Mr. E. C. Taylor on the Birds of the West Indies. 89 



hours we were quite beyond the last settlement, and having left 

 behind us the cacao-plantations and all signs of cultivation began 

 a steep ascent through the virgin forest. As we ascends higher 

 the forest got more and more damp, and the ci'oaking note of 

 the "Campanero" [Chasmorhj/nchus niveus) began to be heard. 

 This and a pair of Curassows [Crax alector) were the only birds 

 I saw that were not already familiar to me. In fact, one seldom 

 does see many birds in the depths of the forest, as the excessive 

 density of the foliage prevents anything being seen. I shot, 

 however, a snake, 7 feet long, of the species called in Trinidad 

 " Cribo." We arrived at our destination just before sunset, and 

 slept in the forest in our hammocks, at an altitude of about 2500 

 feet above the level of the sea. I found the night very cold, and 

 at sunrise next morning the thermometer was only 62^^ Fahr. 

 T had heard that near the cinchona-plantation there was a cave 

 inhabited by a colony of wonderful birds, called " Gudcheros " ; so, 

 after inspecting the cinchona-plants, I set out for the Cueva de 

 los Guacheros, as it is called, guided by two native Spanish 

 hunters whom we had brought with us. We followed the 

 downward course of a small mountain-stream for about half a 

 mile, when we came to a steep slope of rock, down which the 

 stream tumbled and disappeared within the arch of a gloomy 

 cavern. In this cavern were numbers of large brown birds 

 about the size of Crows, some flying about and uttering a 

 peculiar harsh loud scream, others sitting on their eggs, many of 

 which we could see lying on ledges in the face of the wall of rock 

 opposite to us, but separated from us by the chasm down which 

 the stream disappeared. The eggs seemed to be white, and 

 about the size of those of a Wood-Pigeon {Columba palumbus). 

 The scene was a striking one. The whole place was so gloomy 

 and overshadowed by trees, that not only did the sun not shine, 

 but it seemed as if it never could have shone there. Were I of 

 an imaginative turn of mind, I might have fancied that I saw 

 before me the entrance to the infernal regions, with the dmes 

 damnees flitting about, screaming in despair ; but as I am not, I 

 first took the precaution of shooting a few of the birds, and then 

 descended into the cavern to pick them up. To my great 

 regret, I found the eggs quite inaccessible both to my efforts and 



