Part 1

Transcriber’s Note: See also the companion book “Illustrations of the Birds of Jamaica”

THE BIRDS OF JAMAICA.

BY PHILIP HENRY GOSSE;

ASSISTED BY RICHARD HILL, ESQ., OF SPANISH-TOWN.

LONDON: JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW. M.DCCC.XLVII.

LONDON: Printed by +S. & J. Bentley+, +Wilson+, and +Fley+, Bangor House, Shoe Lane.

PREFACE.

White of Selbourne has somewhere expressed the gratification which would be afforded to him by a sight of the _hirundines_ of the “hot and distant island” of Jamaica. We know, in fact, exceedingly little of the _biography_ of tropical animals—of those details of their habits, which are to be known only by a close and continued observation of them in their woodland homes. The present volume may perhaps contribute an acceptable item to the amount of information, derived, as it is, entirely from original investigation. Nearly two hundred species of birds are thus ascertained to belong to the Jamaica Fauna, though of several of these, the author can give only indications more or less precise. He cannot doubt that many species have escaped the researches both of himself and his friends, especially among the migrant visitors. The valuable assistance, however, of a resident Ornithologist, whose notes _pervade_ this volume, and to whom he would here express his deep gratitude, have greatly diminished the omissions which must otherwise have been unavoidable.

Perhaps a word of apology may be thought needful for the minuteness with which the author has sometimes recorded dates, and other apparently trivial circumstances, in his observations. It is because of his conviction, that an observer is hardly competent to determine what circumstance is trivial, and what is important: many a recorded fact in science has lost half its value from the omission of some attendant circumstance, which the observer either did not notice, or thought irrelevant. It is better to err on the side of minuteness than of vagueness.

The author takes this opportunity of proffering his cordial thanks to those friends in Jamaica who kindly assisted his investigations; and particularly to Andrew G. Johnston, Esq., of Portland, and George Wilkie, Esq., of Spanish-town.

+London+, March, 1847.

SYNOPSIS OF THE BIRDS OF JAMAICA.

+Order.+—ACCIPITRES.

+Fam.+—VULTURIDÆ. Cathartes aura.

+Fam.+—FALCONIDÆ. Buteo borealis. Falco anatum. columbarius. [Morphnus urubitinga. [Pandion Carolinensis. [Nauclerus furcatus.

+Fam.+—STRIGIDÆ. Ephialtes grammicus. Strix pratincola.

+Order.+—PASSERES.

+Fam.+—CAPRIMULGIDÆ. Chordeiles Virginianus. Nyctibius Jamaicensis. pallidus.

+Fam.+—HIRUNDINIDÆ. Acanthylis collaris? Tachornis phœnicobia. Cypselus niger. Hirundo pœciloma. euchrysea. Progne Dominicensis.

+Fam.+—TODIDÆ. Todus viridis.

+Fam.+—ALCEDINIDÆ. Ceryle alcyon.

+Fam.+—NECTARINIADÆ. Certhiola flaveola. maritima.

+Fam.+—TROCHILIDÆ. Lampornis mango. Trochilus polytmus. Mellisuga humilis.

+Fam.+—CERTHIADÆ. Mniotilta varia.

+Fam.+—TURDIDÆ. Merula leucogenys. Jamaicensis. [Turdus mustelinus. Mimus polyglottus. Trichas Marylandica. Vermivora Pennsylvanica. Seiurus Noveboracensis. aurocapillus. Parula Americana. Sylvicola coronata. pensilis. æstiva. eoa. discolor. Canadensis. pannosa. pharetra.

+Fam.+—MUSCICAPADÆ. Setophaga ruticilla. Myiobius pallidus. tristis. stolidus. Tyrannus Dominicensis. caudifasciatus. crinitus. Tityra leuconotus. Vireo Noveboracensis. Vireosylva olivacea.

+Fam.+—AMPELIDÆ. [Ampelis Carolinensis. Ptilogonys armillatus.

+Fam.+—CORVIDÆ. Cyanocorax pileatus. Corvus Jamaicensis.

+Fam.+—STURNIDÆ. Quiscalus crassirostria. Icterus leucopteryx. [ ——? [ ——? Dolichonyx oryzivorus.

+Fam.+—FRINGILLADÆ. Tanagra Zena. Pyranga rubra. Tanagrella ruficollis. Euphonia Jamaica. Coturniculus tixicrus. Crithagra Brasiliensis. Spermophila anoxantha. olivacea. bicolor. adoxa. Pyrrhula violacea. [ Robinsonii? [Guiraca Ludoviciana.

