84 TORTUGA. 



"Tlie insectivorous tribes are the true representatives of 

 our ornithology. There are so many which feed on insects 

 and their hirvas, that it may be asked with much reason, 

 What would become of our vegetation, of ourselves, should 

 these insect destroyers disappear ? Everywhere may be seen" 

 (M. L. speaks, I presume, of five-and-twenty years ago; my 

 experience would make me substitute for his words, " Hardly 

 anywhere can be seen,") " one of these insectivora in pursuit 

 or seizure of its prey, either on the wing or on the trunks of 

 trees ; in the coverts of thickets, or in the calices of flowers. 

 Whenever called to witness one of those frequent migrations 

 from one point to another, so often practised by ants, not 

 only can the Dendrocolaptes (connected with our Creepers) 

 be seen following the moving trail, and preying on the ants 

 and the eggs themselves, but even the black Tanager aban- 

 dons his usual fruits for this more tempting delicacy. Our 

 frugivorous and baccivorous genera are also pretty numerous, 

 and most of them are so fond of insect food that they unite, 

 as occasion offers, with the insectivorous tribes." 



So it was once. Xow a traveller, accustomed to the swarms 

 of birds which, not counting the game, inhabit an average 

 English cover, would be surprised and pained by the scarcity 

 of birds in the forests of this island. 



We rode down toward the northern lowland, along a broad 

 new road of last year's making, terraced, with great labour, 



