S. Porter—A West Indian Diary



103



endeavouring to get them out, but in this they always failed. Both

parent birds each time they left the nest took away with them a large

beakful of some dark brown material which looked rather like

Christmas pudding ! The hole made by the birds was perfectly

symmetrical and I was told it took several months to excavate.


Besides insects, these birds feed on berries and fruit; the owner of

the house told me that she frequently saw the birds bringing beakfuls

of the red Cordia berries to feed the young upon.


This is a large Woodpecker and most beautifully coloured.


The Jamaican Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon fulva poeciloma ).—

In large holes which had eroded in the soft limestone cliffs above the

rushing Rio Cobre were large colonies of the nests of these birds.

These nests, which were flask-shaped, were built in clusters of six up

to several dozens, and looked rather like the earthernware jars of some

primitive race stuck on to the face of the rock. There must have been

hundreds of nests on the face of the cliff, and at the time I visited the

place the young must have been about full-grown. Nearly every nest

contained three or four young ones with their heads hanging out of the

neck of these flask-shaped nests. There were hundreds of adult birds

flying back and forwards to the nests supplying insects to the hungry

young. There was also another smaller species of Martin nesting with

these birds, and their nests were of somewhat different structure and

were built close to, but did not join on to, those of the Cliff

Swallows.


March’s Black-faced G-rass Finch (Tiaris bicolor marchi ).-—The

little bird is common everywhere and is the “ Sparrow ” of Jamaica.

Its strange cricket-like song is heard on every hand though the bird

is not always seen, for it frequents the ground amongst the weeds and

grass, where it feeds upon the minute seeds and, no doubt, small

insects. Not only do its habits render it very unobtrusive, but its

colour makes it more so, for the male is a dull greyish olive with a dull

black head, neck, and breast, the female is even plainer and lacks the

black, being just a dull olive-grey slightly lighter on the under parts.


The ordinary person in Jamaica does not think this bird half as

common as it really is for, although, like the English Sparrow, it is

found around human habitations, unlike that bird it seems very loathe



