S. Porter—A West Indian Diary



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rare “ Black-bills We asked about every native seen en route if

he or she knew of any Parrots for sale. Usually we were not even given

an answer, merely a shake of the head. Sometimes someone thought

he knew of one but as often as not it turned out to be a rabbit ! As

we got into the wild and very beautiful country our quest seemed more

hopeful. One native had a pair of the birds which he had just taken from

the nest. He brought them from his hut and they proved to be birds of

about six to eight weeks old, almost fully fledged but quite unable to

feed themselves. They resembled the adult exactly in plumage. Going

further on, we came across a native boy who said that he could get us

a couple of “ Black-bills ”. This sounded too good to be true. He said

he knew of a nest of young birds but it would take him a couple of

hours to reach it and get back again. So we promised to call on the way

back. We continued on our journey but failed to find any more Parrots.

In a couple of hours we returned to the pre-arranged spot for our

prize. Our dusky friend was not there though some of his friends

were. They told us that he would soon be back, but the minutes turned

into hours and at last we were on the point of leaving, as my ship was

due to sail in the early evening and it was then late afternoon, and had

I have missed it, it would have meant a long journey by car to another

port to have caught it again. At last there was a commotion in the forest

and the boy appeared bringing in his basket, not the precious “ Black-

bills ” he had promised, but three tiny “ Yellow-bills ”, only a few

weeks old and with hardly a feather showing. Needless to say our

disappointment was great. In reply to our expostulations we were told

that the “ Black-bills ” were too young, so he brought “ Yellow-bills ”

instead ! Knowing what would happen to the birds if I left them,

I purchased them in the faint hope that I might be able to rear them.

They were excessively fat and felt more like downy bags of liquid

than any thing else. The natives said that so fat do the birds become

before fledging that the parents starve them so that they are able to fly

when they leave the nest. I can quite believe the truth of this statement.


We brought the birds back to the ship, arriving only a few minutes

before she sailed. I had brought cages, etc., for birds I might pick up

on the voyage, but I had no convenience for rearing young birds, and

Parrots are by no means the easiest of birds to hand-rear.



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