1894
March 10
Trinidad, B.W.I.
Moruga Rest House
  We rose at daybreak and [delete]after a hurried cup
of coffee and a few slices of toast[/delete] left the house
just as the sun was rising. The air was so
crisp and bracing as almost to seem frosty
and we struck out briskly to start the circulations.
It was a heavenly morning, the sky without a cloud,
the air wholly free from fog or haze, the wonderful
tropical foliage frosted with dew drops which glittered
and sparkled in the sunlight and sent down
showers of water whenever we brushed against a
tree trunk or the stem of a palm f[?]d.
And the birds! How can I hope to record
here anything more than [delete]the most[/delete] a meager account
of the most thrilling and interesting? Perhaps it
is as well not [delete]even[/delete] to attempt even this but
simply to jot down a few of the mental pictures
which flit through my brain as I sit thinking
over the morning's experience.
[margin]An early
morning walk[/margin]
  The first is of a broad but gross-grown road
bordered on both sides by impenetrable thickets
with palms and tall forest trees rising in the
background. Troops of Blue and Maroon Tanagers
are flying to and fro across the opening. The
still air rings with strange [?], whistles &
calls and the rick Bluebird-like warbler of
Cyclosis comes from a tree near by. The
"background" of all these sounds is the cooing of
dozens of Doves ([?]eptoptile) which smells and
[?] yet none for a moment is wholly still.
Now a dozen Parrakeets whirl overheard surrounding
us of a flock of Cedar Birds as they rise and