+Order.+—SCANSORES.

+Fam.+—PSITTACIDÆ. Ara tricolor? [ aracanga. [ ararauna. [ militaris. Conurus flaviventer. Psittacus agilis. leucocephalus.

+Fam.+—PICIDÆ. Picus varius. Centurus radiolatus.

+Fam.+—CUCULIDÆ. Saurothera vetula. Piaya pluvialis. Coccyzus Americanus. seniculus. Crotophaga ani.

+Order.+—GYRANTES.

+Fam.+—COLUMBADÆ. Columba Caribbea. rufina. leucocephala. Turtur leucopterus. Zenaida amabilis. Chamæpelia passerina. Peristera Jamaicensis. Geotrygon sylvatica. montana. Starnænas cyanocephala?

+Order.+—GALLINÆ.

+Fam.+—PHASIANIDÆ. Numida meleagris.

+Fam.+—TETRAONIDÆ. Ortyx Virginiana.

+Order.+—GRALLÆ.

+Fam.+—CHARADRIADÆ. Ægialites melodus. vociferus. [ semipalmatus. [Charadrius Virginiacus. [Squatarola Helvetica. [Strepsilas interpres.

+Fam.+—ARDEADÆ. Egretta nivea. candidissima. cœrulea. ruficollis. Herodias virescens. Ardeola exilis. Nycticorax Americanus. [Ardea Herodias. [Egretta leuce? [Botaurus minor. [Platalea ajaja. [Ibis rubra. [Numenius longirostris. [ Hudsonicus?

+Fam.+—SCOLOPACIDÆ. Pelidna pusilla. Actitis macularius. Totanus chloropygius. flavipes. melanoleucus? Gallinago Wilsoni. [Tringa canutus. [Calidris arenaria. [Catoptrophorus semipalmatus. [Rusticola minor.

+Fam.+—RALLIDÆ. Aramus scolopaceus. Rallus longirostris. concolor. Ortygometra Carolina. minuta. Jamaicensis. Porphyrio Martinica. Gallinula galeata. Fulica Americana.

+Fam.+—RECURVIROSTRADÆ. Himantopus nigricollis. [Recurvirostra Americana.

+Order.+—ANSERES.

+Fam.+—ANATIDÆ. Phœnicopterus ruber. Dendrocygna arborea. [ autumnalis. Anas maxima. Cyanopterus discors. inornatus. Erismatura spinosa. [ ortygoides. [Chen hyperboreus. [Anser Canadensis. [Dafila acuta. [Pœcilonetta Bahamensis. [Mareca Americana. [Aix sponsa. [Querquedula Carolinensis. [Rhynchaspis clypeata. [Chaulelasmus streperus. [Anas obscura. [ boschas. [Cairina moschata. [Oidemia perspicillata. [Fuligula Americana. [ affinis. [ rufitorques. [Nyroca leucophthalma.

+Fam.+—PELECANIDÆ. Pelecanus fuscus. Sula fusca. [ fiber. [ piscator. [ parva. Fregata aquilus. Phaeton æthereus.

+Fam.+—LARIDÆ. Thalasseus Cayanus. Hydrochelidon fuliginosa. [Megalopterus stolidus. [Thalasseus Cantiacus. [Sterna argentea. [Hydrochelidon nigra. [Xema atricilla.

+Fam.+—PROCELLARIADÆ. [Thalassidroma ——?

+Fam.+—ALCADÆ. [Alca ——?

+Fam.+—COLYMBIDÆ. Podilymbus Carolinensis? Podiceps Dominicus.

ERRATA.

Page Line 33, 2, for “_Falcons_,” read _Nightjars_. 64, 5, ” “_pæciloma_,” ” _pœciloma_. 113, 15, after “into,” ” our. 170, 19, for “On their return } {The migrant in spring, they,”} ” {visitors. 185, 8, ” “_voltigant_” ” _voltigent_. 286, 2, ” “and,” ” I.

THE BIRDS OF JAMAICA.

+Order.+—ACCIPITRES. (_Birds of prey._) +Fam.+—VULTURIDÆ. (_The Vultures._)

JOHN-CROW VULTURE.[1]

(_Turkey-buzzard._—+Wilson.+)

_Cathartes aura._

_Vultur aura_, +Linn.+ _Cathartes aura_, +Illiger+.—Aud. pl. 151.

