Chapter V: Part 5

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 exceedingly 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. 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 minutiæ as these, for the comfort of His creatures, that this little Humming-bird, while I was carrying it, elevating 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 received the juice of sugar-cane, which I administered 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 minutes put an end to its sufferings and my expectations.

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 resounded with their humming, as if in the neighbourhood 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 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.+—CERTHIADÆ.—(_The Creepers._)

BLACK AND WHITE CREEPER.[27]

_Mniotilta varia._

_Motacilla varia_, +Linn.+
_Sylvia varia_, +Lath.+
_Certhia maculata_, +Wils.+
_Mniotilta varia_, +Vieill.+
_Certhia varia_, Aud. pl. 90.

[27] Length 5 inches, expanse 8¹⁄₂, flexure 2⁸⁄₁₀, tail 2, rictus
⁶⁄₁₀, tarsus ⁸⁄₁₀, middle toe ⁶⁄₁₀.

This 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 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 profusion 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 gradually, 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 winter months: we first saw it on the 26th of September, 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, overseer at Chateau in Clarendon, made me a present 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 somewhat less than two drachms.”

+Fam.+—TURDIDÆ.—(_The Thrushes._)

HOPPING DICK.[28]

_Twopenny Chick._

_Merula leucogenys._

_Turdus leucogenys_, +Gmel.+
_Merula solicitor_, +Hill+.

[28] Length 9¹⁄₂ inches, expanse 14¹⁄₂, flexure 5, tail 3³⁄₄,
rictus 1¹⁄₄, tarsus 1¹⁄₂, middle toe 1¹⁄₁₀. Irides doll 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 _usually_ white; medial line of belly
white: under tail-coverts black, tipped with white. Sexes exactly
alike.

The birds on which the peasantry in any country have conferred homely abbreviations of human names, are, I think, only such as have something lively and entertaining in their manners. Examples 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, 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 Blackbird, 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 uncommon 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 movements. I found that they would seize and devour with eagerness cockroaches, hard beetles, worms, and even small lizards. I gave them a bunch of the ripe, but dry and insipid, berries of a species of _ficus_, 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 willingly 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 December 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 parishes of Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth, I have heard him distinguished only by the homely appellation 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 Bluefields Peaks, though I have sometimes seen him, he is chiefly 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:—“I paid a visit the other day to the Highgate mountains, a district in which our native Ouzel, the Hopping Dick, is exceedingly abundant. On asking 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 anticipated 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 favourite 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 _Tillandsias_, 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 distinctive 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 European 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 refreshing and brilliant It was now not a single one of these birds that I heard singing lonely in a sequestered 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 perpendicular 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 yellow. The egg measures 1⁴⁄₁₀ inch: by ⁹⁄₁₀: 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 between 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 of a low branch of a mango-tree. It was a structure of small sticks, loosely woven, in the centre of which the young birds nestled among dried foliage.”

GLASS-EYE.[29]

_Shine-eye._—_Fish-eye._

_Merula Jamaicensis._

_Turdus Jamaicensis_, +Gm.+—Lath. Ind. Or. i. 328.
_Merula leucophthalma_, +Hill+.

[29] Length 8¹⁄₂ inches, expanse 14, flexure 4⁹⁄₁₀, tail 3¹⁄₄,
rictus 1¹⁄₁₀, tarsus 1¹⁄₂, middle toe 1¹⁄₁₀. 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 cæca ¹⁄₄ inch
long, slender.

This 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; and later in the spring, it appears, the shining fruit of the Sweetwood (_Laurus_) 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 _Laurus_, which is abundant 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 mistaken, 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.)

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

MOCKING BIRD.[30]

“_Nightingale._”

_Mimus polyglottus._

_Turdus polyglottus_, +Linn.+—Aud. pl. 21.
_Mimus polyglottus_, +Boie.+
_Orpheus polyglottus_, +Sw.+

[30] Length 10 inches, expanse 13, flexure 4¹⁄₄, tail 4¹⁄₄, rictus
1, tarsus 1⁴⁄₁₀ middle toe 1. Intestine 8 inches, two minute,
rudimentary cæca.

