Sir W. Jardine on the Habits of Crotophaga. 167 



five eggs were laid, from which two young birds were pro- 

 duced*. From what I have observed on those two instances 

 I am inclined to believe that the report of their uniting in the 

 construction of the nest and their hatching in concert is erro- 

 neous, but I shall endeavour ere long to procure more in- 

 formation when I shall again address you." 



On the 22 nd of March last Mr. Kirk again wrote to me, af- 

 ter having still further attended to some of the disputed points 

 of the habits of Crotophaga. " In some of my former letters 

 I mentioned that I should advance nothing on hearsay as au- 

 thentic, and to that I have steadily adhered. Since my ac- 

 count of the Crotophaga? s manner of breeding, as reported in 

 my last, I have had an opportunity of further corroboration 

 by the examination of another nest with seven eggs, taken 

 from a thicket of shrubs and vines about six feet from the 

 ground. The nest, as I have already observed, is of such 

 rude manufacture, that I could not forward it without enclo- 

 sure in a parcel to prevent the falling asunder ; by an exami- 

 nation of it however I am convinced that you would require 

 no further evidence to bring you to the conviction that the 

 Crotophaga ' of Tobago builds on shrubs, nay even on a tree 

 at times, and never on the ground." In regard to the na- 

 ture of its food and manner of seizing it, Mr. Kirk also re- 

 marks, " I have watched the bird eagerly for the last six 

 months, I may say every day, and although I have been told 

 by some of my neighbours, on whose integrity I can depend, 

 that they have seen them picking ticks from the legs and belly 

 of our oxen in the pasture, it has never yet fallen to my lot to 

 witness it, nor did 1 ever find one tick in their stomach. I 

 have however seen one lately upon a sheep^s back while lying 

 in the pasture, but I have seen the magpie of Europe in the 

 same position. I do not attempt to deny the probability of 

 their eating ticks, but I maintain that grasshoppers form their 

 chief food, and that these are principally obtained by at- 

 tendance upon the stock while browsing through the foliage. 

 They are also in dry weather close attendants about small ri- 

 vulets, principally in the morning and evening, where they 



* The eggs are white or greenish white ; the longitudinal diameter from 

 If inch to 14 inch and a half. 