[1] Length 25¹⁄₂ inches, expanse 66, tail 9¹⁄₂, wing from flexure 20¹⁄₄, rictus 2²⁄₁₀, tarsus 3, middle toe 2¹⁄₁₀, claw ⁹⁄₁₀.

The history of this species has been so ably written by Wilson and Audubon, that I shall do little more than touch on one or two disputed points in its economy. An excellent memoir of this Vulture, communicated to me by my valued friend Richard Hill, Esq., of Spanish-town, affords some interesting particulars:—

“Notwithstanding it forms so common a feature in our landscapes, being seen every day and every where, on the mountain as well as in the plain, in the city as well as in the country, the Aura is not common to the West Indies. It exists in Cuba and Trinidad, but is unknown in Hayti, and in all the intermediate islands of the Caribbean chain. We are no doubt indebted for it to an accidental colony blown over to us from Cuba, and Cuba herself owes it to some stray visitants from the neighbouring continent of Florida. Some similar fortuity imparted to us in common with Cuba, from America, its naturalized hive-bee, which is said to have been, at comparatively a late period, an introduction into St. Domingo.

“Those who ascribe the power which the Vulture possesses of discerning from a distance its carrion food, to the sense of seeing or to the sense of smelling, _exclusively_, appear to me to be both in error. It is the two senses, exerted sometimes singly, but generally unitedly, which give the facility which it possesses of tracing its appropriate food from far distances. * * * * I shall relate one or two occurrences, which seem to me to be instances in which the sense of seeing and the sense of smelling were sometimes separately and sometimes unitedly exerted by the Vulture in its quest for food.

“A poor German immigrant who lived alone in a detached cottage in this town, rose from his bed after a two days’ confinement by fever, to purchase in the market some fresh meat for a little soup. Before he could do more than prepare the several ingredients of herbs and roots, and put his meat in water for the preparation of his pottage, the paroxysm of fever had returned, and he laid himself on his bed exhausted. Two days elapsed in this state of helplessness and inanition; by which time the mass of meat and pot-herbs had putrefied. The stench becoming very perceptible in the neighbourhood, Vulture after Vulture as they sailed past were observed always to descend to the cottage of the German, and to sweep round, as if they had tracked some putrid carcase, but failed to find exactly where it was. This led the neighbours to apprehend that the poor man lay dead in his cottage, as no one had seen him for the two days last past. His door was broken open; he was found in a state of helpless feebleness, but the room was most insufferably offensive from something putrefying, which could not immediately be found, for the fever having deprived the German of his wits, he had no recollection of his uncooked mess of meat and herbs. No one imagining that the kitchen pot could contain anything offensive, search was made everywhere but in the right place: at last the pot-lid was lifted, and the cause of the insupportable stench discovered in the corrupted soup-meat.

“Here we have the sense of smelling directing the Vultures, without any assistance from the sense of sight, and discovering unerringly the locality of the putrid animal matter, when even the neighbours were at fault in their patient search.

“Some few days succeeding this occurrence, after a night and morning of heavy rain, in which our streets had been inundated to the depth of a foot, and flood after flood had been sweeping to the river the drainage of the whole town,—a piece of recent offal had been brought down from some of the yards where an animal had been slaughtered, and lodged in the street. A Vulture beating about in search of food, dashed in a slanting direction from a considerable height, and just resting, without closing his wings, snatched up the fresh piece of flesh, and carried it off.

“Here was the sense of sight unassisted by that of smelling, for the meat was too recent to communicate any taint to the morning air, and the Vulture stooped to it from a very far distance.

“On another occasion very near to the time when these facts attracted my notice, a dead rat had been thrown out, early in the morning, into the street, having been caught in the previous night. Two Vultures sailing over head in quest of a morning meal, descended at the same time, stooping to the dead rat, the one from the south, the other from the north, and both seized the object of attraction at the same moment.

“Here again was the vision, unaided by the sensitiveness of the nostrils, directing _two_ birds with the same appetite, at the same moment, to the same object.

“For the next example, I am indebted to the records of a Police Court. A clerk in the engineer department at Up-park Camp, brought before the magistrates of St. Andrew’s, on the 20th of January, 1840, a man who had been beset in the night by the dogs of the barracks. The poultry-yard had been repeatedly robbed; and this person was supposed to have been prowling after the roost-fowls, at the time the dogs rose upon him.” This case had been heard, and the man committed to the House of Correction, when a complaint was presented against another man whom Major G., also of the camp, had detected under similar circumstances, and lodged in the guard-house. Two days after his detection, “the Major observed some Carrion-Vultures, hovering about a spot in the fields, and on sending to see what was the matter, a Kilmarnock cap containing a dead fowl, and some eggs, tied up in a pair of old trousers, was found very near to the spot, where the prisoner was caught. This discovery by the aid of the Vultures confirming the suspicion against the prisoner, he was condemned.

