6664 



Birds. 



this parish (Trelawny), situated among the mountains I have de- 

 scribed as the lower range, I was surprised to hear that the ring-tail 

 was very abundant in a neighbouring pasture. I immediately went 

 there, and found that the pasture occupied only the bottom of a nar- 

 row valley of small extent, the thick mountain woods closely investing 

 the steep hills all round. About the centre was a fine tree, loaded 

 with bunches of the semi-transparent scarlet fruit the negroes call 

 cherries ; but I have not yet ascertained what it is. On approaching 

 the tree, to my great satisfaction I observed one of these birds 

 reposing on a thick branch near the centre, ' sitting down 1 as the 

 negroes say, evidently resting on the whole tarsus. I watched it for 

 some time, but it was quite motionless. Another flew from the 

 neighbouring woods, and alighted on the topmost twig of a lofty 

 cedar. It was followed by a third bird, which immediately com- 

 menced feeding it, as usual with pigeons. I fired in a short time, 

 and one only fell, a young bird with the down still adhering to the 

 tips of the feathers. The old bird soon returned, and I secured it ; 

 it proved a male, thin, but in the very finest plumage. On dissection 

 the contents of the crops of both birds proved the same, a pulp com- 

 posed of a species of small fig. Their structure illustrated some inte- 

 resting particulars. The lower mandible is remarkable for the wide 

 divergence of its rami, which bifurcate only about one-third its length 

 from the tip. The feathers thus come far forwards under the chin, 

 and give the bird a peculiarly gallinaceous aspect, lost in a measure 

 in the skin. This is succeeded by an oesophagus so distensible that 

 I found I could thrust three of my fingers into it. The proventriculus 

 is rather conical than globose, as the lower end is not narrowed by 

 a stricture outwardly visible at the cardiac entrance ; it is sparsely 

 studded with glands. I found a sweet-wood berry in the interior in 

 one case, the seed-vessel reduced to a green pulp, and the large seed 

 whole. The stomach is capacious, but so slightly muscular that 

 a vertical section of its muscles nowhere gives more than one-fourth 

 of an inch. I was surprised to find no trace of gravel or grit within. 

 The sweet-wood berries were simply denuded of their fleshy seed- 

 vessels, the large seeds remaining quite uninjured. I understood the 

 significance of this on uncoiling the intestine, sixty-nine inches in 

 length. Throughout its whole length it presented the appearance of 

 a necklace, from the succession of these kernels passing down the 

 canal, the spaces between filled with green pulp, which was alone 

 digested. I pushed some out at the cloaca quite uninjured. I found 

 seeds of figs and cherries in the same state. Thus it can be seen of 



