Sir W. Jardine on the Ornithology of the Island of Tobago. 377 



myself of their utility to the sugar-cane planter. I know some 

 estates in this island where several people are employed labour- 

 ing to destroy this destructive little creature (* the crab'), which 

 although used in various ways for the table, yet when they annoy 

 the sugar-cane to such a degree as to call for human aid to ex- 

 tirpate them, and where one man does well if he succeeds in 

 killing twenty or thirty, — a number be it remembered that one 

 of these birds will devour in the same time, — it will be sufficient 

 to say that this bird is invaluable to the sugar-cane planter in 

 low marshy lands, and it is only in such places that this bird is 

 to be found or wanted. Its usefulness is a fine subject for 

 moralising, and one which poor Wilson would have used to ad- 

 vantage." 



Nycticorax gardenii, Gmel. n. s. 

 Mycteria Americana, Linn. s. 



A single specimen obtained ; a straggler. 



Fuligula marila, Linn. (Saup Duck.) n. 



" Very rare in the island." This specimen is of a smaller size 

 with the markings on the back larger, and possesses all those 

 marks which are considered to separate the European and Ame- 

 rican birds. 



Querquedula carolinensis, Jard. $ Selby. (Green-winged 



Teal.) n. s. 



* Arrives in October and November, and departs in March or 

 April." A single specimen in immature plumage was received, 

 but we have little doubt of its being the bird of North America. 



Podiceps carolinensis, Gmel. (Grebe.) n. 

 Sula fusca, Gmel. (Booby.) n. s. 



u Lay at least twice in the season, sometimes on the ground, 

 but generally on a low shrub or thorny tree on a small island to 

 the eastward of Tobago called • St. Giles/ The island I should 

 judge to be about eight acres in extent ; I visited it in June, when 

 it presented a disgusting appearance ; the fishy smell combined 

 with the mass of filth in some places to the depth of several feet, 

 although rendered dry by the parching and insufferable heat 

 which is always about it, makes it almost suffocating. Judging 

 from appearance, I should think that every square yard contained 

 a nest and a bird as large as the mother, and the sky is literally 

 darkened above by the old boobys and man-o'-war-birds (Fre- 

 gata). The island abounds with the prickly pear and the Cactus 

 erectus, and it becomes dangerous to walk among them at times, 

 from the snapping of the young birds at the eyes. The negroes 

 on some of the adjacent estates bring them home in boat-loads, 

 and the young are said to be excellent food." 



Ann. $ Mag. N. Hist. Vol.xx. 27 



