^fqo^^^l Wells, Birds of the Island of Carriacou. •247 



when planted, eat the sprouts as they come up, and also feast upon the 

 young ears, uttering all the while their cry of greeit-corti-sweef. They 

 are gregarious, large numbers being often seen together. A tree with 

 thick foliage is usually chosen for roosting, the mango tree being often 

 selected. Hundreds of them may be seen flying to one of these trees at 

 dusk, and the noise made by them before settling down is nearly deafen- 

 ing. 



Everything eatable seems to be food for this bird, and it is certainly an 

 impudent thief. I have seen it watching the vendors of cakes in the 

 market place, and as one of them leaves the tray for a while, down swoops 

 the blackbird and helps himself to a bun or other choice bit. He will 

 hop about the counter of the butcher's stall and snatch up scraps of meat 

 as the\' fly from the chopper. It eats grain, ground nuts, fruit, and also 

 robs the nests of other birds of the newly hatched young which it devours. 

 When the Indian corn is being planted little urchins are kept in the fields 

 all day knocking two bits of iron together, pelting the blackbirds with 

 stones, and roundly abusing them both in words and song. 



In spite of his sins this is a showy bird. It is striking to see the male 

 strutting about with the sun reflected on the beautiful purple-black of its 

 neck and wings, cocking up its boat-shaped tail every now and then. The 

 female is of a sober brown color. They nest in colonies, several nests 

 being placed on the same tree. The nests are usually composed of dry 

 roots and coarse straw well plastered with cow dung. The eggs are three 

 and sometimes four, of a light blue, scribbled and blotched all over with 

 purple and black ; they measure 1.02 X .76 to i.oo X .72. 



64. Molothrus atronitens. Cowbird. — This bird was not observed 

 until June, 1899, when flocks of six to ten were to be seen about Hermitage 

 and Harvey Vale pastures. I believe it to be a migrant, though a few 

 stragglers are seen all the year round. 



65. Tiaris bicolor [Luin.'). See-see Zerbe ; Black-faced Seed-eater. 

 — Abundant all over the island is this sober colored little quit. It feeds 

 on the seeds of grasses. It bviilds a domed nest when placed in a shrub or 

 in the roots of trees on the roadsides, but when built inside of a house it 

 takes the shape of the angle between two joists. Several of them nest 

 inside the church in Hillsborough ; one pair built in a hanging lamp 

 there and reared its young. In the court house a pair of these birds have 

 reared two broods for several seasons in a nest placed in a 'sea fan' 

 which stands on a shelf. The eggs are three in number, dull white, with 

 reddish brown spots, confluent at the blunt end ; they measure .59 X 48. 



66. Progne dominicensis {Ginel.}. Purple Swallow. — Flocks of 

 these birds may be seen hovering about over the fields and pastures cap- 

 turing winged insects, especially after a morning shower. About noon 

 they roost in numbers on some dry tree, or in the upper branches of the 

 silk cotton tree. They nest in holes in the cliffs and in the walls of 

 abandoned sugar works. 



67. Hirundo erythrogaster {Bodd.). Rufous-bellied Swallow. — 



