1894
April 3
(No 4)
Trinidad, B.W.I.
Caura
the same general appearance resembling poplars (especially
some of the cottonwoods) in both bark and foliage.

  I had an hour or two before Chapman & Lickfold
arrived and employed it in strolling up and down the
road watching and listening to the birds. The commonest
species here appear to be Merula gymnophthalma and
[?]. I also noted Cycloris, Sattator olivascens, Tachyphonus
rufus, Tanagra sclateri, Euphonia trinitatis, Thamnophilus major,
Thamnophilus doliatus, Diplopteryx, Thryothmus, Troglodytes rufulus and
a number of Hummers none of which I was able to identify.
Swifts were flying about in small numbers but all, as far as
I could make out, were of one species the kind that has
the white rump.

  As night closed in I listened in vain for Owls and
Goatsuckers. The only sounds were [delete] that of the [?] rush of water
in the [/delete] that of the numberless little water falls in the
river, the chirping of crickets and the cry of a Frog which
we have not before heard. There were three or four of them
and called during the whole night. They made a noise
which sounded exactly like the breathing puff of a huge
engine when it is working very slowly and (I think)
sending the steam through the exhaust pipe. Chapman
christened them "snorting" frogs but "breathing" seemed to
me the better term.

  I forgot to mention the Tinamou without whose voice
our tropical scene could ever again fully satisfy me.
At frequent intervals later in the afternoon and far into
the twilight I heard his weird music from the mountain sides
above the house, very near at times.