72



S. Porter—A West Indian Diary



In my search for rare birds I would often hear of someone who

had a collection, but I usually found on arriving at the abode of the

person who kept them, that the collection consisted of Doves, usually

“ white-wings I was rather surprised to see this apparent interest

in birds by the black races, but I was afterwards disgusted to find that

these birds were only kept as a titbit to add to the “ pot ” on occasion.

The only other birds the natives keep, from other than a culinary point

of view, are the Yellow-billed Parrots which they hope one day

to sell.


The White-bellied Jamaican Ground Dove (Leptotila jamaicensis ).

This very beautiful species is confined to Jamaica where it is far from

common. These birds live in the remote woods and forests on the

mountains, so are very seldom seen by the casual observer.


I obtained a true pair of these lovely birds, but alas ! tragedy

dogged their footsteps from the first. I put them in a large cage with

the other Doves which I had purchased in Kingston, but on the first

day out, while fixing a perch in the cage, the male slipped out over my

hand. It flew around the ship for a time and eluded all or efforts to

capture it. At length when passing a light buoy, the bird flew towards

it, but had not the strength to reach it so sank into the sea and was

drowned.


This Dove is terrestrial and I am afraid has suffered badly owing

to the Mongoose. It is very light in colour, being pure white below,

and pale fawn above, the sides of the neck being suffused with a beautiful

amethyst pink. It is very rotund in shape. I still have the female

and hope next year to obtain more of this species.


The Ruddy Quail Dove (Oreopeleia montana). This extraordinary

looking little bird is not common in Jamaica, in fact, I believe it is

now rare in all its former widespread habitats especially in Cuba,

where it is nearly extinct. At one time, owing to the depredation of

the Mongoose, it was said to have become very rare in Jamaica, but

now it is said to have increased somewhat in numbers owing to its

now nesting higher up out of reach of that bloodthirsty little pest.

It haunts the deepest recesses of the forests and is seldom seen. I saw

several specimens in captivity in Jamaica and all were badly plucked,

for I was told that it was very pugnacious. I secured only one pair of



