96 TRINIDAD. 



thick part of the forest, near a rivulet, whither they resort, 

 apparently to enjoy the cool, and it would almost appear, to 

 take their siesta. Being now full, from their morning's feed, 

 after each discharge they flutter to some near tree, where they 

 are easily discovered and followed. The doves are generally 

 killed when feeding on the ground, or on call, in such spots as 

 they frequent for water ; the ortolans in rice-fields, or in some 

 copse-wood wherein they assemble. Parrots and paroquets 

 are watched at some tree on which they alight to feed — the 

 former, however, especially in their sleeping-places — where a 

 good number may be shot in a short time. 



Marsh-fowling is, on the other hand, irksome and harassing. 

 The crabiers and egrets choosing, generally, some mud-bank, and 

 the fastness of some mangrove swamp, as their habitual haunt, 

 cannot be approached with facility, both because they can dis- 

 cover the enemy at a distance, and take to flight in time to 

 escape, and because it is always difficult, if not impossible, to 

 wade through the mud to get a nearer approach. The red ibis 

 and spoon-bill are sought after in the midst of damp natural 

 savannahs, or in lagoons, where they keep along the border of 

 ponds and rivers, always on the look-out, and ready to take 

 wing; but as they are very heavy in their flight, they are easily 

 shot, whenever within range. Of all our birds, however, the 

 ducks are the most difficult shot, for they are very cunning and 

 extremely fleet, the teal especially. They commonly alight in 

 troops in some secluded pond, in the midst of damp localities or 

 lagoons; and to approach them it is necessary to walk knee-deep 

 in the mud and waist-deep in the water, or, again, to paddle with 

 the greatest precaution in some light canoe. If fortunate enough 

 to come within range, the sportsman has the chance of firing on 

 them while still floating on the water, and again on their starting, 

 so that, as many as from ten to twenty may be brought down at 

 this double shot. Plovers, sandpipers, and other smaller species, 

 are generally killed on the wing; the plovers, seeking damp 

 pasture-grounds and ploughed lands, are easily approached. 



At the conquest of the island — a period when the population 

 was scanty, and all sorts of game in great abundance — several 

 emigres from the French colonies, whom I could name, drew a 

 subsistence from the return of their chase, some from the sale of 

 ramiers, others of ducks. Every day they would send to market 



