iSgi-] Scott o>i the Birds of yamaiai . 3S7 



of food. This man said tliat not long before he had taken a pair of tliese 

 birds froni one of the holes and had eaten them. He described the noises 

 they make at night and leaves little doubt in mjmind as to their identity. 

 Another man told him that these birds were called 'Blue Mountain 

 Ducks.' 



I sent Kingoft'again the next day with orders to go to the pointwhere 

 the birds burrowed and to try lo get me some of them, offering a consider- 

 able reward in addition to his rei^ular wages should he be succe^sful. lie was 

 to hire the man spoken of to act as guide and to help in digging out the 

 burrows. Tliis time he was gone six days and reported on his return 

 that he and two other men had gone to the roosting or breeding places of 

 the dry land Boobies' and had dug out some twenty-five burrows, but had 

 been unable to find a single bird. In many of the holes excavated they 

 found the mongoose {Ilcrpesies grlseus), now so abundant throughout 

 the island, and of which I hope to write in some detail later. It was the 

 common opinion of the people in the vicinity that the birds and their eggs 

 had been so preyed upon by the mongoose that the birds had about dis- 

 appeared or at least become very rare. Numbers of different people had 

 assured him that formerly there were plenty of these birds. Making all 

 allowances possible, I am convinced that the information here given is 

 substantially correct, and so record it, trusting it may be of aid to others 

 who care to work personally in the matter. 



From Mr. Taylor's notes on this bird I quote the following: "Since the 

 introduction of the mongoose, the Blue Mountain Duck, or Boobj' Duck, 

 as it is luore frequently termed, appears to have been sadly reduced in 

 numbers, and from one favorite locality, at least, it would appear they 

 have been completely extirpated. On the slopes and ridges of the Blue 

 Mountains, near Cinchona, where once their burrows were said to be 

 abundant, and the birds theinselves of frequent occurrence, they are no 

 longer known. Two skins are in the Institute collection, $ and $, 

 They are labelled 'Cinchona Plantations, St. Andrews, i7-ii,"79. W. 

 Nock, collector,' and formed part of a collection of skins presented by 

 Sir Edward Newton. 



"Only recently, however, I have had indications of their occurrence in 

 the 'John Crow Mountains,' a range of inaccessible limestone hills to the 

 east of the Blue Mountains, where it is maintained the birds are still 

 abundant. The information was furnished to Mr. W. Fawcett by an intel- 

 ligent native resident in the district, who agreed to furnisli specimens 

 for the Museum of the Jamaica Institute. 



"When at sea near the Morant Cays a Petrel passed close to the vessel 

 which may have been this species." 



4. Oceanites oceanicus (A'?<///). Wil.son's Petrel. — This species has 

 been recorded from the coast of Cuba and Grenada, and it seems probable 

 that it is the species referred to by Mr. Hill and quoted by Gosse (Birds 

 of Jamaica, p. 437) as follows : "A curious bird of th6 fnmUy Proccnaruhr 

 was found in the Rio Grande in Portland after the late storms (in the 

 autumn of 1S46)." 



IS 



