BIRD LIFE OF BARTICA 113 





Photo by P. G. H. 



FIG. 32. GREAT JACOBIN HUMMINGBIRD (FLORISUGA MELLIVORA) 

 ON ITS ROOSTING PERCH. 



Curassows and guans roosted high up in the forest and 

 judging by sign, they resorted to the same place week after 

 week. Rails, during the nesting season, selected a place flat 

 among the reeds, immediately behind the nest and facing 

 away from it. Thus the bird which was not on the eggs was 

 able to watch for danger from the rear. The terns here- 

 abouts roosted singly on rocks in mid-stream. Late one 

 evening in the last rays of light I saw one of them settle 

 down with head under wing on a rock which, a few hours 

 later, would be overlapped by the rising tide. I wonder what 

 happened when the bird felt itself gently lifted from its 

 support. If the water were as quiet as when I last saw the 

 bird it would hardly have been awakened. In the season of 

 migration the little families of sandpipers kept the terns 



