FLORIDA AND THE WEST INDIES 209 



rare pother in the distressed island. Nor are all the 

 effects of this vermin's bad deeds so direct as the 

 destruction of chickens, quail, ground-doves and 

 guinea-fowl. Thanks to the disappearance of these 

 and lizards by its agenc}', ticks, the stock-keeper's 

 greatest curse, have increased to an alarming 

 extent. Although the mungoose is far too pros- 

 perous and plentiful for the good of the pen-keeper, 

 it is a mistake to think, as some writers irre- 

 sponsibly suggest, that numbers are in evidence 

 everywhere like sparrows in a London square. 

 Like all rapacious animals it is secretive, though 

 not, as already stated, nocturnal in its habits. 

 During a couple of weeks, spent in various parts 

 of the island, I saw only one, and that ran across 

 the road just in front of the buggy in which I was 

 driving back from a morning dip at "Doctor's Cave," 

 Montego Bay. 



Those who have wandered off the track in other 

 tropical islands, who have known hot and solitary 

 hours in Java and Ceylon, will instinctively scan 

 the tree-tops of Jamaica for signs of monkeys, but in 

 vain, for these merry folk are not among the forest 

 creatures. Whether, previous to extermination by 

 the Spaniards, they ever peopled these glades is 

 an open question, on which we have no evidence of 

 value. An attempt has been made to connect the 

 name " Moneague " with their occurrence, but the 

 more likely etymology of the word suggests refer- 

 ence to the mountains and water of that favoured 

 district. 



If the quadrupeds of Jamaica are few and 

 insignificant, its birds are so abundant, varied, 

 beautiful and interesting as to repay a closer study 

 o 