“The last instance that I shall relate is one in which the senses of hearing, seeing, and smelling were all exercised; but not under the influence of the usual appetite for carrion food, but where the object was a living, though wounded animal.

“A person in the neighbourhood of the town, having his pastures much trespassed on by vagrant hogs, resorted to his gun to rid himself of the annoyance. A pig which had been mortally wounded, and had run squealing and trailing his blood through the grass, had not gone far before it fell in the agonies of death. At the moment the animal was perceived to be unable to rise, three Vultures at the same instant descended upon it, attracted no doubt by the cries of the dying pig, and by the scent of its reeking blood; and while it was yet struggling for life, began to tear open its wounds and devour it.

“These several instances, I think, abundantly shew that all the senses are put in requisition by the John-crow Vulture in its quest for food.”

From the facts thus presented by Mr. Hill we gather also, that the common opinion is erroneous, which attributes to the Vulture a confinement of appetite to flesh in a state of decomposition. Flesh is his food; and that he does not pounce upon living prey like the falcons, is because his structure is not adapted for predatory warfare, and not because he refuses recent, and even living flesh, when in his power. If the John-crow Vulture discovers a weakling new-born pig apart from the rest, he will descend, and seizing it with his beak, will endeavour to drag it away; its cries of course bring the mother, but before she can come, the Vulture gives it a severe nip across the back, which soon ensures the pig for his own maw. If a large hog be lying in a sick condition beneath a tree, the Vulture will not hesitate to pick out its eyes, having first muted upon the body, that it may discover whether the animal be able to rise; the contact of the hot fæces arousing the hog if he be not too far gone. Cattle also he will attack under similar circumstances. One of my servants once saw a living dog partly devoured by one. The dogs of the negroes, half-starved at home, “bony, and gaunt, and grim,” if they discover carrion, will gorge themselves until they can hardly stir, when they lie down and sleep with death-like intensity. A large dog thus gorged, was sleeping under a tree, when a John-crow descended upon him, perhaps attracted by the smell of the carrion which the dog had been devouring, and began tearing the muscles of the thigh: it actually laid open a considerable space, before the poor animal was aroused by the pain and started up with a howl of agony. The wound was dressed, but the dog soon died.

A notion is very prevalent, that the Vulture refuses the flesh of its own kind; or that if there ever be an exception, it is only when the stomach of the dead bird is filled with carrion. This I have proved to be unfounded. I shot one in August, the body of which I threw out; in a very few minutes it was surrounded by others, and the bones picked clean, though the stomach was nearly empty, and the body had no odour of carrion.

“The Aura Vultures,” says Mr. Hill, “are often to be observed soaring in companies, particularly previous to a thunder-storm. This occurrence is commonly remarked, because at almost all other times this species is seen solitary, or, at most, scouring the country in pairs. They appear to delight in the hurly-burly of transient squalls, gathering together, and sweeping round in oblique circles, as the fitful gust favours them with an opportunity of rising through the blast, or winging onwards through the misty darkness of the storm. The effect which this imparts to a tropical landscape at a time when thick clouds are upon the mountains, and all vegetation is bending beneath the sudden rush of the tempest, as gust gathers louder and louder, is particularly wild and exciting. Ordinarily, however, in the evening, when the sea-breeze is lulling, and the fading day-beam is changing like the hues of the dying dolphin, they delight to congregate, and career at an immense height. At this time they soar so loftily, that they are scarcely discernible as they change their position in wheeling from shade into light, and from light into shade. They seem as if they rose upward to follow the fading day-light, and to revel in the departing sunbeams, as, one after the other, the varying hues are withdrawn, or irradiate only the upper heavens.

“There is a salacious predilection of the Aura Vulture for the black hen of the poultry-yard, and the black turkey, supported by so many well-authenticated instances, that I cannot doubt the fact. It is said that the Vulture on these occasions makes its amorous attack with an eagerness assuming the character of ungovernable fury. Fear overcomes the hen, and the sudden assault terminates in an embrace, from which she escapes only to linger and die in a very short time. A sort of _carcinoma uteri_ is the consequence. * * *

“This is altogether a curious and very unaccountable fact. Those who know how difficult it is to bend instinctive nature, and induce the union of animals different and yet similar, will perceive the perplexity in which this occurrence is involved. The only link of relationship in these events, is the very distant similitude of colour; for the unnatural predilection is restricted to fowls of black plumage.”

