THE SOLITAIRE. 
121 
from the fineness of their note. The Solitaire of Jamaica^ 
and other West Indian Islands (Vtilogonys armillatus) is 
one of these. According to Mr. Gosse and his correspond- 
ent Mr. Hill^ this bird is particularly partial to woods near 
the summits of lofty mountain-ridges^ where its fine sweet 
notes^ and their sudden recurrence at considerable intervals^ 
amid the lone and sombre silence of the lofty elevation^ as- 
sume quite a romantic character"^. Mr. Hill thus describes 
the singing of this bird : — As soon as the first indications 
of daylight are perceived, even while the mists hang over 
the forests, these minstrels are heard pouring forth their 
wild notes in a concert of many voices, sweet and lengthened 
like those of the harmonicon or musical glasses. It is the 
sweetest, the most solemn, and most unearthly of all the 
woodland singing I have ever heard. The lofty locality, the 
cloud-capt heights, to which alone the eagle soars in other 
countries— so different from ordinary singing-birds, in gar- 
dens and cultivated fields — combine, with the solemnity of 
the music, to excite something like devotional associations. 
The notes are uttered slowly and distinctly, with a strangely 
measured exactness. Though it is seldom that the bird is 
seen, it can scarcely be said to be solitary, since it rarely 
* Birds of Jamaica, p. 199. 
