the Birds of Barbados. 485 



received another example, a male shot at Gr?eme-Hall swamp 

 on the 26th October, 1888. An example of this species has 

 been procured by Mr. J. W. Wells in the island of Grenada, 

 Mr. Cory records it from the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, and 

 Grenada. I expect that it will be found to be an annual 

 visitor to Barbados during the autumnal migration. 



— 16. QuiscALus FORTiRosTRis, Lawr, Blackbird. 



The Barbados Blackbird is found in large numbers through- 

 out the island. It breeds in April, May, June, and July, 

 sometimes in colonies. A favourite site for the nest, which 

 is a large roughly built structure of grass and roots, is on 

 the slender branches of the mahogany. The eggs, usually 

 three in number, are very handsomely blotched and streaked 

 with dark umber-brown on a greenish-lilac ground. Old 

 and young flock together in autumn and visit the fields and 

 savannahs in companies like our British Starling [Sturnus vul- 

 garis). They do considerable damage to the planter by eating 

 and destroying grain, but they also consume large numbers 

 of insects, following the cattle in the fields for that purpose. 

 The singular use these birds make of their tails has been 

 remarked on by Ligon, writing nearly two centuries and a half 

 ago, who thus refers to it : — ^' One thing I observe in these 

 birds, which I never saw in any but them, and that is, when 

 they flic, they put their train into severall postures ; one 

 while they keep it straight, as other birds ; sometimes they 

 turn it edge-waies, as the tail of a fish, and by and by put it 

 three square, with the covering feather a top, and the sides 

 downward.^' In the adult bird the iris is straw-yellow, in 

 the young white. When in full breeding-plumage both sexes 

 are alike, black glossed with purple on the upper parts, the 

 female less brilliant than the male; the young are likewise 

 black. Towards autumn the plumage in many cases assumes 

 a decided chocolate-brown colour, but this is owing to a loss 

 of colouring in the old feathers ; they moult in August, 

 September, and October ; specimens procured at that time 

 distinctly show the new black feathers underneath the sun- 

 dried and abraded old ones. 



