1894
March 24
(No 3)
Trinidad, B.W.I.
Caparo
  At about noon Mr. Albert Carr brought in a
Bell Bird which he had killed a mile or more
away in the woods to the eastward & which he
gave me. The curious appendages on the throat
were soft and clammy to the touch. They looked
much like pieces of leather shoe strings. I have
never seen s bird of the size of this which
was nearly so heavy. The body when taken out
proved to be very broad and plump but it
was not especially muscular. The skin was
rather tough but it came off easily. The eyes
were very large, the irides dark hazel. The
stomach was enormously distended but on
cutting it open I found that it contained
only a single fruit the stone of which I have
put in alcohol with the vocal organs. The
pulp was more or less macerated but it appeared
to be rather fleshy and it was of a dark
purple color. This color had stained the feathers
about the mouth and vent. The bird was
singing. It was a male with testes of about
this size: [diagram].
[margin]Bell Bird[/margin]
  For the past three evenings a Greive has sung
at intervals for some time in the cacao grove
by the river. Its song is strikingly like that
of our Robin but, less varied and energetic
yet at the same time more musical with
something of the quality of the song of
the English Blackbird.
[margin]Song of
Merula
gymnopthalma[/margin]