NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA, 153 



that he once found a nest of this Hawk, on a large dead tree in Dawkin's Salt 

 Pond, near Port Henderson. 



7. Nauclerus furcatus. I have never met with a specimen of this Hawk, 

 bat Mr. Hill has. It is a rare visitor. 



5. Morphnuus crubutinga. This is also a rare visitor. I saw a large 

 bird answering the description at Heartsease Penn, where I resided in 1835. 

 It came to a lofty fustic tree daily, about three o'clock in the afternoon, for 

 some three weeks, and then disappeared. I made several attempts to shoot 

 it, but it was too wary. 



In 1858 I obtained near Spanish Town a red shouldered Hawk, which I also 

 sent to Dublin, at the time believing it to be an immature specimen of Buteo 

 borealis, but I am now inclined to think it was another species. 



STRIGID^E. 



9. Strix pratincola. The Barn Owl is very common in all .parts of the 

 island. It breeds in caves, hollow trees, and old buildings. It is often found 

 beneath the roofs and ceilings of inhabited houses and plantation buildings, 

 where it finds a way of ingress. Eggs and young birds were often taken from 

 the interior of the belfry turret of the Spanish Town Cathedral Church, until 

 the loops by which they entered were blocked up. This Owl makes no nest, 

 but deposits 4 or 5 eggs on any trifling collection of debris or rough materials 

 found on the spot. The eggs are generally in different stages of incubation. 

 They are chalky white, and measure If by 1 inches, some a little more or 

 less. 



8. Ephialtes grammicus. Though not uncommon, and his cry of whoo- 

 whoo-hoo, is often heard in some districts, yet from the obscure color, and 

 stealthy, noiseless flight at dusk, or at night, the Eared Owl escapes observa- 

 tion. The only specimens I have obtained during many years were two ; one 

 was knocked down at Government Penn, in broad day, from an old blooming 

 cherry tree, clothed with a mass of trailers of convolvuli ; the other was shot 

 one evening at Great Salt Pond Penn, in the same neighborhood. On obtain- 

 ing the first specimen, I examined the tree and found two young, half-fledged 

 birds on a matting of leaves, in a decayed hollow at the top of the tree. I 

 have been informed that eggs and young birds have been taken from old pi- 

 geon cotes at Great Salt Pond and Hoghole Penn's, bat I have never seen the 

 eggs, unless the two next referred to belong to it. I have lately a fine speci- 

 men of a female from the Saint Catherine's Hills. 



225. My sons found this year (1862), at Iteid's Penn, in the vicinity of 

 Great Salt Pond, two eggs, in a deep cup, roughly constructed of dried sticks 

 and lined with twigs, grass and leaves, in the topmost branch, and concealed by 

 the thick foliage of a tall Genep tree (Mellicocea bijuga). I know of no bird 

 in that district to which these eggs can be assigned, unless they belong to 

 Piaya pluvialis, or to Ephialtes grammicus, as they are much too large for the 

 small brown owl ; and the Patoo, as I am infomed, lays a very different egg 

 on the ground. The eggs referred to are chalky white, and vary in size ; one 

 is li by 1 inch, the other If by a trifle more than 1 inch. 



195. In 1857 I obtained two specimens of a small brown owl, from Great 

 Salt Pond Penn, but know nothing of the character or habits of the species. 

 It is probable the small wood owl of Sloane. It is the owl referred to by Mr. 

 Hill, in " Notes of the Year," and quoted by Mr. Gosse, page 22. 



SCANSORES-CUCULID^E. 

 89. Crotophaga Ani. The Savanna blackbird is one of the common inci- 



* This may be a Tinn uncu lus, or a small Accipiter ; perhaps frinjilloides : or, more unlikely 

 fuscus. (B.) 



1863.] 12 



