Sir W. Jardine on the Habits 0/' Prionites. 



323 



in their distribution ; that which we have now under consider- 

 ation, we do not know as inhabiting the continent at all. 

 Mr. Swainson gives the Bahama isles generally as its native 

 country ; and in the locality of the specimens before us we 

 have it stretching to the very south-eastern extremity of the 

 West Indian islands, but we do not know if the species occurs 

 also in Cuba, St. Domingo, &c, or continuously along the 

 group ; on the continent the first species which occurs in 

 Guiana* and the Brazils is the old P. Brasiliensis, 



Our active correspondent in Tobago has procured and for- 

 warded to us skins and specimens in spirits of what we con- 

 sider to be the P. Bahamensis of Swainson f, which have en- 

 abled us partially to examine its internal structure ; but be- 

 fore noticing this or making any remarks upon the place the 

 group should occupy in our system, we shall transcribe Mr. 

 Kirk's observations upon their habits, which may be usefully 

 compared with the notes from various authors which we have 

 given beneath. 



" This beautiful species, with his hair-like plumage and 

 spatulated tail-feathers, is a very common and obtrusive bird 

 in this island ; and it may be fairly said that if they are passed 

 unobserved it will be no fault of their own, for they will sit 

 and look stupidly down upon any intruder until he comes 

 within a few yards, when they generally accost him with their 

 usual low hollow-sounded note, Who, Who, which with very 

 little ingenuity may be converted into Who are you ? and, in- 

 deed, reports are current of instances of their having been 

 answered, in the belief that the question was put by a human 

 being ; and when the Prionites demanded over and over again 

 e Who are you ?' in a dark and solitary grove, it is not a mat- 

 ter of surprise that a poor ignorant African (as the story goes) 

 should, after giving an explanation which proved unsatisfac- 

 tory, take to his heels and leave the e king ' in the undisputed 

 possession of his forest. 



" The Prionites of Tobago builds a nest, or rather occupies 

 the cavity of some deserted yellow ant's nest, or other hole, 

 generally in the bank of a road or gully, or scaur by the side 

 of some rivulet, though it does not follow that it should al- 

 ways be near water. The entrance is generally very small, 

 from two to two inches and a half in diameter, and the hole 

 is pierced from three to nine feet into the bank, sometimes 

 directly in, at other times along the bank, parallel, and at no 



* The specimens brought home by Mr. Schomburgk from Guiana were 

 all P. Brasiliensis. 



f Two centenaries and a quarter. — Lard. Cyclop., Animals in Mena- 

 geries, p. 332. 



Y 2 