I may add that on my reading the above notes of my friend, I mentioned this statement to my negro servants, both of whom assured me that the fact was indubitable, and well known; and each of them averred that he had witnessed its occurrence.

The dimensions in the note, p. 1, were those of the largest of two adult males of the ordinary size, which, however, is considerably less than that of continental specimens. The tongue is singularly formed, and may be termed spoon-shaped; or rather it is a half-tube, curved in its length, having its edges, which are bony, cut into minute and beautifully regular teeth, pointing backwards. The skin of the head is naked, except some small scattered hairs, and falls on the occiput into ten or twelve transverse wrinkles; its colour varies in the same individual, being sometimes purple, then in a few minutes bright red; when dead, it is a dull lake-pink. The feet are scaly, white; or rather dull reddish, covered more or less with a white scurf; the red hue is most apparent at the upper part of the tarsus; the claws are horny black. Immediately in front of the eye is a series of irregular tuberculous excrescences of a dull white, varying in extent.

Like many black birds this Vulture is subject to albinism. There was a pied one, which for a long time had been occasionally seen in company with others over Bluefields and the vicinity. I at length invited him with some flesh, and lying in wait, shot him. The white feathers were promiscuously interspersed, chiefly on the shoulders, breast, upper and under tail-coverts, and wing-quills; some of the longest primaries were wholly, others partially, white; but the wings were not uniform in the distribution of the colours. This individual was recognisable almost as far as visible; for the white was very pure. Some, however, are found much more completely white than this; my negro lad, Sam, had seen one which had the wings wholly white except some of the least coverts; and the breast also white.

The situations usually selected in Jamaica by this Vulture for the laying and hatching of its eggs, are hollows and ledges of rocks in secluded places, or inaccessible crags and cliffs. A little dry trash or decaying leaves, are all the apology for a nest. A young one taken in such a situation, and brought to me in May, was nearly full-fledged, but bore little resemblance to the adult. The whole body, with the exception of the winglet, the wing quills, and the tail, was clothed with down of the purest white, while the naked head with the beak was black. The eyes, as usual in young birds, were blue-grey. It smelled strongly, unbearably, of musk; was very fierce, tilting at every thing, striking with the wings, and leaping forward to bite. It kept up a continued harsh hissing. The nest contained two young, but they had begun to wander, though as yet unable to fly.

+Fam.+—FALCONIDÆ. (_The Falcons._)

RED-TAILED BUZZARD.[2]

_Chicken Hawk._

_Buteo borealis._

_Falco borealis_, +Linn.+—Aud. pl. 51. _Falco Jamaicensis_, +Gmel.+ _Buteo borealis_, +Bechst.+

[2] Length 20 inches, expanse 44¹⁄₂, tail 7¹⁄₂, flexure 13¹⁄₂, rictus 1⁹⁄₁₀, tarsus 3³⁄₄, middle toe 1¹⁄₂, claw 1.

This Buzzard, which we learn from Wilson is spread over the United States, is the most common raptorial bird in Jamaica. Permanent, not migratory, we see it all the year round, sailing deliberately in wide circles over the pastures and ruinates, now near the ground, but presently soaring into the upper air, each circle higher and higher till the bird is lost in the glare of a tropical sky. It is common to see two individuals of this species in company, sailing each in its own circle, but intersecting the other; and as they thus fly, they utter from time to time a sudden energetic cry, “_pinyee_.”

The frequency of this bird’s depredations on the poultry of the homestead, has given it a provincial appellation. In the stomach of one, examined by Wilson, he found, however, the remains of frogs and lizards. Its courage is not proportioned to its size or arms. Not long ago, near Bluefields, two of these Hawks swooped together upon a white barn-door cock, who defended himself so vigorously and so successfully as to keep them both at bay for some time, until, help coming, both the marauders were shot.

Some observations of Mr. Hill’s, on the flight of the birds of prey, elicited by a few remarks in a letter from a friend, appeared to me so interesting, that he kindly placed both in my hands, for the advantage of the present work; and I here present them to my readers.

_Samuel R. Ricketts, Esq., to Richard Hill, Esq._