Birds. 



6369 



tions, where they appear not to have been anticipated by the large 

 mass of information you collected on the subject during your own 

 visit. 



" My first residence was for three months at Grand Vale, in 

 Westmoreland; afterwards at Camp Savanna, near Morgan's Bridge; 

 then at Savanna-la-Mar ; and finally here, on the borders of St. Anne's 

 and Trelawny, about ten miles inwards. 



"As Westmoreland had already been especially investigated by 

 yourself, it was not likely to yield much new ; I have, however, a 

 Caprimulgus not in your list. I know nothing of its habits, it having 

 been brought to me by a negro, in August, shot close to Savanna-la- 

 Mar: the wings reach only half way down the tail; it struck me as 

 very much like our English nightjar in its general aspect, but it has a 

 broad white streak across the breast, rising to a point in the centre, 

 like a circumflex, and festooning on each side broader to the shoulders. 

 The following are the dimensions, taken from the recent bird : — 

 Length 10|- inches; expanse 17 inches; tail 5j inches; flexure 

 6 inches. The wings are rounded ; the first quill shorter than the 

 second ; the third longest. 



" I have had frequent opportunities of observing the curious bird 

 you name, provisionally, in your work, as Acanthylis collaris: T first 

 saw them on the 6th of March last, careering over the dark wood that 

 covers the hill opposite Grand Vale House : it was about five in the 

 evening; the 'Norths' had blown up some heavy clouds, though we 

 had had no rain. From the door-steps I fired at one and brought it 

 down : on going to pick it up, as it lay on the grass, its long wings 

 extended, to my great mortification it gave me ample proof of its 

 powers to rise from a flat surface, by rising at once and flying 

 languidly over the valley beneath, where it disappeared. A large 

 number (perhaps fifty) soon appeared ; they darted down the wind 

 with extraordinary swiftness, coming up against it more slowly ; then, 

 in a short time, the whole flock wheeled round once or twice in a kind 

 of gyrating column (I have seen rooks in England perform a manoeuvre 

 very like it), when the whole disappeared. A week after they appeared 

 again, repeating exactly the same manoeuvres : this time I loaded 

 with heavier shot, and procured a specimen. It proved a male, on 

 dissection, and its plumage was in very fine condition. The dimen- 

 sions agreed very nearly with those you give : 1 could not, however, 

 make the wings, expanded to their utmost, more than 19f inches, nor, 

 when closed, reach beyond the tips of the forked tail more than 1 J inch. 

 T paid particular attention to the eyes, which are indeed singularly 

 xvii. r 



