Gorse of Savanna le Mar, from whom I had this
account, observed that the cotton-tree was blanched
or whitened by their dung.” (MSS. ii. 83.)

I have never seen the Frigate fishing; but have
frequently found flying-fish in its stomach half

FRIGATE-BIRD. 427

digested.* Nor have I ever seen it attack the
Booby, to make it disgorge, though the fishermen
of Jamaica are familiar with this habit. Dr. Cham-
berlaine, who apparently describes from observation,
says of the Frigate, ‘‘ He is almost always a constant
attendant upon our fishermen, when pursuing their
vocation on the sand-banks in Kingston Harbour, or
near the Palisados. Over their heads it takes its
aerial stand, and watches their motions with a
patience and perseverance the most exemplary. It
is upon these occasions that the Pelicans, the Gulls,
and other sea-birds become its associates and com-
panions. These are also found watching with
equal eagerness and anxiety the issue of the fisher-
men’s progress, attracted to the spot by the sea
of living objects immediately beneath them.

** And then it is, when these men are making their
last haul, and the finny tribe are fluttering and pant-
ing for life, that this voracious bird exhibits his
fierce and pugnacious propensities. His hungry
companions have scarcely secured their prey by the
side of the fishermen’s canoes, when with the light-
ning’s dart, they are pounced upon with such violence,
that, to escape its rapacious assaults, they readily in
turn yield their hard-earned booty to this formidable

* An intelligent fisherman, who is in the habit of trading about the
coast, and to Cuba, asserts that he has often seen the Frigates fishing far
out at sea ; such large fishes as Bonito, that leap out of water, being
their prey ; which they catch with the foot, plunging down on them,
and then mounting, deliver the booty to the mouth like a Parrot. [
feel it right to repeat this statement, though I think it improbable, from
the weakness of the foot. He adds that they breed in great numbers
on the Pedro Kays, laying on the bare rocks.

428 ANSERES.—PELECANIDZ.

opponent. The lightness of its trunk, the short tarsi,
and vast spread of wing, together with its long,
slender, and forked tail, all conspire to give him a
superiority over his tribe, not only in length and
rapidity of flight, but also in the power of maintain-
ing itself on outspread pinions in the regions of
his aerial habitation amidst the clouds; where, at
times, so lofty are its soarings, its figure becomes
almost invisible to the spectator in this nether
world.” (Jamaica Alm. 1843, p. 87.)

I know nothing positive of the nidification of the
Frigate. On the face of Pedro Bluff, about four
feet from the surface of the sea, which, however,
in stormy weather dashes furiously into it, there is
a hole into which a man may crawl, but which,
within, widens into a spacious cavern. A person
who had visited this place, told me that on its floor
lie the skulls and bones of men, mouldering in damp
and decay ; the relics, probably of some of the unfor-
tunate Indians, who preferred death by famine to the
tortures and cruelties of the Spaniards. To this
cave, he affirmed, the Frigates and Pelicans resort
to lay their eggs; depositing them on the projecting
ledges and shelves of the soft and marly rock. On
my way up to Kingston from Bluefields in June,
lying windbound under the Pedro, I induced a white
man residing there to accompany me to the face
of the Bluff, where he said the Pelicans and Frigates
roosted, and where the former built and laid. After
walking about a mile in the most burning heat,
through cacti, aloes, and spinous bushes, a most
peculiar vegetation, and over the sharp needle-like

FRIGATE-BIRD. 429

points of honey-comb limestone, occasionally leaping
deep clefts, we came to the spot. Many birds of
both kinds were sitting on the low stunted trees, but
we could not find a single nest nor eggs; though,
as my guide said, at some times they were numerous,
but only of the Pelican; of the Frigate’s nidification
he knew nothing.

The gular pouch of the old male, is not connected
with the mouth, like that of the Pelican, but appears
to be an air-cell; perhaps having some analogy to the
erectile caruncles of the male Turkey. If we take
the skeleton of the Pelican as a standard, the ster-
num of the Frigate is greatly developed Jaterally,
as that of the Booby is, longitudinally. The middle
claw is pectinated. I think I know of no bird so
infested with, entozoic worms as the Frigate. Im-
mense bunches both of tzenoid and cylindrical worms
are found in almost every specimen, besides some
curious kinds apparently of a higher organization.
Bird-lice and bird-flies also infest it.

