156 
.1 Holiday in the West Indies. 
creatures in captivity, their demeanoni' and voices are very tit-like, 
l)ut they ai'e hy no nicaiis aniiahlt' and are constantly bickering 
ainon.y themselves. They are quite easily kept in health andfjfood 
pluniaye once they liave i-ecovered from the hardships of 
importation and are har<ly enough to turn into a well sheltered 
out-door avairy. I canixit do l)etter than cpiote Gosse in "Birds 
of Jamaica." 
" Scarcely bu'ufer tliiiii the average size of the Huniniiiig liirds. this 
'■ little creeper is often seen in company with them, probing the same 
" flowers, and for the same purpose, but in ;i very different manner. 
" Instead of hovering in front of each blossom, a task to which his short 
" wings would be utterly incompetent, the Quit alights on the tree, and 
" proceeds, in the most business-like manner, to peep into the flowers. 
'■ ho])ping actively from twig to twig, and throwing the body into all 
" jiosirions. often clinging by the feet with the back downwards, the better 
" to l eacli the interior of a blossom, with his curved beak and i)eucilled 
" tongue. The minute insects which are always found in the interior of 
" flowers are the object of his search, and the reward of his perseverence. 
" Unsus])ectingly familiar, these birds often resoi't to the blossoming 
" shrubs of gardens and yards. A large Moringo tree, tliat is all tlnough 
" the year profusely set with fragrant spikes of liloom, is a f avoui-ite resort 
"both of these and the Humming-birds. One within a few feet of my 
" window, is. while I write this note, being carefully scrutinised by two 
"active little creatures, that pui'sue their examination witli a zeal jierfectly 
"undisturbed liy my looking on. while the same blossoms are T'ifled on one 
■■ side l>y a minute Humming-bird, and on the other by that gorgeous butter- 
"fiy Um/i/a xJna/ifiis : an interesting association ! The Quit often utters a 
"soft, sibilant note as it peeps about. The nest of this bird is very 
" frequently, perhaps usuallj', built in those low trees and bushes, from 
"whose twigs pend the paper nests of the Brown Wasps, and inclose 
" contiguity with them. The trrass Quits are said to manifest the same 
" predilection : it is a singular exercise of instinct, almost of reason ; for 
"the object is doubtless the defence afforded by the presence of the 
" formidable insects, but upon what terms the league of amity is contracted 
"between the neighbours, I am ignorant. 
" It is in the montli of May. June and July that the Creeper ]iei forms 
"the business of incubation. On the 4th of May as I was riding to 
" Savanna le Mar. I observed a Banana Quit with a bit of silk-cotton in 
"her beak; and on seaix-hing. I found a nest just commenced in a sage- 
" bush {Ld/i.'diia rintiard). The structure, though but a skeleton, was 
" evidently about to be a <1<)me. loid so i'ar. was constructed of silk-cottoii. 
" Since then I have seen several conijiletcd nests. One now before me is 
" in the form of a globe with a small ojjening below the side. The walls 
" are very thick composed of dry gi-ass. intermixed irregularly with the 
"down of Axdepiax. It appeared to have been forsaken from my having 
"paid it too much attention. It was fixed bctweei) the twigs of a branch 