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 commanded 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 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

“—— 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 proceeding 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.

“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 substituted 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 plantains. It consists of a rude platform of loose twigs, in which are interlaced many shreds of old rags; 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 ¹⁹⁄₂₀ by ⁷⁄₁₀ inch, of a pale bluish-green, dashed with irregular blotches of pale reddish-brown: they are not perfectly regular in form, their oval having more or less tendency to a cylindrical shape, rather abruptly flattened at the ends. When young are in possession, 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 solicitude; 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 feeling 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 increases 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 Moorish origin.

BLACK-CHEEKED YELLOW-THROAT.[31]

_Maryland Yellow-throat._ +Wils.+

_Trichas Marylandica._

_Turdus trichas_, +Linn.+
_Sylvia trichas_, +Lath.+—Aud. pl. 23.
_Trichas Marylandica_, +Sw.+

[31] Length 5 inches, expanse 7, flexure 2⁴⁄₁₀, tail 1⁹⁄₁₀, rictus
⁶⁄₁₀, tarsus ⁹⁄₁₀, middle toe ¹³⁄₂₀.

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 winter visitants in Jamaica, the greater number retiring to the Northern continent to breed and spend the summer. To Wilson’s and Audubon’s descriptions, I refer the reader, as I have scarcely anything 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 _Sylvicolæ_ 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 1st 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 May. The migration of the short-winged birds is probably performed in straggling parties, and extends over a considerable period of time; individuals remaining some time after the greater number have departed.

WORM-EATER.[32]

_Vermivora Pennsylvanica._

_Sylvia vermivora_, +Lath.+
_Dacnis vermivpra_, +Aud.+ pl. 34.
_Vermivora Pennsylvanica_, +Sw.+

[32] Length 5 inches, expanse 8¹⁄₂, flexure 2¹⁄₂, tail 1⁸⁄₁₀,
rictus ⁶⁄₁₀, tarsus ⁸⁄₁₀, middle toe ¹³⁄₂₀.

This 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 lowland; 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. Spiders 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.

WATER THRUSH.[33]

_Bessy Kick-up._—_River-pink._ (Rob. MSS.)

_Seiurus Noveboracensis._

_Motacilla Noveboracensis_, +Gm.+—Aud. pl. 426.
_Turdus aquaticus_, +Wils.+
_Seiurus Noveboracensis_, +Sw.+

[33] Length 5¹⁄₂ inches, expanse 9⁴⁄₁₀, flexure 3, tail 2, rictus
⁷⁄₁₀, tarsus ⁹⁄₁₀, middle toe ¹³⁄₂₀.

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 standing, 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 consider a motion of the tail, _kicking_. The resemblance 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 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_ monotonously. 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?

GOLD-CROWNED THRUSH.[34]

_Land Kick-up._

_Seiurus aurocapillus._

_Turdus aurocapillus_, +Linn.+—Aud. pl. 143.
_Sylvia aurocapilla_, +Bonap.+
_Seiurus aurocapillus_, +Sw.+

[34] Length 6¹⁄₄ inches, expanse 9¹⁄₂, flexure 3, tail 2¹⁄₁₀,
rictus ⁷⁄₁₀, tarsus 1, middle toe ³⁄₄.

The speckled breast, rich fulvous crown, and warm olive back, make this a very pretty bird. His manners are much like those of his cousin Bessy, running along with much wagging of the tail, and chirping _tsip, tsip_, incessantly. He is, however, less aquatic in his predilections. I first observed the species about the middle of September; 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 muscular gizzard, I have occasionally found _various seeds_, gravel, mud-insects, caterpillars, and small turbinate shells. I was one day amused by watching 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 elevation 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. Unlike the preceding, the present species is said to be, even in summer, destitute of song.

