Part 58

“Charlotte Harbour is situated on the Gulf of Mexico, and is studded with numerous small islands or keys, as they are called, on which grows the cocoa-nut, said to be brought hither from the West Indies by the tides, and being thrown on the shore, takes root and flourishes. Some of these islands, during my visit, I may say almost swarmed with Herons, Cormorants, Snake-birds, Spoonbills, and Pelicans, engaged in attending to their nests, and raising their young. The wild fig, orange, lemon, palmetto, and pine, abound—the first of which is the principal food of several species of birds, while the large numbers of fishes everywhere in the surrounding waters afford ample subsistence to those that I have mentioned. On the sand-bars, various species of Terns were to be found in abundance, also engaged in incubation, while the Fish Crow, ever on the alert to seize the eggs or young, or the captured prey of any of these species when left unguarded, was ever to be seen on the wing, and at a distance, and not to be approached easily, I have frequently seen flocks of Flamingoes dredging perseveringly for shell-fishes, or standing in groups, looking almost like files of soldiers in red uniforms.

“I mention these birds because, like the little Long-billed Flycatcher, and like the cocoa-nut, too, if the prevailing belief is correct, they appear to be visitors only from a more southern clime. They seem to have reached Florida in the course of a northern migration, and although remaining for a season, retire periodically, again to appear in due time.

“In this vicinity, I met with the Long-billed Flycatcher, which, coming with his larger and more conspicuous fellow-travellers, to which I have alluded, appears to be a more transient visitant, performing the duties of incubation on this the northern district of his range, and soon retiring southwardly to the West Indies. This bird much resembles in manners and appearance the Red-eyed Flycatcher of the Northern States, but is not, I think, its equal as a vocalist. His notes, at the season when I heard them, were not as numerous, nor his song so long-continued. They are quite different from those of the Red-eye, but clear and musical, and very distinctly uttered. He is constantly on the search for insects, and appeared to me to be more active than either of the northern species, darting about amongst the foliage, or peering into a crevice or recess in a branch, or a spider’s web, with his back downwards, like the warblers,—or occasionally chasing a flying insect, in the manner of the Pewee Flycatchers. These actions were usually accompanied by his song, as is the case with the Red-eye and the Warbling Flycatchers. This species was not abundant, though I saw it frequently, and obtained several specimens.”

The name, “Whip-tom-kelly,” is applied to this bird in Brown’s Jamaica, one of the standard authorities on that Island (the Civil and Natural History of Jamaica, by Patrick Brown, M. D., London, 1789, folio), as its popular appellation, and has been transferred to the works of various authors. Mr. Gosse, however, in his pleasant volume on the Birds of Jamaica, mentions that he had never heard this designation.

The naturalists of Jamaica and Cuba appear to have considered this bird as identical with the Red-eyed Flycatcher. The latter may be a visitor, most probably, in the winter, to these islands, but the present is undoubtedly the resident summer species, at least in Jamaica. The figure in Edward’s Gleanings of Natural History (V. pl. 253), is particularly stated to have been made from Dr. Brown’s specimen brought from Jamaica, and clearly represents the present bird. Mr. Swainson, in Fauna Boreali Americana, Birds, p. 237, in his description of Vireo longirostris, which is this bird, mentions having received specimens from the Islands of Jamaica and St. Vincent.

As a bird of Jamaica, this little Flycatcher is described in his usually agreeable manner, by Mr. Gosse, in his work above alluded to. Holding ourselves in duty bound, we take the liberty of transcribing from his pages as followeth, premising that he calls this bird the “John-to-whit:”—

“Much oftener heard than seen, though not unfamiliar to either sense, this sober-colored bird is one of those whose notes have such a similarity to articulations as to procure them a common appellation. The Flycatchers, in general, are not very vociferous, but this is pertinacious in its tritonous call, repeating it with energy every two or three seconds. It does not ordinarily sit on a prominent twig, or dart out after insects, though I have seen one in eager but unsuccessful pursuit of a butterfly (Terias); but it seems to love the centre of thick woods, where it sits announcing its presence, or flits from bough to bough as you approach, so that it is not easy to get a sight of it.

“This bird does not winter with us, but leaves with the Grey Petchary (Tyrannus Dominicensis), at the beginning of October. It returns early—and like the bird just named, evidently makes an eastward progress, arriving at the southwest end of the island first. On the 26th of March, on my return to Bluefields, after a visit to Spanishtown, I heard its well-known voice, but my lad had noticed it a week before. From this time, every grove, I might almost say every tree, had its bird, uttering, with incessant iteration and untiring energy, from its umbrageous concealment, ’Sweet-John!—John-to-whit!—Sweet-John-to-whit!—John-t’-whit!—Sweet-John-to—whit!’ I can scarcely understand how the call can be written ‘Whip-tom-kelly,’ as the accent, if I may so say, is most energetic on the last syllable. Nor have I ever heard this appellation given to it in Jamaica. After July, we rarely hear ‘John-to-whit’—but, ‘to-whit—to-whoo,’ and sometimes a soft, simple chirp, or sip, sip, whispered so gently as scarcely to be audible. This, however, I have reason to believe is the note of the young, for I have heard young ones repeatedly utter it, when sitting on a twig, receiving from time to time, with gaping beak and quivering wing, the food contributed by the dam.

