98



S. Porter—A West Indian Diary



Needless to say I quickly offered to relieve the debtor of any further

responsibility, and also give him a good profit into the bargain. The

old parson was very conscientious, and refused to part with the bird

until he had consulted the owner. Eventually the owner consented to

part with the bird on condition I paid his debt. The wretched bird had

been fed only on mango skins and stale bread, and very little of that too.


No species of Parrot is confined to such a small territory as this one.

The Grand Caymans are a group of many very small islands which

lie between Cuba and Yucatan, but are adminstered by Jamaica.

The Cayman Islanders are noted for being some of the finest sailors

known, and schooners from the Caymans often visit Jamaica, and in

the old days used to bring some of these small Parrots over. I was

told that these birds are seldom, if ever, brought over now and birds

of this species are very rare in Jamaica. Besides the pair in the Jamaica

Institute, the one I secured seemed to be the only one in Jamaica.

There is little doubt that this bird will soon become extinct, for besides

the destruction of the trees on the Caymans, these islands are visited

by terrific hurricanes, which take a great toll of the bird life.


This is one of the most beautiful of the smaller “ Island Amazons ”,

and is allied to the bird from Cuba, but it differs considerably in size,

being much smaller, the white on the forehead being much restricted,

and not being a pure white but mixed with pink, black, and yellow.

The bird which I possess has the breast mostly a wine red, the feathers

edged with green.


The Long-tailed Humming Bird (Aithurus polytmus ).—Any

visit to Jamaica by a bird-lover is incomplete unless he sees the

crowning glory of the island’s wonderful avifauna, the Long-tailed

Humming Bird. Not only is it one of the most beautiful of the whole

family, but it ranks as one of the world’s loveliest birds. A little more

than 4 inches long, it possesses a tail very similar to that of a

Whydah, rather like that of the Pin-tailed Whydah.


The general colour is the deepest velvety black and an amazing

scintillating emerald green. Iridescent green is common in Humming

Birds, but not the green of this bird, which appears in the living bird

like a brilliant green light. On the head is an arrangement of crests

and tufts very difficult to describe. Another very striking feature is



