138 PASSERES. 



the ripe, but dry and insipid, berries of a species 

 of jicus, which they readily picked off and ate. 

 The fruit of this fig they are fond of in a state of 

 freedom ; and such is their impudence that they 

 prevent the Baldpate Pigeons, though so much 

 bigger, from partaking. The Baldpates would wil- 

 lingly eat the little figs also, but the Hopping 

 Dicks scream and fly at them, and peck their backs, 

 so as to keep them fluttering from branch to branch, 

 reluctant to depart, yet unable to eat in comfort. 



At the break of day, if we pass along a wooded 

 mountain road, such as that lonely one at Basin- 

 spring, in Westmoreland, particularly when the 

 parching winds called norths have set in, in De- 

 cember and January, we see the Hopping Dicks 

 bounding singly along the ground in every part ; 

 but during the day they resort in numbers to the 

 diminished springs and ponds which yet remain, 

 where, after quenching their thirst, they enjoy the 

 luxury of a bathe. 



In the high mountains behind Spanish Town, this 

 bird is called the Twopenny chick ; but in the pa- 

 rishes of Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth, I have 

 heard him distinguished only by the homely ap- 

 pellation which I have adopted. He is not confined 

 to any particular locality. Dr. Chamberlaine (Jam. 

 Aim.) has " never seen him in the lowlands." But 

 around Bluefields he is abundant, especially in the 

 little belt of wood that girds the sandy sea-beach 

 at Belmont, where one may meet with him at all 

 times. In the pastures of Mount Edgecumbe he 

 is no less common. In the highest districts, as 



