92 
TRINIDAD. 
There are birds of gayest plumage, birds good for- 
food, but few song-birds among the birds of Trinidad. 
We have parrots and paroquets, and macaws, doves 
of several kinds; and all good game. The doves are 
common all over the island, and in the early morning, 
or as the day is drawing to a close, they are heard 
making their mournful complaints to the surrounding 
silence. No other note meets the ear when this is 
heard, and to listen to them long, produces sad and 
mournful feelings. They are of a pretty, bluish grey,, 
and are not easily shot, from their shyness, but are more 
commonly caught in traps set for them. 
Tlie humming-birds are very pretty in a glass-case 
but their beauty is dazzling, as their gold and emerald 
plumage shines in the sun’s rays as they flit with 
ligbtning-like velocity from flower to flower, keeping 
themselves poised by the rapidity of the movement of 
tlieir tiny wings, as, with long bill inserted into the- 
chalice of the flower, they extract its sweets. They 
are caught with hand-nets ; and so beautifully sliot 
are their breasts, that an ingenious bird-fancier makes 
brooches with them. They differ much in size and in 
beauty of plumage. It is declared by an ornithologist 
there, that they live on insects, and not only on the 
juice of flowers, as has been supposed. The little house- 
bird or sparrow, called by the people here rougnol, is 
very common. It builds about the houses, in the spout- 
ing and eaves, just as sparrows do in England ; but it 
is a slighter, more graceful bird than the sparrow, living 
chiefly on insects. 
The West Indies have rather a bad name for snakes, 
serpents, centipedes, scorpions, tarantulas, &c. There 
are, indeed, numerous reptiles in Trinidad ; but all are 
not poisonous. Turtle and morocoys are common, and 
are constantly used as an article of food, turtle-steaks 
beins almost as common as beef-steaks in the markets. 
Morocoys, or land-turtle, are easily taken in the woods, 
brought to market and sold. Those who buy them 
