'fdSfSYZ Library of the University of Toronto y THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. A SERIES OF CONVERSATIONS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF LOWER CANADA. BY PHILIP HENRY GOSSE, COR. MEM. OF THE NAT. HIST. SOC. OF MONTREAL, AND OF THE LIT. AND HIST. SOC. OF QUEBEC. This volume is the result of a residence of several years in Lower Canada, and contains brief and popular notices of subjects in the different departments of Natural His- tory, not systematically arranged, but as observed by the Author when wandering in the fields and woods. Some of the more prominent phenomena of natural phi- losophy j the habits of quadrupeds, birds, and insects ; the general appearance, time of flowering, &c. of plants, are briefly described in the form of dialogue, interspersed with characteristic anecdotes ; embracing the course of the seasons throughout the year, and presenting to the reader a picture of the face of nature in that interesting country. “ Were we to attempt to make extracts to show the beauties of this fascinating work, we should reprint the whole. We have rarely met with information so delightfully conveyed, and in so small a compass. The illustrations are worthy of the letter-press, and this is giving them no small praise. The ‘ Canadian Naturalist ’ will be as popular as White’s Natural History of Selborne.” — Church of England Quarterly Review. “ The volume, however, has the great merit of reality ; its materials are drawn direct from nature ; there is also about many parts of it a pe- culiar charm, which reminds one of White’s Selborne. The pages are embellished by pictures of trees, animals, insects, flowers, &c., that to the ordinary merit of beauty of execution join the rare quality of dis- tinctly-expressed character.” — Spectator. “ We have seldom seen a work so deeply imbued with the same acute- ness and accuracy of observation, and healthful tone of feeling, as the one now before us. It is replete with information, interesting not merely to the naturalist, but often to the agriculturist, and the political economist.” — Christian Remembrancer. Forty-four Illustrations of the most remarkable animal and vegetable productions are embodied in the text. Post 8vo, 125. PUBLISHED DURING THE PAST TWELVE MONTHS. Ansted’s (Professor) Ancient World, 149 Illustrations. Post 8vo. 12s. Hewitson (W. C.), Coloured Illustrations of the Eggs of British Birds, with description. 2 vols. 8vo, 4 1. 10s. Jenyns (Rev. Leonard, M.A.), Observations in Natural History, with a Calendar of Periodic Phenomena. Post 8vo, 10s. 6 in spring, they,”-* 44 voltigunt,’’' 44 and,” read Nightjars. „ pceciloina. ,, our. / The migrant ” <• visitors. „ voltigent. „ I. THE BIRDS OF JAMAICA. Order.— ACCIPITRES. (Birds of prey.) Fam. — VTJLTURIDiE. (The Vultures.) JOHN-CROW VULTURE * ( Turkey-buzzard.— W ilson.) Cathartes aura. Vultur aura , Linn. Cathartes aura , Illiger. — Aud. pi. 151. The 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 wrell as in the country, the Aura is not common to the West Indies. It exists in Cuba and * Length 25-J inches, expanse 66, tail 9^, wing from flexure 20^-, rictus 2-j^, tarsus 3, middle toe 2T^, claw T^. B 2 ACCIPITRES. VULTURIDiE. 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. * * * * I 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 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 4 ACCIPITRES. VULTURIDiE. where an animal had been slaughtered, and lodged in the street, A Vulture heating 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 wTas 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. (i 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 J0HN-CR0W 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 in a 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. VULTURIDiE. “ 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, >Tf 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. VULTURIDiE. 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. * * * “ 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 scurf; the red hue is most apparent at the upper part of the tarsus ; the claws are homy 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 10 ACCIPITRES. VULTURIDiE. the longest primaries were wholly, others partially, white ; hut 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. 11 Fam. — FALCONIDiE. ( The Falcons.) RED-TAILED BUZZARD.* Cldcken Hawk. Buteo borealis. Falco borealis, Linn. — And. pi. 51. Falco Jamaicensis , Gmel. Buteo borealis , Bechst. 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, hut 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, “ piny ee.” 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 and lizards. Its courage is not proportioned to its size or arms. Not long ago, near Bluefields, two * Length 20 inches, expanse 44-i, tail 7-g, flexure 13^, rictus 1-fL, tarsus 3|, middle toe l£, claw 1. 12 ACCIP1TRES. — FALCONIM. 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 observations 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 he 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 he “ 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. — FALCONIDiE. 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 even 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. xxxii. 12. — See also Exod. xix. 4.) 16 ACCIPITRES. FALCONIDiE. GREAT-FOOTED HAWK.* Duck-Hawk. Falco anatum. Falco Peregrinus , Wilson. — Aud. pi. 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 14£, rictusl tarsus 2-^y, middle toe l-$y, claw 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. — Wils. Falco temerarius , Aud. pi. 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^, flexure 7-^, rictus ■&, tar- sus 1^, middle toe 1, claw ■£, closed wings 1-| inch short of the tip of the tail. 18 ACCIPITRES. FALCONIDiE. large as itself. It hovers about the savannas, fre- quently flying very near the grass or hushes, hut 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, hut peeped down as if its curiosity were excited. The smaller pigeons form the principal prey of this species ; hut sometimes it appears to he 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 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 Falconidae already mentioned, the following species have occurred in Jamaica to the observation of Mr. Hill : — The Eagle-hawk (Morphnus urubitinga. — Cuv.) The Fish Hawk (. Pandion Carolinensis. — Bon.) The Fork-tailed Kite (Nauclerus furcatus. — Vig.) Fam. — STRIGrlDiE. {The Owls.) DUSKY EARED-OWL.* Ephialtes grammicus. — mihi. 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^-, flexure 9^, rictus 1^, tarsus 2, middle toe 1-J^, claw -j^. Irides hazel ; pupils very large, blue ; beak pale blue-grey ; feet dull lead colour ; claws homy 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. STRIGIDiE. 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 umber . 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 a cat. 