A Holidai/ in the West Indies. 
213 
niassa, ])uy these nuissii," was the only answer I could get to my 
enquiries. 1 was oJeieil a .laguar, a very tine one, which was quite 
tame, liaviiig been caught as a cub and hand leared. I offered the 
owner a fiver lor hiui, and the purchase was practically completed when 
my friend stopjwd negotiations, lie said he very much objected to 
being made a meal of, and assured nie if I carted it about with me for 
two mcntlis, tliere would be trouble. So after taking a snapshot of it 
in the cage we left it. From here we sailed for Trinidad, only staying 
tliere two days (I returned to Trinidad later). Here I purchased a pair 
of Egrets out of a very fine flock kept at the Queen's Park Hotel, Port 
of Spain (see photoj and took them aboard, as I intended forwarding 
the birds I had collected home by this ship. We then called at 
Rarbadoes, but birds there were few and far between. The bird of the 
island is a White-eyed Starling, which roams the streets iu numbers, 
its colour is blue-black with a forked tail. It was useless my procuring 
any as I had no soft food and could not purchase any, although I 
made exhaustive enquiries. No one keeps insectivorous birds in these 
Islands. Our next call was (jeorgetown, Denierara. 1 paid a visit to 
the .Museum, which contains many interesting and instructive speci- 
mens of minerals, raw materials for manufacturing purposes, such as 
rubber, cottons, hemp, silk, etc., also a collection of local birds, both 
in cases and skins, and upon examining the visitors' book I was 
surprised to see the name of Mr. W. Frost. I at once commenced to 
make enquiries, and learned he had gone up country in search of 
birds. I should have been delighted to have met him there, and if he 
would ha"e had me as a companion 1 should have accompanied him on 
what proved to be a very exciting trip. My companion takes vei'y 
little interest in birds, and I am afraid at times wished there were no 
birds within one hundred miles of us ; I purchased a few Blue and Palm 
Tanagers, and had offered to me by a nigger a cage containing 60 
Taiiagers, principally Blue and Palm ; they were in wretched condition 
from overcrowding, ai.d when he saw I really did not want them, 
offered to let me have the lot for a soveieign — let a nigger once knew 
you want anything and you wiU have to pn\ for it. i was too eager 
on more than one occasion, and ul courbe iiad to pay for my lolly. 
One pair of the Blue Tanagers pui'chased here, nested in my aviary at 
the end of .June ; they built in a tlartz cage making the nest of leaves, 
stripped off a bamboo growing in the aviary, and cotton wool. They 
hatched two young and reared them to about 14 days' old, when for some 
reason which I cannot explain deserted them. They were well 
developed and fine youngsters, and were fed chiefly on flies, gnats, 
and mealworms. The nestling down was pale chocolate brown — upper 