One which was wounded, on being taken up, was
fierce, endeavouring to seize with his beak. And a
specimen kept alive by Dr. Chamberlaine, became
animated and pugnacious when the children or ser-
vants approached it, and struck at them with its
formidable bill.

430 ANSERES.—PELECANIDZ,

TROPIC BIRD.*
Phaeton cethereus.—.InN.

Aud. pl. 262.

Tue bird which Robinson has described (MSS. ii.
124,) in the terms quoted below, is doubtless to be
referred to this species, though from the shortness of
the tail-feathers, and the colour of the beak and feet,
I presume it to have been an immature specimen,
He describes its habits as resembling those of the
Terns: it was brought to him alive, having been
knocked off a fish-pot-buoy; he kept it almost a
week, feeding it with the offal of fish, which it ate
greedily. When it attempted to walk, it spread
its wings, and waddled along with much difficulty,
which arose not only from the backward position
of its legs, but also from their shortness and weak-
ness. Sometimes it made a chattering noise, like
the Belted Kingfisher, and it had another cry, not
unlike that of a Gull. It would bite, upon occa-

* “Length 15 inches, expanse 32, flexure 10, beak 3, tail of 14 fea-
thers, graduated, the middle pair 5 inches, the outmost 3, middle toe 1,5.
Beak white, or very pale yellow; feet white; claws black. General
plumage white, very silky, especially about the head: bases of crown
feathers black. Upper neck, back, rump, and wing-coverts marked with
cross, black, arcuated bars. Beneath each eye two black lines, which
passing over the eye, meet at the back of the head. Tail, shafts and
tips black. Five first quills have the outer edges and shafts black ; the
remaining primaries and secondaries, bluish ; tertiaries chiefly black,
with white edges, forming a black spot in each wing. Feet far behind.”
(Rob. abridged.)

CRESTED TERN. 431

sion, very hard. The head and neck were very big
in proportion.

It is mentioned to me as one of the constant fre-
quenters of the Pedro Kays.

Fam.—LARIDA. (The Gulls.)
CRESTED TERN.*
White Egg-Bird.
Thalasseus Cayanus.

Sterna Cayana, GmeL.—Aud. pl. 273.
Thalasseus Cayanus, Bote.

Tus large and beautiful Tern is the most common
species we have in the vicinity of Bluefields. Its
powerful beak of a bright orange hue, its pointed
occipital crests of black, the pearly tint of its upper,
and the satiny lustre of its under parts, constitute it
a species of much beauty. In the autumn months
we may frequently see this bird fishing. A quarter
of a mile from the shore, off Crabpond Point, there is
a reef, above which it may be seen almost every day.
Quite solitary in his habits, the Crested Tern prefers
to fish alone; and though sometimes two or three
may be in view at once, there is no association, no
accordance of movement, as in the Pelicans. High
above the water, we discern a bird, the snowy white-

* Length 21 inches, expanse 45, flexure 144, tail 74, rictus 354, tar-
sus 154, middle toe 13. Two cexea 4 inch long.

432 ANSERES.—LARIDA.

ness of whose plumage contrasts with the blue sky ;
he flies rapidly round and round in a large circle,
quickly flapping his wings without intermission.
Suddenly, he arrests his flight, flutters his wings
in rapid vibration, as he looks downwards, but in
a moment proceeds as before: it was doubtless a
fish near the surface, but which disappeared before
he could descend. Presently he again stops short,
flutters,—then bringing the elbow of the wings to
a right angle, descends perpendicularly, but with
a singular turning of the body, so as to present
now the back, now the belly, alternately, to the
observer; not, however, by a rotation, but irregu-
larly, and as if by jerks. But his purpose is again
frustrated; for on nearly reaching the surface, he
recovers himself with a graceful sweep, and remounts
on flagging wing. Again he circles; and again,
and again stops: at length, down he swoops, dis-
appears with a plash, and in a moment breaks,
struggling, from the wave, and, as if to rise burdened
with prey were difficult, flags heavily near the sur-
face, and circling slowly round, gradually regains his
former altitude. Suddenly,—as if alarmed, though
nothing appears to cause it,—he utters two or three
loud cries in a plaintive tone, and flies off, along
the coast, until he is concealed from view by the
projecting mangroves. Yet, strange to say, in a
few seconds he returns, and calmly pursues his
wonted occupation. When satiated, he betakes him-
self to some one of the logs of wood which are
placed as buoys by the fishermen to mark the posi-
tion of their sunken fish-pots; and on this he re-

EGG-BIRD. 433

poses all night, rocked to sleep by the roll of the
surf. The fishermen, on visiting their pots at early
day, find the Terns, exceedingly often, sitting on
the buoys; and so fearless are they, that not seldom
a canoe may be paddled nearly within touch of one
before he will fly.

