I 20 Scott <?« the Birch of yamaica. [April 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE BIRDS OF JAMAICA, 

 WEST INDIES. 



BY W. E. D. SCOTT. 



II. A LIST OF THE BIRDS RECORDED FROM THE ISLAND, 

 WITH ANNOTATIONS. 



{Continued from p. 75.) 



98. Colinus virginianus {Li?iu.). Bob-white. Quail. — The 

 Qiiail was introciuced from North America, according to Gosse 

 (Birds of Jamaica, p. 32S), about tlie j'ear 1747, or nearly a hundred 

 and fifty years ago. He says further, " It was very soon naturalized, 

 and became abundant. It is found in almost all situations, where there 

 is cover; and from its peculiar manners, its loud call, and the sapidity 

 of its flesh, is familiar to all." 



This was written in 1847, and many persons whom I met with while 

 in Jamaica assured me of the great abundance of Qiiail until within the 

 last two years. 



During my visit to the island I did not see or hear any of these once 

 common birds, and though in some localities, where especial attention 

 has been paid to their protection, a few birds doubtless still exist, this 

 bird once so plentiful must be regarded as about exterminated. I was 

 particularly anxious to obtain a small series of the bird in question to see 

 if any appreciable and general variation or departure from the parent 

 stock had occurred under the new conditions of environment. How- 

 ever, I became aware in a very short time that it would be very difficult 

 to get any of the birds, and so looked up what specimens existed in the 

 museum of the Jamaica Institute. Here I found a single specimen, a 

 female, without adequate data as to when and where it was captured, 

 and I have been obliged up to the present time to forego the comparison 

 which I had hoped material collected on the island would make pos- 

 sible. Mr. Taj'lor thought he would be able to procure some speci- 

 mens for me, but in a recent letter dated July 3, 1891, from Kingston, he 

 writes : " No news as yet of Colinus virginianus, though I have been con- 

 stantly on the watch for and have made many inquiries respecting them." 

 Oscar Marescaux, Esq., of Kingston told me that a single small covey 

 still existed in the garden of his estate, Cherrygarden, near Kingston, 

 but that these were the only ones he knew of. He said that the birds 

 were formerly very abundant, and were hunted over the dog as they are 

 in the United States, and that there was no difficulty in making large 

 bags. Mr. William Bancroft Espent says in a letter dated Spring Garden, 

 June I, 1891, "Undoubtedly the mongoose has played havoc with the 



