HOPPING DICK. 137 



or darts across the glade. Not unfrequently we 

 are startled by a shrill scream in some lonely place, 

 and out rushes the Hopping Dick, jumping with 

 rapidity across the road, almost close to our horse's 

 feet. He greatly reminds me of the English Black- 

 bird, in his sable plumage, and bright yellow beak, 

 but especially when hopping along the branches 

 of some pimento tree, or upon the sward beneath, 

 in those beautiful park-like estates called pens. The 

 keen glancing of his eye, his quick turns and odd 

 gesticulations, the elevation of his long tail almost 

 erect, his nods and jerks, have in them an uncom- 

 mon vivacity, which is not belied by his loud 

 voice, as he repeats a high mellow note four or 

 five times in rapid succession, just preparatory 

 to, or during, his sudden nights from tree to tree. 

 His notes are various : sometimes we hear him 

 in the lone wood, uttering, click, click, click, 

 without variation of tone or intermission, for many 

 minutes together. His song, which I have heard 

 only in spring, is rich and mellow, much like the 

 English Blackbird's : he sits in some thick tree, 

 or wood, particularly at earliest dawn, and pours 

 forth his clear notes in a broken strain, and often in 

 a subdued tone, as if singing only to please himself. 

 I happened to wound slightly two of these birds 

 on the same day, which I placed in a cage. They 

 were free and easy from the first, very clamorous, 

 lively and even headlong in their sudden move- 

 ments. I found that they would seize and devour 

 with eagerness cockroaches, hard beetles, worms, 

 and even small lizards. I gave them a bunch of 



