the Birds of Barbados. 487 



-/-21. Orthorhynchus cristatus (Linu.). Doctor-bird. 



Very abundaut and excessively fearless ; I have seen them 

 humming round a blossom in the bush when within a yard of 

 my face. It has a shrill note, frequently u^ttered when flit- 

 ting from blossom to blossom. It very often perches on the 

 telephone Avires, seated quite upright in the position of a 

 Kingfisher. The females strike me as having longer bills 

 than the males. I found a nest with two young ones in it 

 on the 30th of October ; it was fastened to the edge of a 

 leaf of the prickly pear ; the similarity of this nest to the 

 fruit growing on the same bush was so complete that when 

 within a few inches I could hardly believe that it was not the 

 fruit ; my attention was attracted in the first instance by 

 seeing the female apparently crouching on the top of a fruit. 

 In the young the beak is yellow, short, triangular, and with 

 a wide gape, showing its affinity to Cypselus. Eggs two, pure 

 white. 



Obs. I have frequently heard of other species of Humming- 

 birds being seen in Barbados, but I have only obtained or 

 observed myself the above-mentioned two species. Trochilus 

 colubris has been so accurately described to me by a resident 

 as having been observed by him in Barbados, that I have 

 little doubt of its having occurred there. 



-h22. CoccYGUs americanus (Linn.). 



A single example, a male, was shot at Grseme-Hall swamp 

 on the 6th of October, 1888. I am indebted to Mr. Herbert 

 Hart for this specimen, which was forwarded to me in the 

 flesh; it was very plump and in beautiful condition; its 

 stomach contained remains of insects. 



-|-23. Ceryle ALCYON (Liuu.) . Loggerhead Mango-bird. 



An annual visitor in considerable numbers during the 

 autumn and winter. It frequents the shore, perching in 

 the trees that edge the beach. I have noticed as many as a 

 dozen individuals during the course of an afternoon's walk 

 in the month of October. At Valentia swamp, where they 

 were common in winter, they seemed to be in pairs, and 

 pursued their antics in the air, gamboling with one another 