BLUE YELLOW-BACK WARBLER.[35]

_Parula Americana._

_Parus Americanus_, +Linn.+
_Sylvia Americana_, +Lath.+—Aud. pl. 15.
_Sylvia pusilla_, +Wils.+
_Parula Americana_, +Bonap.+

[35] Length 4¹⁄₂ inches, expanse 7, flexure 2¹⁄₄, tail 1⁶⁄₁₀,
rictus ⁵⁄₁₀, tarsus ³⁄₄, middle toe ⁴⁄₁₀.

This 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, especially, 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.

YELLOW-RUMP WARBLER.[36]

_Sylvicola coronata._

_Motacilla coronata_, +Linn.+—Aud. pl. 153.
_Sylvicola coronata_, +Sw.+

[36] Length 5³⁄₄ inches, expanse 9²⁄₁₀, flexure 2⁹⁄₁₀, tail 2¹⁄₄,
rictus ⁶⁄₁₀, (nearly), tarsus ¹⁷⁄₂₀, middle toe ¹¹⁄₂₀.

I have 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 called Dawkins’ Saltpond, near Spanish town, many were hopping about the Cashaw trees (_Prosopis juliflora_) 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 some of the Tyrants. As far as I have observed, the manners of this bird are those of a Flycatcher, 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.

YELLOW-THROAT WARBLER.[37]

_Sylvicola pensilis._

_Sylvia pensilis_, +Lath.+—Aud. pl. 85.
_Sylvia flavicollis_, +Wils.+
_Sylvicola pensilis_, +Bonap.+

[37] Length 5¹⁄₄ inches, expanse 8, flexure 2¹⁄₂, tail 1⁹⁄₁₀,
rictus ¹³⁄₂₀ (nearly), tarsus ³⁄₄, middle toe ¹¹⁄₂₀.

Wilson 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.

YELLOW RED-POLL WARBLER.[38]

_Sylvicola æstiva._

_Sylvia æstiva et petechia_, +Lath.+—Aud. pl. 95.
_Sylvia citrinella et petechia_, +Wils.+
_Sylvia Childrenii_ (_young_,) Aud. pl. 35.
_Sylvicola æstiva_, +Sw.+

[38] Length 5¹⁄₄ inches, expanse 8¹⁄₁₀, flexure 2⁶⁄₁₀, tail 2¹⁄₁₀,
rictus ⁶⁄₁₀, tarsus ⁹⁄₁₀, middle toe ¹⁄₂.

Of 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.

AURORA WARBLER.[39]

_Sylvicola eoa._—+Mihi.+

[39] Length 5 inches, expanse 7⁶⁄₁₀, flexure 2⁷⁄₂₀, tail 1⁹⁄₁₀,
rictus ⁶⁄₁₀, (nearly), tarsus ⁹⁄₁₀, middle toe ¹⁄₂. Irides dark
hazel; feet horn-colour; beak pale horn, culmen and tip darker.
Male. Upper parts olive, approaching 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 forehead and on the chin. Wing
quills and coverts blackish with yellowish edges. Tail blackish
olive, with yellow edges; the outermost two feathers on each side,
have the greatest portion of the inner webs pale yellow. 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.

The pair of singularly marked Warblers which I describe below, were shot on the 21st 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 branches of the same trees. At this time, the ovary was scarcely developed, the ova being distinguishable only with a lens. The stomach, in each case, was filled with a black mass of insects.

RED-BACKED WARBLER.[40]

_Prairie Warbler._—+Wils.+

_Sylvicola discolor._

_Sylvia discolor_, +Vieill.+—Aud. pl. 14.
_Sylvia minuta_, +Wils.+

[40] Length 4³⁄₄ inches, expanse 7, flexure 2³⁄₁₀, tail 1⁹⁄₁₀,
rictus ¹¹⁄₂₀, tarsus ³⁄₄, middle toe ⁵⁄₁₀.