Though web-footed, I believe none of the Terns
are ever seen to swim. One shot and wounded in
the wing made no effort to strike out, but merely
struggled in the water as a land-bird would do.
This specimen was brought home alive; it attempt-
ed to bite, striking with the beak. The flesh was
dark, and resembled that of a Duck.

EGG-BIRD.*
Hydrochelidon fuliginosa.

Sterna fuliginosa , Gmev.—Aud. pl. 235.
Hydrochelidon fuliginosum, Bor.

For my information concerning this species, I
am principally indebted to Mr. Hill; a single spe-
cimen only haying fallen into my possession, which
was shot by Sam, sitting on a fish-pot buoy near
Bluefields, in the manner of the former species.

It is, however, a bird of considerable commercial
importance; for its eggs, in common with those

* Length 17 inches, expanse [40, computed,] flexure 11,5, tail 754,

uropygials 4, rictus 24, tarsus 1, middle toe 1,4.
U

434 ANSERES.—LARIDZ,

of the Noddy (Megalopterus stolidus) and the Sand-
wich Tern (Zhalasseus Cantiacus) form an object
of profitable adventure to the crews of numerous
small vessels, fitted out in the spring from King-
ston and other ports. The Pedro Kays are the
grand field whence this harvest is reaped. ‘* These
lonely islets,” observes Mr. Hill, “are the resort
of thousands and tens of thousands of sea-fowl.
As soon as visitors land, myriads of birds are upon
the wing in all directions. Some flocks rise, in cir-
cling flight, high up into the air; and descending
again in the same dense numbers as they rose, settle
in more remote places :—others break away hurriedly,
and fly in a wide sweep far around, but return again
hastily to the rocks they had quitted, reconciled
to bear with the disturbance. The turmoil and
hubbub of the thousands of birds thus suddenly
put upon the wing, overpower, for a moment, the
roar of the breakers, and darken the air like the
sudden passing of a cloud.

** The constant inhabitants of the rocks are some
three species of Gannet, all known as Boobies;
some half a dozen species of Tern, among which
the Noddy and the Egg-bird are exceedingly nu-
merous ; together with the Frigate Pelican, the
Tropic-bird, and the Petrel; besides a multitude
of Gulls.....

* There were four vessels from Jamaica there at
this time [April, 1846] gathering eggs; the months
of March, April, and May being considered the egg-
harvest.

“The Kays are open to all adventurers; but the

ee =

EGG-BIRD. 435

egg-gathering is regulated by a custom which re-
cognises the first-coming vessel as commanding for
the season. The second vessel in seniority is called
the Commodore; the first being styled the Admiral.
They have a code of laws, to which, in a spirit of
honourable compliance, all are expected to shew
obedience; and in case of any infraction of the
obligations thus voluntarily imposed upon them-
selves, a jury selected from the several vessels try
complaints, and with due formality inflict punish-
ment for offences.

“The only kind of vegetation, excepting a single
cocoa-nut, on these desert rocks, is a stunted tree,
called by the egg-gatherers saffron-wood. It is
extremely resinous, and the leaves are used by
them as tea; and I suspect it is the same plant
as the tea-shrub of the Bahama islands. Among
the branches of these trees, at a very small ele-
vation from the ground, the Noddies build nests,
that have become large by a long accumulation
of dung and sticks. The nests are resorted to for
a succession of years, and are repaired and raised
upon, season after season, till they have grown
into huge piles, among the branches;—the large
masses of interwoven twigs prevailing even more
than the green foliage. The Egg-bird and the
Sandwich Tern, if they are unable to gather any
of the dead foliage of these shrubs, or any dried
leaves of sea-weed, as a covering for the cavity
in the rock in which they nestle, lay their eggs
on the bare sand: just making so much of a de-

pression by scratching the ground as suffices to
u2

436 ANSERES.—LARIDA.

hollow it for the reception of some three eggs,
the addition of the urate of lime from their dung
sufficiently cementing the loose particles.”

