1894
March 21
Trinidad, B.W.I.
Caparo
  A pleasant morning but the afternoon dull & threatening
with heavy rain in the evening & most of the night.
  At sunrise [delete]I[/delete] we started [delete]with Chapman[/delete] for the woods where
we caught the Agouti the other afternoon. We went
this morning expressly to hear the big Hummingbirds
Phaethornis [blank] sing. Although these birds are common
enough in other places where we go daily we never hear
them utter anything more than a single chirp. But our host Mr.
Carr directed us to a place in these woods which, he
assured us, he never passes without hearing a number of
the birds. Sure enough as we approached it this morning
we heard a new and strange sound issuing from a dozen
different places at once as it seemed to us. It was most
like a chorus of Hylas - yep-yep-yep going on unceasingly
yet now swelling, next abating somewhat. There was
nothing especially peculiar about the place save that the
trees were small, slender & crowded, with a plentiful
admixture of roso palms. this growth covered a hillside
which sloped steeply down to big woods below. In the
space of a quarter of an acre or less there were at
least half-a-dozen Hummers. Each bird had his favorite perch
where he would sit for many minutes at a time calling
yep almost unceasingly. Every now and then another bird
would approach buzzing loudly when the calling bird
would dart at hime and the two would careen madly
through the woods, one apparently pursuing the other
and one or both making a loud smacking sound
which I found could be imitated almost perfectly
by putting the tongue against the roof of the mouth
and withdrawing it forcibly. After the pursuit had