It 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. In a second or two it performed exactly the same manœuvres again; and then a third time, 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.[41]

_Sylvicola Canadensis._

_Motacilla Canadensis_, +Linn.+
_Sylvia Canadensis_, +Lath.+—Aud. pl. 155.
_Sylvia sphagnosa_ (_young_), +Bonap.+

[41] Length 5¹⁄₂ inches, expanse 8, flexure 2⁶⁄₁₀, tail 2¹⁄₈,
rictus ¹¹⁄₂₀, tarsus ⁸⁄₁₀, middle toe ⁶⁄₁₀.

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, 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 October, 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 observed 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 pursuing 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 Flycatchers.

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.[42]

_Sylvicola pannosa._—+Mihi.+

[42] Length 5 inches, expanse 7, flexure 2⁴⁄₁₀, tail 1⁹⁄₁₀,
(nearly), rictus ⁵⁄₁₀, tarsus ⁹⁄₁₀, middle toe ⁶⁄₁₀. 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.

The bird described below, a sombre exception to a particularly brilliant family, I cannot refer to any species with which I am familiar; it may, however, 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.

ARROW-HEADED WARBLER.[43]

_Sylvicola pharetra._—+Mihi.+

[43] Length 5⁴⁄₁₀ inches, expanse 8 (nearly), flexure 2¹¹⁄₂₀, tail
2, rictus about ⁶⁄₁₀? tarsus ⁷⁄₁₀, middle toe ⁵⁄₁₀. 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 unwebbed, brownish-grey. Tail-feathers black, with
paler edges, the outmost two or three tipped inwardly with white.
Sides, thighs, and under tail-coverts grey, with indistinct black
centres. Belly greyish white.

This 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 a male. 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 distributed in greater masses, and disposed in broad stripes; in _this_, 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_.

+Fam.+—MUSCICAPADÆ.—(_The Flycatchers._)

REDSTART FLYCATCHER.[44]

_Setophaga ruticilla._

_Musicapa ruticilla_, +Linn.+—Aud. pl. 40.
_Motacilla flavicauda_, (_fem._) +Gmel.+
_Setophaga ruticilla_, +Sw.+

[44] Length of 5³⁄₈ inches, expanse 7¹⁄₂, flexure 2⁶⁄₁₀, tail 2¹⁄₄,
rictus ¹¹⁄₂₀, tarsus ⁸⁄₁₀, middle toe ⁵⁄₁₀.

The 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 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 running, 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 to 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 occasionally 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.

BUFF-WINGED FLAT-BILL.[45]

_Myiobius pallidus._—+Mihi.+

[45] Length 6¹⁄₄ inches, expanse 8¹⁄₂, flexure 2⁸⁄₁₀, tail 2⁵⁄₁₀,
rictus ¹³⁄₂₀, breadth at base ⁷⁄₂₀, tarsus ⁶⁄₁₀, middle toe ⁴⁄₁₀.
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.

There is much resemblance between this species and the _Tyrannula 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, however, 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 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.[46]

_Myiobius tristis._—+Mihi.+

[46] Length 6³⁄₄ inches, expanse 9¹⁄₄, flexure 2⁹⁄₁₀, tail 2³⁄₄,
rictus ¹⁷⁄₂₀, breadth at base ⁴⁄₁₀, tarsus ³⁄₄, middle toe ¹¹⁄₂₀.
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 narrowly 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.

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 œsophagus: the head was downward, which position was of course the most favourable for being swallowed.

When taken in the hand, it erects the crown-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, particularly 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.[47]

_Little Tom-fool._

_Myiobius stolidus._—+Mihi.+

[47] Length 7¹⁄₂ inches, expanse 10¹⁄₂, flexure 3¹⁄₄, tail 3,
rictus 1, tarsus ⁹⁄₁₀, middle toe ¹¹⁄₂₀. 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, mottled;
chin, throat, and fore-breast, greyish white; breast, belly,
vent 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 cæca.