.1922.] TRINIDAD BIRDS. 139 



The flight is rather heavy with rapid flapping of the wings. 



The nest is on the ground in a tuft of grass or at the base of a 

 small bush. 



According to Mr. Shannon they were nesting on pastures at 

 Harmony Hall in the beginning of December 1918, and Vivian Todd 

 recorded to me finding a nest at the Usme Ste. Madeleme on August 1 , 

 1919 with two eggs m it. 



On August 25, 1919 I saw a pair on the Harmony Hall pasture 

 the hen carrying a caterpillar obviously for the purpose of feeding 

 young, but I was unable to locate the nest. 



According to Guppy {Bull. Dept. Agr. XHI 1914 153) this 

 bird is injurious to rice fields and " seldom, if ever, eats insects. 

 However, the only two stomachs that I have examined contain, as 

 shown below, only insect remains. 



(1) Shot at Craignish June 18, 1918 contained a grasshopper, 

 several beetles, a caterpillar and a froghopper. 



(2) Shot at Harmony Hall June 2, 1919 contained remains of 

 several small beetles, including two weevils, and about ten heads of 

 a small species of Heteroptera. 



33- Quisqualis lugubris. Swains. The Boat-Tail. 

 Quisqualis barita. Leotaud No. 144. 



This is one of the most abundant and conspicuous of Trinidad 

 birds being found both in the towns and in the country. It is 

 particularly frequent in Port-of-Spain where, in company with the 

 tick bird (Crotophaga ani) it may be seen following the cattle on 

 the savannah. 



It gets its name from the remarkable position which the tail 

 feathers take up during flight and particularly when alighting, the 

 feathers on each side being progressively raised and sloping from 

 the middle so that the tail forms a deep V-shaped groove somewhat 

 recalling a boat. 



There is a prevalent idea in Trinidad that the boat-tail has been 

 recently introduced from Barbados. While this may be true of a 

 few specimens, there is no evidence that it is not an old established 

 species. It is recorded as common by Leotaud in 1860 and he makes 

 no reference to any introduction. 



It nests in tall trees, usually well away from the ground and 

 appears to like the wild pines (Bromeliads) that grow commonly as 

 epiphytes in these trees. 



(1) A nest was found just completed but without eggs on June 

 12,1918 in a Bromeliad in a tree at Williamsville about fifteen feet 

 from the ground. 