In a subsequent communication my friend re-
verts to the same interesting subject. ‘‘ The nests
of the Noddy, which, though so elaborately framed
with sticks, are exceedingly shallow, with scarce
any hollowing at all, are always embellished with
an addition of broken shells, (sea-shells,) generally
speckled and spotted like the eggs. Mr. Wilkie
examined them, and they were sea-shells. The ob-
vious suggestion for this curious prevalence of a
habit, which he found to distinguish every nest, was
its deceptiveness; so much similarity existed be-
tween the sea-shell and the egg-shell. I find that
Audubon records a similar fact with the Noddy
Terns of the Florida Kays. These are his words:
‘In a great many instances, the repaired nests form-
ed masses nearly two feet in height, and yet all of
them had only a slight hollow for the eggs, broken
shells of wuHicH were found among the entire, as if
they had been purposely PLACED THERE. Mr. Wil- —
kie was totally unacquainted with this noticed
particular in Audubon’s ‘ Ornithological Biogra-
phy. Has Audubon misread his note ‘ broken
shells,’ and by the following words ‘ of which,’ made —
them egg-shells, when they should have been sea-
shells? This is at least worth aremark. Mr. Wil- —
kie says he took the pieces of shell out of the nest, ©
and inspected them. Audubon merely says, ‘ The
bushes rarely were taller than ourselves, so that |
we could easily see the eggs in the nest.”

EGG-BIRD. 437

Specimens of the eggs of these three species of
Tern, procured at the Kays by George Wilkie, Esq.,
who kindly furnished the above information to Mr.
Hill for the benefit of this work, are now before
me. ‘There is scarcely any difference in size, the
dimensions being 2 inches by 13: the Noddy’s, how-
ever, is of a more conical form. The ground of
all is white ; that of the Noddy has a few blackish
specks thinly scattered over it, and at the larger
end some irregular splashes of brown. That of
the Sandwich Tern is uniformly speckled with dull
reddish-purple ; while that of the Egg-bird is mark-
ed with the same hue in fewer but larger spots.

To the above Laride, Mr. Hill adds Sterna ar-
gentea (Bonap.) killed in Kingston Harbour; and
Hydrochelidon nigrum (Botr) and Xema_ atricilla
(Bonap.) as frequenting the Kays.

Of two other birds he thus gives me indications :
—‘*‘ A curious bird of the family Procellariade, (the
Petrels,) was found in the Rio Grande in Portland
after the late storms [in the autumn of 1846.] Hur-
ricanes introduce into these islands new birds, and
disperse those peculiar to these islands into other
localities.” The other seems to be of the family
Alcade (the Auks). “In the Blue Mountains,
high up towards their summits, is a curious burrow-
ing bird, which they call the Blue-Mountain Duck.
It is described as having webbed feet, and a hooked
parrot-bill. This description would indicate a spe-
cies of Alcea. It inhabits holes in the cliffs, and is

438 ANSERES.——-COLYMBIDZ.

said to burrow to the extent of ten feet. Nothing
is known of its habit of feeding. E. M‘Geachy,
Esq., Crown Surveyor for the county of Surrey,
first informed me of the existence of such birds.
He had himself taken them from their burrows.
The facts have also been assured to me by other
observers.” A specimen of this bird is said to be
in the possession of George Atkinson, Esq., of New-
castle-on-Tyne, who, in answer to an application from
me, kindly promised me a particular description ; but
other engagements, probably, have not yet afforded
him the necessary leisure.

Fam.—COLYMBID A. (The Divers.)
BLACK-THROATED GREBE.*
Podilymbus Carolinensis ?

Podiceps Carolinensis, Latu.—Aud. pl. 248.
Podilymbus Carolinensis, Less.
Sylbeocyclus Carolinensis, BonapP.

No living specimen of this bird has fallen under ~
my notice. It is, however, familiar to Mr. Hill,

* Length 11} inches, expanse —?, flexure 4,4, tail 0, rictus 14, tar-
sus 1,4,, middle toe 1,9. Irides hazel; beak pale grey, marked about
the middle by a broad cincture of black, in which the nostrils are pierced.
Feet black. Male: Head and neck pale purplish-grey, darker on crown
and nape: a circle of white surrounds the eye, edged outwardly with
black. Plumage at base of beak black: a broad band of black runs
down the centre of throat. Upper parts silky black, paler on wings.

