26 Mr. T. M. Savage English on 



(with the same reservation) they are good to the stranger 

 within their gates. So, if a stranger asks questions about 

 any creature supposed to inhabit the island, the person 

 questioned is very apt to take it for granted that he must 

 know more about it than his questioner does ; while his 

 sense of hospitality forbids a bald statement of ignorance. 

 The result, though quite probably given in perfect good 

 faith, may be worthy of an eastern dealer in " antiques." 



It was on the 21st of January, 1914, that Mimocichla was 

 seen at last, during the making of a new road through such 

 a tangle of knife-edged coral-rock, swamp, and mangroves, 

 with patches here and there of the poisonous manchineel 

 tree and of climbing cactus, that at first it took more than 

 two hours to cover a distance easily walked over in five 

 minutes when the road was made. And it was in all proba- 

 bility the same individual which appeared at the same place 

 ou the 27th of January and the lOth of February, and on 

 these occasions only, though the bird and its possible nest 

 were looked for every day. 



On its first appearance it stayed in full sight for some 

 five to ten minutes in a tall mangrove bush close to the 

 new clearing, and was singing. Its song was very subdued, 

 recalling the warble of a Budgerigar. Its manners and 

 general appearance, apart from its colour, were not unlike 

 those of a blackbird, and the second time it showed itself 

 it flew across the road, giving a "' thrush "" chatter as it 

 flew. This, like its song, was only just audible. The last 

 time it was seen, it was in the same bush as a Tyrant 

 Flycatcher, which, as usual, was deeply interested in the 

 work just being commenced on the road, and flew up to get 

 a closer view. Mimocichla^ on the contrary, dived at once 

 into the depths of the mangroves and was seen no more. 

 It obviously liked human society less the more it saw 

 of it. 



Holoquiscalus caymanemis differs from the bird last 

 mentioned in being one of the few wild creatures which 

 seem to be absolutely without any fear of man, and can 

 be fairly described as being aggressively friendly. It is 



