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S. Porter—A West Indian Diary



extremely pugnacious, and two birds will, upon seeing each other,

start a violent aerial combat and will not case until one or the other is

vanquished. I have seen these birds attack Hawks and even Eagles !

The flight of these birds when in pursuit of one another is incredibly

swift. Like the other Hummers, this species appears to be black at

first sight, but when in the right position and the sunlight falls on it,

the breast appears like a glowing ember shining through black.


The Minute Humming Bird (Mellisuga minima). —There seems to

be some dispute whether this is really the tiniest bird in the world.

I did not see it owing to shortness of time on the island, but I did see

the skins and its body is certainly not larger than that of a humble bee,

in fact its total length including the tail and long beak is slightly

over 2 inches. It appears to be the least common of the Humming

Birds in Jamaica, and is only found in certain districts. A lady whom

I met near Falmouth, on the north coast, and who was a keen student

of the bird life of the island, said that there were two species of this

tiny Humming Bird. She explained to me the intelligence shown by

the bird in the construction of the nest, which is so tiny that it is

scarcely large enough to insert the tip of one’s little finger. The nest

is so camouflaged that it is almost impossible to find one. If the

nest is built on a tree fern, the outside will be stuck all over with the

fine hairs from the trunk, or if built where it is surrounded by moss,

the bird will cover the nest with bright green moss. Should the nest

be built where there is no immediate material for harmonizing it with

the surroundings, the bird will procure from a distance material which

will render the nest, if not invisible to the casual observer, at least

very inconspicuous. Gosse in his Birds of Jamaica speaks of these

Humming Birds as extremely numerous, but they must have greatly

decreased since his day in 1845.


The Jamaican Golden Warbler (Dendroica petechia). —This lovely

little golden bird makes its home in the humid mangrove swamps on

the coast. To those who do not know the tropics mangrove swamps

stand for something fetid and pestilential; in reality they are anything

but that, and these strange marine woods form the home of many

types of life and can, if one has the inclination, form a fascinating

place of study.