BLACK-THROATED GREBE. 439

who kindly favoured me with a preserved speci-
men, and with some of his own notes. It is fre-
quently shot in the Rio Cobre. One which Mr.
Hill had alive was put into a barrel half filled
with straw, on which was laid a large pan of water ;
the brevity of its wings precluding the possibility
of its getting out. It was reconciled immediately;
and fed heartily on raw fish chopped up. It lived
in apparent health three weeks, and died at length
without manifest illness, or any perceptible cause ;
though want of exercise or alteration of diet may
have contributed to it.

A few further particulars of the habits of this
same individual are contained in a recent letter from
my friend. ‘ The several specimens of the Black-
gorget Grebe that I have had, were brought to me
from the sedgy grounds of the River Cobre. Usu-
ally the banks of the river are deep; but there are
places in which the course of the stream has been
changed, leaving, between one channel and the other,
open meadows and banks fringed with a bristling
growth of cyperaceous and other border herbage.
It will be readily perceived, that these stretches of
blended sward and sedge are the only parts of the
river fitted for a bird with fin-toed feet and short
wings, to quit the water and seek the shore. It is
only there they can rise out of the stream upon
the green turf; and there they indulge in slumbers

Under parts light grey, with transverse pencillings of black: vent dusky-
Female: Beak, head, neck, and breast dull yellowish-grey, the markings
rather less conspicuous ; under parts minutely mottled with black and yel-
lowish-grey. Weight 10} oz.

440 ANSERES.—COLYMBIDZ.

in the sunshine, secluded and secure. I judge this
to be their habit, from the pleasure a bird I kept
some few weeks alive used to feel in lying on the
weeds placed for him by the side of a bowl of water,
in which he fed. He would there repose for hour
after hour, doubled up like an antelope on the grass,
with its head and neck curved,—if I may compare
beings so dissimilar,—in the graceful attitude in
which I made my drawing, now in the hands of the
Zoological Society. The food given to my bird was
Guinea-corn. After it had been softened in the
water, it ate it readily. The seeds of aquatic plants
may be considered, therefore, quite as much as water
insects and mollusca, its accustomed food. The eye,
which is dark and bright, like a gazelle’s, has a thick
orbit of that fleshy character, to which pigeon-fan-
ciers give the name of putty-eye, in their favourite
birds.”

WHITE-WINGED GREBE.*
Diver.
Podiceps Dominicus.

Colymbus Dominicus, LINN.
Podiceps Dominicus, Latu.—Spix, Av. Br. 101.

Tue ponds of the cattle-pens are the favourite
resorts of this little Grebe. I have been most

* Length 9 inches, expanse 14, flexure 3,4,, tail 0, rictus 1-3, tarsus
1,45, middle toe 14, lateral breadth of tarsus +, breadth. of toe +4.

WHITE-WINGED GREBE. 441

familiar with it at the pond of Mount Edgecumbe,
which, though not more than an acre or two in ex~
tent, used to be speckled with a good number of
these miniature ducks; their little black heads and
the tops of their backs alone being visible above
the surface. On the slightest alarm, they dive with
the quickness of thought; and so vigilant is their
eye and so rapid their motion, that, ordinarily, the
fowling-piece is discharged at. them in vain, It is
commonly said of some birds, that they dive at the
flash of the pan; but though I always used per-
cussion-locks, [ could never succeed in _ hitting one,
until I formed a screen of bushes, behind which I
might fire in concealment. I then found no diffi-
culty. Hence, I infer that their quick eye detects
and takes alarm at the small but sudden motion
of the falling hammer. They remain long, and swim
far, under water; coming up where quite unlooked
for. Some that I have had an opportunity of ob-
serving when swimming a little beneath the surface,
shot along with expanded wings, almost with the
celerity of a fish. They do not always dive, how-
ever, when frightened; sometimes they sink deeper
than before, and swim away almost submerged,
When not alarmed, they call and answer each other,
with a loud clang, like the note of a trumpet.

One of these birds which I had wounded slightly,

Irides bright yellow ; feet and beak black. Upper parts smoky black ;
wing-quills white ; outer webs and tips of the first four or five dusky.
Chin black ; throat and cheeks blackish ashy; breast blackish ; belly
feathers tipped with white, giving a mottled appearance. Whole plumage
satiny. Intestine 16 inches ; two ceca % inch long,

442 ANSERES.—COLYMBIDZ.

on being put into a large washing-bowl half filled
with water, swam awhile; but repeatedly, when
alarmed, by striking vigorously with both feet to-
gether, leaped clean over the edge of the basin.
When on the floor, it ran a few steps at a time,
very well, but grotesquely; the body elevated on
the legs almost perpendicularly ; but ever and anon,
as its first impetus slackened, it fell on its breast, and
sometimes rolled over. After a while, however, be-
coming more calm, it walked more easily, still much
raised on the legs; but would suddenly squat down
on the belly, and so remain.

