on the Birds of St. Croix. 261 



lumiu^es ;' and we have accordingly considered the two names 

 as equivalents. This bird is very local in St. Croix, only fre- 

 quenting, as far as we know, the large Lagoon on the south 

 side of the island, before mentioned; but it is there pretty 

 numerous, and breeds. 



" This species is very noisy, especially in the evening ; and 

 when a gun is fired in their haunts, they may be heard on every 

 side. They are very shy, and not easily shot, as, on approach- 

 ing, they are seen running across the shallow water or hopping 

 from root to root of the Mangroves, looking like so many rats, 

 to take refuge among the thickest of the bushes, not even showing 

 themselves again as long as danger is apparent. The only adult 

 specimen I obtained was shot by Mr. O. Salvin, July 21st, 1858, 

 when I visited the lagoon with him. As we walked up to the spot, 

 I saw two of these birds on a muddy flat some way from the water ; 

 but before I could put the caps on my gun, they both disappeared 

 in the bushes, leaving behind them, however, a young one which 

 could not have been long hatched. This I immediately caught ; 

 and remaining perfectly still for ten minutes or so, one of the old 

 birds reappeared, to fall a victim to its maternal anxiety. The iris 

 of this example was reddish hazel ; the upper part of the upper 

 mandible and tip of the lower brown, the base of both reddish ; 

 the legs liver-colour, redder on the front of the tibiae, the claws 

 umber. Its stomach contained a portion of a crab, and a few 

 shells. The young bird was completely clothed in black down 

 with a greenish gloss ; the bill with the under mandible and 

 distal half of the upper, as well as an elongated patch over each 

 nostril, bright scarlet; the rest livid black." — E. N. 



t 46. Green Heron. Butorides virescens, Bp. Ardea vi- 

 rescens, L. ; Wils. pi. 61. fig. 1; Aud. pi. 333. Herodias vi- 

 rescens, Bp. [olim). '^' Green Gaulin." 



This pretty little Heron is very common, and, as before men- 

 tioned, is one of the birds especially tyrannized over by the 

 Chicheree {Tyrannus dominicensis, Bp.). Of a mild and inoffen- 

 sive disposition, it merely protests against the system of bullying 

 to which it is subjected, by a few loud and hoarse croaks, and, 

 after evadmg one or two of its enemy's stoops, drops helplessly 

 into the nearest covert, which is often so dense that one wonders 



VOL. I. T 



