On Green Todies. — Attempt to rear the Young in Jamaica. 339


boards up over the nest, I should have decapitated the tree and

not have stopped at half measures ; better far that it should have

been deserted altogether than that this calamity should have been

permitted.


How delightful it is to be so wise — after the event !


It was with a heavy heart that I dismantled the nest ; it

was a splendid piece of workmanship, and deserving of much

more praise than I have bestowed upon it.


Only one thing more is needed — that the Violets become

so far civilized (and, alas ! degenerate) as to nest in artificial

structures, safe from rain and damp.



GREEN TODIES.— NOTES ON AN ATTEMPT TO


REAR THE YOUNG IN JAMAICA.

By Harold E. Atteweu..


Having long suspected a certain gully but a girl's stone

throw from my house to be the headquarters of sundry Green

Todies (Todus viridisj frequently seen, I, late in June, paid

the locality a visit, the result proving most abundantly the

reasonableness of my conclusions.


The gully is a typical Jamaican storm-water course, which,

except for possibly a few hours once in six months, is dry. The

bed is of sandy shingle, and what vegetation does exist is of the

coarsest nature. The banks are usually sheer and may be inches

or many feet in height. When the water is there it usually

sweeps everything before it, leaving a clean-cut course.


A number of circular borings of about i£ inches in dia-

meter first indicated the likeliuess of the Tody's domestic

quarters, and, singularly enough, the very first tunnel examined

proved to be one then occupied for breeding. The soil here was

extremely friable and would have yielded to a matchstick, thus

reducing to a miminum the efforts of the engineer. At about

9m. from the entrance, in a rounded chamber of possibly 2jin.

diameter, lay, with no nesting material whatever, on the bare

soil, two lovely globular eggs of lustrous pink pear-like trans-

lucency, quite the most beautiful eggs I have seen, and evidently

newly laid. Just as the most beautiful gems are discovered



