6370 



Birds. 



large and lustrous : the only explanation I am able to offer of your 

 correspondent's assertion that the * irides are blacker than the pupil,' 

 is that these last are of that deep bine so observable in some of the 

 Strigidae, as, for instance, your Ephialtes grammicus, whereas the 

 irides being dark hazel and opaque, in some sense, do seem darker. 

 The claws were so fully curved as to make it impossible to force the 

 point back to the same plane as that of the sole, and there was a worn 

 patch beneath the first joint of the toes, corresponding to that beneath 

 the tarsus-joint, as if only that portion of the foot habitually touched 

 the surface to which the bird clung. I made a note that, the day after, 

 half-a-dozen again appeared at about 11 a. m., the north blowing, 

 a brilliant day, and no rain, though there was a slight shower the day 

 before. I had no further opportunity of observation until I came to 

 this side (Trelawny), about a couple of months ago. We have lately 

 had such a downfall of rain as rarely occurs, laying large portions of 

 the country under water, and doing considerable damage by torrents. 

 Being out with my negro servant during a little interval in the bad 

 weather, my attention was attracted by a loud cry I did not know : 

 the boy pointed to the ' rain-birds' overhead, which, though at such a 

 height as not to be otherwise recognizable, 1 knew to be this swift 

 from the revolving column they stopped in their course to form. After 

 the rains I saw them, in much reduced numbers, steadily feeding at a 

 great height. I omitted to mention that the stomach of the one I dis- 

 sected contained a black mass, fragments of insects, among which 

 small Coleoptera seemed to predominate, many of them of a scarlet 

 colour. On the 21st of last month, a brilliant day, they appeared 

 again, when I made careful notes, at the time, of their habits. It was 

 about 11 a.m. when I noticed their loud cry: I should imitate it by a 

 ' wee — wee — wee,' the last much prolonged. It is very harsh, and 

 I thought at the time in tone it bore some resemblance to that of our 

 common loggerheads : it is audible at a great distance, and appeared 

 kept up by the whole flock. They were then in no great numbers, 

 evidently busy feeding at an immense height, wheeling over a circum- 

 scribed space. Every now and then a small party of five or six 

 would set off at a prodigious rate very close together, come down 

 lower, shoot round a cotton tree or steep hill-side, uttering the same 

 cry with peculiar vehemence : they then exactly reminded me of our 

 English swift. From these observations I will venture to add that 

 my impression is that these birds cannot be considered, in any sense, 

 crepuscular, more so than our other hirundines. 

 " Another very remarkable hirundine attracted my attention almost 



