368 TRELAWNY MOUNTAINS. 



prevalent. My memorandum sets these facts down 

 as traits of the ' Brown Owl, ' this name being used 

 to distinguish it from every other Owl. 



"A friend gave me a very interesting narrative of a 

 benighted traverse that he made of the mountains be- 

 tween Manchester and Trelawny, in which the ' ohoo' 

 moan of an Owl made a part of the night watches. 

 He had gained the last and loftiest ridge of the 

 intervening highlands, when a moonless but starry 

 night, closing in upon him, compelled him to look 

 for a convenient tree upon which to settle himself to 

 repose. The first sound that saluted him was the 

 dismal croak of the Tree-toad at long intervals ; the 

 croak near to him being answered by successive and 

 repeated croaks more distant. Occasionally was heard 

 the vehement hiss of some prowling snake ; he con- 

 cluded, our sizeable Boa, the Yellow Snake ; then 

 came every now and then the ' ohoo ' moan of some 

 Owl, whose voice was quite unknown to him. It was 

 replied to by a similar moan afar off. I suspect that 

 this was either the Eared or the Brown Owl." 



As these syllables, however, convey the note of the 

 Potoo [Nyctihius Jamaicensis), uttered in the darkness 

 of the night as it sits on its lone watchpost, it is 

 probable, as my friend afterwards suggested, that 

 the voice heard was rather that of this great Nightjar 

 than of an Owl. 



GREGARIOUS TREES. 



The overrunning of large tracts of land by some 

 particular species of shrub or tree almost to the ex- 

 clusion of every thing else is an interesting and 