Early in August, I found near the edge of Mount
Edgecumbe pond a nest of this Grebe—a round
heap of pond-weed and rotten leaves, flattened at
the top, and slightly hollowed; it was about fifteen
inches wide, and six or eight thick. The top was
damp, but not wet, and very warm from exposure
to the sun’s rays. We drew it on shore, for it was
entangled among the branches of a fallen tree, but
not attached to them, and presently found on the
matted weed, just below the surface in the place
where we had dragged it, a large white egg, exces-
sively begrimed with dirt, doubtless from lying on
the decaying leaves. On being cleansed, I found it
covered with a chalky coat, easily scratched off.

A few weeks after, I again visited this pond. On
approaching before sun-rise, (for I had travelled by
the brilliant starlight of the tropical heavens,) I saw
a Grebe sitting on a new nest, in the same spot as I
had found the former one: this nest was composed
of similar materials, and contained four eggs. Early

-WHITE-WINGED GREBE. 443

in December we found another nest, with the young
just peeping from the egg. It is probable, there-
fore, that several broods are reared in a season.

One of my lads, who has lived close by this pond,
affirms that the birds move the nest about to dif-
ferent parts of the pond; and that they use the
same till it will no longer hold together, and then
construct a new one. He also states that they often
fight during the night; and that the conquered ones
resort to a smaller pond, where they may be easily
captured by hand: for, by chasing them to and fro,
the small pond being shallow, they at length become
wearied, and will dive no more, but make for the
shore, and are caught before they can fly.

The flesh is dark and oily. The gizzards of all
that I obtained were filled with a finely comminuted
substance, rather dry, of an unctuous appearance,
and mingled with short silky filaments. A close
examination with a lens failed to determine its na-
ture; but I believe it to have been principally vege-
table.

Tae author, in bringing toa close these notices
of * The Birds of Jamaica,” craves the indulgence
of his readers to make an observation on the use of
such studies. The Christian is taught, whatsoever
he does, to do all “to the glory of God;” and
as “ whoso offereth praise glorifieth” Him, the con-
stant object of our investigations should be the

444. ANSERES,—COLYMBID&.

bringing out to view fresh proofs of His unspeakable
wisdom, skill, power, forethought, care, and love,
in the creation, preservation, and sustentation of His
creatures. The gratification of scientific curiosity
is worse than idle, if it leads not to this: whatever
exactness of knowledge we may acquire, or whatever
scientific skilfulness we may attain, is, without this
result, ‘ but shaping letters aright without learning
to know their signification and value.” ‘‘ It is God
appearing in the creatures, that is the life, and
beauty, and use, and excellency of all the creatures ;
—without Him they are but carcases, deformed,
useless, vain, insignificant, and very nothings.”*

* Baxter's “ Walking with God,” Chi. § 9.

~—

INDEX.

Auk, 437.
Avocet, 389.
Banana bird, 226.
Bittern, American, 346.
green, 340.
yellow, 343.
Blackbird, Savanna, 282.
Bluewing, lunate, 401.
plain, 402.
Booby, black and white, 418.
drab, 418.
dusky, 417.
white, 418.
Bulfinch, black, 254.
pied, 259.
Butter-bird, 229.
Buzzard, red-tailed, 11.
Canary, golden, 245.
Cashew-bird, 231.
Cedar-bird, 197.
Clucking-hen, 355.
Coot, 384.
Crab-catcher, 340.
Crake, minute, 372.
striated, 371.
red-eyed, 375.
Creeper, black and white, 134.
black and yellow, 84.
spotted, 87.
Crow, jabbering, 209.
Cuckoo, black-eared, 281.
yellow-billed, 279.

Curlew, black, 348.
white, 348.

Diver, 440.

Duck, dusky, 408.
gadwall, 408.
Ilathera, 408.
Muscovy, 408.
pintail, 408.
pochard, 408.
scaup, 408.
shoveler, 408.
squat, 404.
summer, 408.
surf, 408.
tufted, 408.
whistling, 395.
white-eyed, 408.

