Birds See?) Dining a Trip to the West Indies. 385 
" rathor for sowing the seed, while vegetating, from the depredations 
"of ants. The box had performed its office; — the lettiiees had been 
"transplanted, and the mould remained in undisturbel fallow. The box 
" having a knot-hole in the side, through this hole a pair of Todies 
"burrowed a gallery into ilv h"art of the mould, built a nest, and 
"reared a family of young ones On opening the earth 
" after the young had fl h1, there was found a capacious winding gallery 
" into the centre of the box, en ling in a circular lodging, in which was 
" contained the nest, composed of fibrous roots and cotton ." 
The Parrots, I believe, are not v^ery common in 
Jamaica, thougii Gosse includes the following: — 
Yellow-headed Macaw (? Am t r/eoJor)=(Ara (jossii). 
Yellow-bellied Parroqurt {Convrus fm-imitrr)={C. narms) . 
Black-billed Parrot (Psi/tacKS agilis)=(Chrysotis agilis'). 
Yellow-billed Parrot iPsilfiiciis lei(corcphaJiis)=(fhry. Jnicoce- 
■phahis) ■ 
I only saw one pair, viz.: The Yellow-hellied Parrot 
{Confirm nanus), and these curiously enough, at a place 
where. I believe, they are not often seen, at a beautiful spot 
near Bog Walk. 
The Red-headed Turkey- Buzzards {Calthartcs aura) 
are seen everywhere and are preserved as scavengers. 
Along the roads one is always seeing- various kinds 
of very pretty Doves and Pigeons, 1 am not quite sure what 
species I saw, but, I think, they were: Pea Dove (Zenaida 
amabilis). Passerine Ground Dove (Chamaepclia f/assrrina, 
and anothei of a rich chocolate colour, probably the Partridge 
Dove {Geotrijgon montana) . 
The sea birds most in evidence here and in other 
parts of the West Indies are, the Frigate Bird and the 
Brown Pelican (Pclccaniif) fiiscus); the latter is a quaint bii'd 
that alway.3 seems to commence fishing when the daily breeze 
springs up. Anything more clumsy than the way the Pelican 
catches fish can hardly be imagined. The bird seems to 
suddenly collapse while in flight, and tumble into the sea; it 
then sits on the water looking the picture of misery, and 
with an expression that seems to .say, " Another sell, what a 
fool I made of myself again," but it has swallowed a fish all 
the same. 
From Jamaica tlie next place visited was Colon and 
the Panama Canal. What a paradise for water-fowl that 
enormous artificial lake will be! Small Blue Herons, White 
