FLORIDA AND THE WEST INDIES 211 



bait, and taking so firm a grip with its claws that it 

 is easily beaten to death before it can disengage 

 itself. I asked my informant whether he also ate 

 "John Crow," but he replied, with evident disgust, 

 that the bird, being a carrion-eater, would not be 

 fit for food, and I was reminded of the touching 

 story of Federigo's falcon in Boccacio. 



In the country districts, and particularly in the 

 rich pasture-lands of St Ann, no fowl are more 

 conspicuous than the blackbird (Crotophaga) and 

 ting- ting (Quiscalus eras sir ostris), the former a 

 cousin of the cuckoos, the latter related to our 

 starling. To the stock-owner they render the same 

 service, ridding his horses and cattle of ticks, and 

 may be seen in company, hopping in front of the 

 beasts, and picking ticks off their muzzle before the 



k pests have taken firm hold. The blackbird has a 

 very powerful bill, but that of the ting-ting is 

 slender and pointed, like the starling's. Now and 

 then they seem to dig viciously at the nose of some 

 heifer or mare, but the impression is evidently 

 erroneous, for the grateful animals never offer the 

 least resistance, or display any sign of nervousness. 

 Ticks are a serious problem in Jamaica. They 

 were a serious problem to myself on one occasion 

 when I inadvertently wandered in loose continua- 

 tions through some guinea-grass. Forty or so 

 attached themselves to my limbs, and took the 

 best part of an hour to remove. Some pen- 

 keepers, apparently forgetting the harm done by 

 Espeut and his mungoose, favour introducing the 

 real starling, thereby to increase the bird brigade 

 for the suppression of these creatures. Others are 

 hostile to any further acclimatisation of exotic 



