I never saw the Kan-o'-War preen herself in the sense that so many other 

 birds are wont to do. I have an idea that the very large "birds do not, as a 

 rule, indulge in that method of feather cleansing. I have noticed the large 

 "birds of prey, herons, arihingas, etc proceed as our Frigate did, that is, 

 shake their wings and body, and then sit in the sun and dry themselves after a 

 torrential shower-bath or plunge* 



After this thorough wetting, Fregata seemed content to hold her wings semi- 

 extended, to flap them now and then, and to shake herself, dog-like, every two 

 or three minutes; and then to let the warm sun do the rest. 



Every day I climbed to the bird's retreat, invariably to find that she 

 appeared to have made herself entirely at home and was not at all alarmed by the 

 approach of strangers. The most hostile act she was guilty of was to make a 

 sort of grunting noise and open her beak at the intruder. As she was taken 

 from the nest (probably, that is) and tamed by association with a native family, 

 the chances of becoming reconciled to captivity in a public zoo are good; yet 

 these birds make very poor cage birds, generally dying of homesickness, or the 

 infections induced thereby, within a short time. The feathered animal whose 

 home is the illimitable blue sky soon sickens even of the largest flight 

 aviary and, though he may be only a robber and live by piracy, yet he prefers 

 death to loss of freedom. 



There are few or no monkeys (or for that natter few other mannals) in 

 eastern Polynesia, Perhaps the earlier voyagers from the mainland had not 

 learned to carry them as pets, like many other native tribes, on their long 

 sea excursions, or they did not survive the exposure incident to 'canoe life. 

 In any event^ it is not until one reaches islands relatively near the Asiatic 

 coast — Borneo, New Guinea, Java, the Celebes — that simian life becomes 

 abundant. It is quite otherwise with the West Indies, where even to the pres- 

 ent day monkeys are to be seen in the mountains and uplands of Dominica, St. 

 Vincent, Uevis and other islands. In some of these localities it has occa- 

 sionally been necessary to chase away troops of mountain marauders from the 

 cane fields and other plantations, so widespread were their depredations. 



Even in low- lying Barbados a few originally wild individuals still sur- 

 vive in the remoter woodod ravinos. The Pcctor of one of the parishes of 

 this colony, to whom I am much indebted for information regarding certain 

 Barbadian birds, is an enthusiastic naturalist. Among other quests, he is al- 

 ways on the lookout for these rare species. His church, situated in the most 

 hilly part of the island, overlooks a very pretty and romantic woodland. 



Cne Sunday, in the midst of morning prayers, he happened to look out of the 

 open window, and lol just disappearing among the trees was the animal for 

 which he had long been searching. It was a bitter moment; he could not run 

 out, surplice-clad, and desert his sacred office; there was nothing to do but 

 wait and live in the hope of seeing the animal on another and freer occasion. 

 The incident must have rankled, howover, bceause he said to me, "and that was 

 not the first time I have boon placed in a similar embarr a esing position. 1. 



-2G- 



