326 THE STORY OF A BIRD LOVER 



hill. His work was carried on in the most 

 remote places, where he procured many gorgeous 

 and wonderful birds. Besides the several kinds 

 of parrots, the commoner pigeons and hawks, 

 King brought " the old man bird," a very giant 

 of cuckoos, the well-named " mountain-witch," 

 most beautiful and rare of quail-doves, and the 

 little solitaire, whose voice rivals in quality that 

 of the most famous song-birds. King hunted, 

 too, for the mysterious " blue mountain-duck," 

 " the diabolitin," going to the summit of the 

 towering peak in his search. His errand proved 

 futile. Alas ! for this petrel. Breeding in bur- 

 rows it was an easy victim for the rapacious 

 mongoose. A bird peculiar to Jamaica, and 

 formerly abundant, it is now, so far as known, 

 extinct. 



The patois of the servants I found utterly un- 

 intelligible. As a housewife Mrs. Scott had to 

 familiarize herself with the cockney English, the 

 abbreviated sentences, the confusion of pronouns, 

 and the Spanish idioms. Sullivan, entering, would 

 announce, "Elli com, mum," which meant Alec (the 

 house-boy) had come, or " boil water, mum," " mek 

 bread, mum." I have boiled the water, I have 

 made the bread. If anything is broken it is " all 

 mush up." " Not too bad," " not too far " are 

 answers to a question as to an injury or a dis- 

 tance. 



