07J2 



Birds. 



green foliage and the splendid racemes of scarlet fruit among which 

 they were moving ; and every action seemed to show how completely 

 they were adapted to their appointed mode of existence. 



"On examining, a few days afterwards, one of our green parrots I 

 had just shot (Psittacus agilis), I was much struck with the similarity 

 the proportions of the tibia and tarsus bear in both birds ; and this is 

 the more worthy of remark as in both the habits and mode of taking 

 food may be said to be identical. Both are heavy birds, seeking their 

 food at the ends of small twigs and in positions where great grasp is 

 required, and where constant efforts must be necessary to preserve 

 balance ; and both are birds with capacious crops, passing many hours 

 in repose amid the security of the forests. In the above observations 

 I have alluded to what I conclude to be the use, in part at any rate, of 

 the powerful tail with which this pigeon is furnished. With the par- 

 rot it is the reverse ; the tail is extremely short; but I would suggest 

 that the form of foot in the parrot would lead us to suppose that as a 

 climbing instrument its grip is far greater. The tail therefore may be 

 a necessary compensation to the pigeon for a differing structure. 



" I alluded in my last to a beautiful but unknown song now con- 

 stantly to be heard in the forests here. I devoted a morning of the 

 past week to its investigation, but I found the task so much more 

 difficult than I anticipated that I had to repeat my observations for 

 several successive days before I could satisfy myself as to the songster. 

 I may mention here, as bearing on the subject, that when, during the 

 winter, 1 used to hear the long-drawn notes of the solitaire from the 

 tall forests between here and Mahogany Hall, the negroes always 

 assured me it was ' Hopping Dick Shiny-eye.' As I had your notes 

 I knew this to be a mistake, and after my arrival here I had soon an 

 opportunity of verifying your statements by procuring specimens of 

 Ptilogonys armillatus, and seeing them in the forests, though I never 

 had an opportunity of observing them actually emit the note. In the 

 spring, when I returned, I heard these notes no more, but I still hesi- 

 tated to conclude they were gone, for, from some far-distant depth of 

 the forest, I used to hear a note that seemed the well-known one of 

 the winter. If I stopped to listen it was audible, as the breeze passed, 

 once or twice more, and then was silent. I soon found that these 

 beautiful notes, like those of the solitaire, in quality of tone, were 

 introduced in a song, and as the spring advanced I became very 

 familiar with them. The song, if I was near enough to hear it com- 

 mence, always began with a ' Quank, quank, quank, chu' (a very 

 suspicious circumstance), and then 



