1894
March 30
(No 5)
Trinidad, B.W.I.
Caparo
pronounced it to be a "Bat Hawk" and said that it
preyed wholly on Bats and Swifts. I could not at the
time believe that it was really a bird of prey but Hutton
proved to be right for the singular looking creature
presently returned and pitching down from a great
height alighted on a dead stub where I shot it. It
turned out to be a male Falco rufigularis, by far the
most beautiful Hawk that I have ever killed. According
to Leotaud it is a crepuscular species spending  the
day in the forest and coming out into the open
country only after sunset. Leotaud also says that it
feeds exclusively on Bats but this specimen was
plucking a bird when shot for we distinctly saw the
feathers floating about its perch in the still air. Probably
the bird was a Swift but although we saw it fall
we could not find it under the tree.

  Returning to the edge of the woods I waited there
for some time in hopes of seeing the Goatsucker (Lurocatis).
At length he appeared flying straight down the road
but before I could cock my gun he was nearly out
of range & I missed him. Shortly afterwards I heard
him call a number of times in the banana
plantation when as nearly as I could make out
he was sitting on a prostrate log. The call is exceedingly
like that of the small, sweet-voiced evening frog which
is so common here. Indeed it appears to differ only
in that it is repeated three or four times in quick
succession whereas the frog calls only one at a time.
It may be written whee-whee-whee-whee.