CHAPTER IX. 



JUMBO-JOCKO AND THE COCKERRICOS. 



The biggest birds in Tobago — Those curious cockerricos — Lost in 

 the woods — Saved from a serpent — A snake fourteen feet long 

 — The hidden enemy in the bamboo clump. 



Two days of rain kept me within doors and eon- 

 fined to the beach, where I cnltivated the acquaintance 

 of my feathered neighbors. But the morning of the 

 third day brought me release, and with gun in hand I 

 plunged into the forest. With the coming of the 

 rainy season the woods began to ring with the cries of 

 those noisy birds called by the natives " cockerricos," 

 and it was to procure a few of them, if possible, that 

 I went into the forest. 



They are the noisiest, but at the same time the 

 shyest, of all the birds in these woods. Their loud 

 cries in the morning reminded me of a passage in that 

 fascinating book written by the famous botanist Bar- 

 tram, who hunted in Florida over a hundred years 

 ago, when it was mainly a vrildemess, inhabited only 

 by Indians. He says : " I was awakened every morn- 

 ing early by the cheerful converse of the wild turkey 

 cocks saluting each other from the sun -brightened 

 tops of the cypress and magnolia. They begin at 



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