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 coeca, distant 2 inches from the cloaca, 2£ 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 31st 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 Andes, 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 ACCIPITRES. — STRIGIDiE. 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, wTith “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 SCREECH OWL. 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 * Strix pratincola. Striae flammea, Wilson. Striae •pratincola , Bonap. Strix Americana , Aud. pi. 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, hep, hep , 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 5f, flexure 13^, rictus 2, tarsus 3-* , middle toe 1-|, claw 1. 24 ACCIPITRES. STRIGIM. 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, hut 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, hut 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 he the voice of the White Owl, and presently this was con- firmed by the hep, hep, 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 hep, hep, by a loud scream ; then hep, hep 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, 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. 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 26 ACCIPITRES. STRIGIDiE. 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. 27 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 28 ACCIP1TRES. 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 ACCIP1TRES. STRIGID^E, 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, when its belly was full, it substituted a quivering whistle, in a very high key, emitted, I believe, through the nostrils. The faeces 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, SCREECH OWL. SI 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 eggs 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. STRIGIDyE. 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 Jeep, hep; 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. 38 Order. — PASSERES. (Perchers.) Fam. — CAPRIMULGIDiE. — {The Falcons .) NIGHT-HAWK* ( Piramidig . — Musquito-hawk.) Chordeiles Virginianus. Caprimulgus Americanus, Wils. — Aud.pl. 147. Caprimulgus Popetue , Vieill. Chordeiles Virginianus , Bon. These 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, piramidig , or gV 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 inches, expanse 20, tail 4, flexure 7^, rictus tarsus middle toe 34 PASSERES. CAPRIMULGIDiE. 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, is 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, hymen optera, 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 ; hut 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. — CAPRIMULGIDiE. 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. Ecrly 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 to me. 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. 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, hut 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. CAPRIMULGID.E. 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 olearing 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. CAPRIMULGIDiE. 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 he 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 T8^, of a very regular oval, polished, and delicately and minutely marbled with white, pale blue grey, and faint olive. 41 POTOO* Nyctibius Jamaicensis. Caprimulgus Jamaicensis , Gmel. Nyctibius Jamaicensis , Vieill. Nyctibius pectoralis, Gould, Ic. Av. Both 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 33^, tail 7% flexure 11 rictus 2-J, breadth of beak at base measured within 2^-, tarsus middle toe 1^-. 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 Sphingidae ; 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 10-| inches; two caeca li in. long, di- lated at the ends. 42 PASSERES. — CAPRIMULGIDiE. 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 Phan&us . 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 lamellicorns were conspicuous, probably Phanceus . 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. u PASSERES. — CAPRIMULGIDiE. 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 fths 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 . P0T00, 45 As night approached I expected that it would become animated; hut 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, hut 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 - brionidce) 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 Tinea 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. CAPRIMULGID^E. 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 I 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 Caprimulgida 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 ! Binding 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. I may mention that the sclerotic ring of the eye consists of distinct plates (see Pen. Cyc. xvi. 225s) 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 usneoides ). It was found on the ground on a spot whence the Potoo had just risen : it is in the pos- 48 PASSERES. CAPRIMULGIDiE. 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. t( 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 N. Pectoralis is not specifically distinct from ours. WHITE-HEADED POTOO.* Nyctibius pallidus. — mihi. The description below I have quoted (somewhat abridged) from Robinson’s MSS., who has given * “ Length 1 1 inches, expanse 22, rictus If, beak from feathers to tip f, flexure 6, tail 3|. “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 tibiae [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. CAPRIMULGIDA2. an elaborately coloured figure of the species in his drawings. I have never met with it, hut 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 § of an inch. The length of that part which ought to be called the leg, [tibia ?] is inch, and the bone of the thigh 1 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 o^ 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 oz. 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 ivow, often in the watches of the night.” Perhaps the present species may be “ the small wood Owle” of Sloane, ii. 29 6. Pam. — HIRUNDINIDJE. — (The Swallows.) RINGED GOWRIE * Acanthylis collaris ? ? 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 8-| inches, expanse 20, wings reaching 2i beyond the tail, tail 3, rictus ■§, beak from feathered part to tip §, tarsus f, middle toe ■£, claw f, inner toe equal to the middle one. “ Irides deep hazel [“ blacker than the pupil,” Mr. Johnston ;] beak black, polished, a little hooked ; nostrils large, oval: eyes large, deep 52 PASSERES. — HIRUNDINIM. long ; and as tlie 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 hack 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, I 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 Eissirostres. 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 54 PASSERES. HIRUNDINIDAS. 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 in 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.