90 TRINIDAD. 



carrion. It miy be that not one single vulture has been seen 

 for weeks in a locality, but no sooner is an animal dead, even a 

 cat or rat, than some corbeau is seen wheeling in the air above ; 

 all on a sudden it sweeps down with a peculiar hissing sound, 

 and, after describing a rapid circle, promptly alights on its prey; 

 others follow, and in a few hours a host of them are collected on 

 the spot. Sometimes the corbeaux, as by some common accord, 

 start in a body to parade (to use the local expression), when 

 numbers of them are seen rising in the air and describing spirals, 

 till they become nearly imperceptible ; then one takes the lead, 

 and the others follow in a line, until they arrive at some place 

 of rest or of prey. The Carrion-crow is so familiar that it mixes 

 in the market-places of Port of Spain with the vendors, and 

 sometimes carries away from an incautious seller a piece of fish 

 or flesh. 



The Papa, Aura, and Fcetens Vultures, build their nests on 

 the ground, generally near or between the roots of some tree ; at 

 each incubation they produce but a pair, which, in their un- 

 fledged state, are covered with a purely white down. 



Falcons (Falco). — There are several species of the Falcon 

 family in Trinidad ; they are called here Gavilans. The Crested 

 Gavilan (Spizactus ornatus) is a large bird, grey in colour, with 

 a large head and an occipital tuft; the tarsi are strong and 

 feathered throughout. This bird is most ferocious, and will pick 

 up a fowl in the poultry-yard and carry it off, even within sight 

 and cry of persons in the neighbourhood. The White Gavilan 

 is somewhat smaller than the crested ; it is a great destroyer of 

 chickens, as is also the speckled species, which is still smaller. 

 This latter is very fond of snakes ; it always seizes them by the 

 head with the bill, and by the body with the claws, so as neither 

 to be bitten nor infolded ; the snake, however, sometimes 

 succeeds in enveloping its enemy within its coils, and thus 

 vanquishes it : this may happen even in the air, as I have myself 

 witnessed. The Black Gavilan lives principally on fish. The 

 Fork- tailed Kite, or Ciseaux (Falco furcatus) , may be said to be 

 gregarious, as from five to twelve and fifteen are commonly seen 

 together; they are also migratory, being never seen except 

 during a short interval in the rainy season. 



Passeres. — The number of passerinse is very great in Trinidad, 

 but I shall notice a few only. The Tyrants are remarkable for 





