76



S. Porter—A West Indian Diary



were made. This Parrot is now only found in certain restricted

mountain forests in the districts of Trelawny and St. Ann, which are

situated in the central part of the northern slopes of the Island. These

areas are very sparsely populated and are covered with thick forest.

But even here the bird is rare. In my search for these birds I was told

on every hand by the natives that the “ Black-bills ” never lived very

long in captivity. I was always told in answer to my question, “ Black-

bills, no good sah, he always die, soon, plenty soon.” Why these birds

should die when its congener flourishes is rather a mystery. Also,

why it should have died out while the other bird continues to be still

fairly numerous, because the bird under discussion was far more

numerous than the Yellow-bill a matter of a hundred years ago when

Gosse wrote his book on the birds of Jamaica. In fact, one would have

thought that it would have been the Yellow-bill which would have been

the more scarce, for this bird is in far greater demand as a cage bird

and in the past large numbers were taken and hand-reared to sell in

Kingston.


It has been stated by scientists that the Island Amazons belong to

two groups. The first contains the four great island species

A. imperialis, A. guildingi, A. versicolor, and A. bouqueti, while all

the others, seven in number, from Cuba, Haiti, The Bahamas, Jamaica,

The Caymen Islands, and Porto Bico, are all sub-species of the wdiite-

fronted bird from Cuba. This is true in regard to six of the species,

but A . agilis is entirely distinct and is not closely related to any of the

others. It is one of the few Amazons which have a very distinct

sexual difference, as I will explain later on. It is also evident that this

bird has not the robust constitution of the others and that it cannot

stand the altered conditions which are brought about by the advance

of European civilization.


By a great stroke of luck, I was able to secure, shortly before I left

Jamaica, a perfect and true pair of these birds. I had given to me in

Kingston the address of a native, who some years ago offered a pair

of Black-bills for sale to the Jamaica Institute. He lived at a remote

place near Falmouth on the north coast. By a lucky chance I found

that he was one of the labourers who came to help load the casks of

rum on the ship. He said he hadn’t any Black-bills as they were now



