Vol. XIX- 

 1902 



Wells, Birds of the Island of Carriacou. T.A.'L 



then that the fishermen take them in hirge nmiibers and after salting and 

 drying them, they are taken to the different markets in Grenada where 

 they are readily bought and appear to be much relished by certain people. 

 The following account of my discoyery of this bird on Labaye Rock in 

 April, 1SS8, will give a good description of it and its breeding habits. 



About eight years ago numbers of dried birds used to be brought into 

 the market at Grenville for sale ; they w-ere young birds and yery fat. 

 The men who sold them said they were the young of the Diablotin, and 

 were caught in holes, on a small island to the eastward called Mouchoir 

 Qiiarre. I endeavored to procure a live one but without avail, and in fact 

 so many improbable stories were told concerning this bird, that I looked 

 upon the ' Diablotin ' as a myth, and concluded that the dried birds were 

 the young of some species of gull. My interest in the matter has, how- 

 ever, been recently revived. On Easter Monday, 2nd April, 1888, I paid 

 a ^■isit to a small islet called Labaye Rock, about a mile off the Port of 

 Grenville, a place where I had been on many previous occasions. On 

 exploring the Rock, a young bird was discovered in a hole under a stone ; 

 it was covered with down, in fact it seemed like a ball of fat enclosed in 

 down. One of the boatmen pronounced it to be a young Diablotin. 

 This caused me to make a thorough search, with the happv result that I 

 found an adult bird with a young one in one hole, and a full-grown 

 female and one egg in another. The birds on being brought out into the 

 light appeared to be quite foolish, and beyond a feeble attempt to bite 

 seemed to make no effort to escape. I kept them alive for some days ; 

 they would take no food during the day, remaining perfectly quiet, but at 

 night they fed on scraps of fish, and at intervals uttered a peculiar cry 

 resembling a cat-howl. They evidently lay but one ^^%i as only one 

 young was found in each nest, and the g^% which I got was highly 

 incubated ; it is of a dull white color and measures 2.00 X i-S?- 



Col. Feilden discovered this bird breeding in Barbados about the same 

 time, and Dr. Bryant's account of its breeding in the Bahamas, including 

 size of egg, agrees closely with my account of the same. 



9. Oceanites oceanicus (Kukl). Mother Carey's Chicken. — This 

 bird, which never appears to rest at all, is sometimes seen following in 

 the wake of a sloop, especially if the winds are higli, and a stormy sea 

 running; it skims the tops of the waves, then sails doAvn the hollow to 

 mount the ne.xt, being quite at home 'on the ocean wave.' 



Its breeding habits have not been determined owing to its rarity, and 

 the fact of its not being seen to roost anywhere. 



ID. Phaethonaethereus /,/««. Tropic Bird ; PAiLLE-Ex-qLEUE ; Boat- 

 swain. — This is a bold, strong bird, and it takes long flights, being met 

 with many miles out at sea. It is remarkable for the long tail feathers, 

 which have earned for it one of its local names, Paille-en-queue, or straw- 

 in-tail. It frequents Frigate Island and Rose Rock, from which I have 

 taken its eggs. It lays but one tgg, placed in a deep hole. The bird is 

 often taken alive whilst sitting, as it has no means of escape if the hand 



