386 Birds Seen During a Trip to the West Inflies. 
Herons, and others aie numerous, also Grebes and other water- 
fowl . 
Along the railway line various bright coloured birds 
were occasionally seen; mo;;tly I think Tanagers and Fly- 
catchers, but the window,? oi' a train are not the best places 
to studj- bird life from. 
At Cartagena and Puerto Colombia all one saw con- 
sisted of a few sea birds, and the numerous Yellow -fronted 
Amazon -Parrots brought "to the ship for sale. I was much 
struck by the healthy a:id clean condition of these birds, which 
seemed to show that they were well treated by their owners. 
An amusing sight wa;; a crate fu!l of Parrots, on top of which 
was a tame monkey; a friendship had sprung up between 
one of the birds and the monkey, and while the latter would 
play all sorts of tricks on the other Parrots, it diligently 
scratched the head of its friend in the most .solemn manner 
possible. 
A deplorable sight was the number of Egret plumes 
brought on board for sale, and, when some of the passengers 
objected, the usual tale was told about the feathers T>eing 
gathered at moulting time from Heronries where these birds 
were strictly preserved. I asked a gentleman who had lived 
many years in Colombia if there was any truth in this story. 
He laughed at the suggestion as absurd. Of course, this story 
of preserved colonies of the White Heron is quite untrue, 
and is told to try and hide the unspeakable cruelty 
attached to the trade in this article of female adornment. 
Trinidad was the most interesting place for birds I 
stayed at, and there I saw far more kept as pets than any- 
wher(i else. The bird-keeping people in this island seemed 
to be mostly East Indians; the negro does not seem to care 
much for pets. There are also a large number of Chinese, 
who are, of course, great bird lovers. The l)irds usually 
seen caged are: Common Hangnests, Amazon -Parrots, Maroon 
and Violet Tanagers and .some small Finches. 
Here, as elsewhere, the dense jungle makes it ilidieult 
to see the birds, but every now and then in the course of a 
journey through the island, Maroon* Tanagers, Kingfishers, 
Flycatchers, and other bright and interesting birds are to 
be seen. 
