Ideal Love-Bird. 
57 
carriage-roads and foot-ways have been chosen by the pretty red- 
breasted Icterus guianensis liriss. and black I. sericcus. On nearing 
the avenues of Erythrina, the charm of their lovely lloral decoration is 
increased yet tenfold by the large number of humming-birds, particularly 
the Trochilus pectoralis Linn, which, like a swarm of bees, Hitter round 
the innumerable blossoms while the shrill cry of the little Psittacus 
taipara Linn, is to be heard coming from the red flower bunches: the lat- 
ter birds, unlike the former, that are content with the nectar alone, ac- 
tually at the same time pick away at the pistils, but never at the stam- 
ens of these fragrant flowers. When one turns one's gaze from the blos- 
soming Erythrina to the flowering tamarind, the gold-glistening 
Trochilus moschatus Lath, is seen hovering round it in similar fashion 
while the loud chatter from out of its feathery leaves betrays the gar- 
rulous companies of dull green Psittacus passerinus Linn, and P. gre- 
garius Spix. The Icterus icterocephalus Baud., I. xanthomas Daud., 
the Tanagra magna L. Gin., T. Jacapa Gin., T. nigerrima Gm., Euphone 
riolacea. E. chlorotica and Cassicus nig er Daud., fly with confusing 
clamour over the rich plantation fields while the shy little Crex uiustelina 
peeps cautiously out of the grass, and as quick as thought draws back 
immediately upon noticing anything suspicious. Crex melampyga and 
Porphyrio martinica have chosen the plantain or sugar fields for hiding- 
places. 
202. German poets, unaware of the sympathy existing between a pair 
of Psittacus passerinus, have chosen a pair of doves as Love's idyllic 
symbol: — but how far the refinement of the one surpasses that of the 
other! In the ease of Psittacus , absolute harmony reigns between the 
reciprocal Willing and Doing. When the one eats, so does the other: 
if one takes a bath, the other accompanies it: should the male start 
shrieking, the female immediately joins in : when the one is sick, the other 
feeds it, an|d supposing several are settled on a tree, the respective pairs 
never separate. 
203. During the ripening of the fruit of the Psidium pyriferum and 
pomiferuni, whole flocks of Psittacus menstruus Linn, visit these trees, 
but when the season is over, disappear as quickie as they came; the same 
thing also happens with the blue headed Psittacus Maxiiuiliana Kuhl. 
during the ripening of different species of Ficus which grow in the 
vicinity of the coast. Both species in the Colony are considered great deli- 
cacies in Georgetown. 
204. Amongst mammals, only representatives of beasts of prey are 
really to be seen in the immediate vicinity of the city, because except for 
a Nasua, Gulo , Procydn, Didelphys, Chironectes and now and then a 
Jaguar, it is rarely that a deer, a Dasyprocta Aguti or a Coelogenys 
Paca puts in an appearance: a far more frequent visitor on the estates 
farther remote is the jaguar in particular. 
205. Everybody who wants to carry a gun, i.e. to hunt over the cul- 
tivated portions of the Colony, has to pay a yearly licence of S dollars: 
only Indians are exempt from it. The reason for the tax dates from 'the 
lime before Emancipation when it was imposed to render the carrying of 
fire-arms by negroes a matter of difficulty, though after they obtained 
their freedom it was considered advisable to retain it; the idea was that 