Egg-bird, 431, 433.

Finch, yellow-back, 247.

Flamingo, 390.

Flat-bill, buff-winged, 166.
black-billed, 167.
Fly-catcher, redstart, 164.
white-eyed, 192.

red-eyed, 194.

Frigate, 422.

Gallinule, Martinico, 377.
scarlet-fronted, 38i.

Gambet, yellow-shanks, 351.
bar-flanked, 352.

Gaulin, black-legged, 336. ~
blue, 337.

446

Gaulin, common, 334.
red-necked, 338.
Glass-eye, 142.
Goose, Canada, 408.
snow, 408.
Gowrie, ringed, 51.
Grass-quit, bay-sided, 253.
black-faced, 252.
yellow-faced, 249.
Grebe, black-throated, 428.
white-winged, 440,
Grosbeak, rosy, 259.
Guinea-fowl, 325.
Gull, laughing, 437.
Hawk, chicken, 11.
duck, 16.
eagle, 19.
fish, 19.
pigeon, 17.
Heron, great, 346.
night, 344.
white, 346.
Hopping-dick, 136.

Humming-bird, long-tailed, 97.

mango, 88.
vervain, 127.
Hunter, 277.
This, scarlet, 348.
Jay, black-headed, 208.
John-to-whit, 194.
Judy, 187.
Kickup, Bessy, 151.
land, 152.
Kingfisher, belted, 81.
Kite, fork-tailed, 19.
Knit, 354.
Lapwing, 304.
Loggerhead, 177, 186.
Macaw, blue and yellow, 261.
green, 261.

INDEX.

Macaw, red and blue, 261.
yellow-headed, 260.

Mallard, 408.
green-backed, 399.

Mangrove-hen, 364.

Man-of-war bird, 422.

May-bird, 279.

Mocking-bird, 144,

Night-hawk, 33.

Nightingale, 144,

Noddy, 434.

Orange-bird, 231.

Ortolan, 229.

Owl, eared, 19.
little brown, 22.
screech, 23,

Parroquet, common, 263.
mountain, 270.

Parrot, black-billed, 266.
yellow-billed, 269.

Partridge, blue, 324.
mountain, 320.
Spanish, 324.

Pea-dove, 307.

Pelican, 409,

Petchary, common, 177.
foolish, 168.
grey, 169.
red, 186.

Petrel, 437.

Pigeon, bald-pate, 299.
blue, 296.
ground-dove, 311.
mountain witch, 316.
partridge, 320.
peadove, 307.
ring-tail, 29].
whitebelly, 313.
whitewing, 304,

Piramidig, 33.

Plover, golden, 333.
kildeer, 330.
ring, 333.
short-billed, 330.
squatting, 333.
turnstone, 333.

Potoo, common, 41.
white-headed, 49.

Quail, 328.

Quit, banana, 84.
blue, 238.
grass, 249.
orange, 236.

Quok, 344.

Rail, Carolina, 371.
red, 369.

Rainbird, 273, 277.

Sanderling, 354.

Sandpiper, bar-tail, 350.
little, 348.
knit, 354,
spotted, 349.

Shrike, black, 187.

Snipe, 353.

Solitaire, 198.

Sparrow, cotton-tree, 254.

Spoonbill, rosy, 346.
Stilt, rosy, 386.
Sultana, 377.
Swallow, blue, 69.
cave, 64.
golden, 68.
Swift, black, 63.
palm, 58.
ringed, 51.

INDEX.

Tanager, scarlet, 235.
red-throat, 236.

Teal, greenwing, 408.

Tern, black, 437.
crested, 431.
Sandwich, 434.
silver, 437.
noddy, 434.

Thrush, gold-crowned, 152.

water, 151.
wood, 144.
Tichicro, 242.
Tinkling, 217.
Tody, 72.
Tropic-bird, 430.
Turkey, 329.
Vulture, John-crow, l.
Warbler, arrowhead, 163.
aurora, 158.
black-throat, 160.

blue yellow-back, 154.

olive, 162.
red-back, 159.
red-poll, 157.
yellow-rump, 155.
yellow-throat, 156.
Water-partridge, 369.
Wigeon, 408.
Willet, 354.
Woodcock, 354.

Woodpecker, radiolated, 271.

yellow-bellied, 270.
Worm-eater, 150.
Yellow-throat, 148.

FINIS.

447

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