“The food of the John-to-whit is both animal and vegetable. In March, I have found in its stomach the seeds of the tropic birch, and in April, the berries of sweet-wood, in an unripe state. In the same month, I observed one hunting insects by the borders of Bluefields rivulet, in which I was bathing, and so intent was it upon its occupation, that it allowed me to approach within a foot of it before it flew. It sought insects successfully among the grass and low herbage, perching on the stalks of the weeds, and jumping out after stationary, as well as vagrant, prey. I observed it eat two spider’s nests, which it masticated as if peculiarly savory. As it sat, it vomited a little white body, which I found to be the globose seed of the misletoe berry.

“Incubation takes place in June and July. The nest is rather a neat structure, though made of coarse materials. It is a deep cup, about as large as an ordinary tea-cup, narrowed at the mouth, composed of dried grass, intermixed with silk-cotton, and sparingly with lichen and spiders’ nests, and lined with thatch-threads. It is usually suspended between two twigs, or in the fork of one, the margin being over-woven so as to embrace the twigs. This is very neatly performed. Specimens vary much in beauty,—one before me is particularly neat and compact, being almost globular in form, except that about one-fourth of the globe is wanting, as it is a cup. Though the walls are not thick, they are very firm and close, the materials being well woven. These are fibres of grass-like plants, moss, a few dry leaves, flat papery spiders’ nests, with a little cotton or down for the over-binding of the edges. It is lined smoothly with fibres, I know not of what plant, as slender as human hair. Another nest, similarly formed, has the cavity almost filled with a mass of white cotton, which looks as if thrust in by man, but that those filaments of the mass that are in contact with the sides, are interwoven with the other materials. As it is picked cotton, it must be a bit stolen from some house or yard, not plucked by the bird from the capsule. The eggs, commonly three in number, are delicately white, with a few small red-brown spots thinly scattered over the surface, sometimes very minute and few. Their form is a somewhat pointed oval, measuring nine-tenths of an inch by rather less than thirteen-twentieths.”

Our figure is about three-fourths of the size of life, and represents the adult male from one of Dr. Heermann’s specimens obtained in Florida.

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Vireosylvia. Bonaparte, Geog. and Comp. List of the Birds of Europe and North America, p. 26. (1838.)

Size small, but with the general form compact and stout; bill straight, rather long, wide at base; upper mandible slightly notched near the point; gonys slightly ascending; wing long, second quill usually longest; tail rather short, even; legs and toes moderate in length, slender. A genus containing five or six species, all of which are American. Colors in all known species olive green, narrowly shaded and tinged with yellow.

Vireosylvia altiloqua. (Vieillot.) Muscicapa altiloqua. Vieill., Ois. d’Am., Sept. 1, p. 67, pl. 38. (1807.) Vireo longirostris. Swains., Fau. Bor. Am., II. p. 237. (1831.) Phyllomanes mysticalis. Cabanis, Erichson’s Archiv., 1837, p. 348? Turdus hispaniolensis. Gm., Syst. Nat., I. p. 822?

Form. Bill long, strong, wide at base, with a few pairs of short, weak bristles; wing long; second quill longest; tail moderate, truncate; legs rather long, slender.

Dimensions. Total length of skin, 5½ inches; wing, 3½; tail, 2¼ inches.

Colors. A narrow line of black running downward on each side of the neck, from the base of the lower mandible; head above ashy-olive; other upper parts olive-green, tinged with yellowish; quills and tail olive-brown, edged outwardly with greenish-yellow; a line of yellowish-white running from the nostril over the eye; between the eye and the bill dark olive; under parts white, nearly pure on the throat, and on the other parts tinged with ashy and greenish-yellow, especially on the sides; bill light corneous; irides red.

Hab. Florida, West Indies, and South America. Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada.

Obs. We consider it quite probable that this species is the Turdus hispaniolensis of Gmelin, as above, which is the Hispaniola Thrush of Latham. The figure in Buffon, Pl. Enl. 273, fig. 1, may represent the same.

This bird may readily be distinguished from all other species by the dark lines on the neck, which seem to be present at all ages.

AMMODROMUS ROSTRATUS.—(Cassin.) The Long-billed Swamp Sparrow. PLATE XXXVIII. Adult Male.

Of this bird we can give but a very imperfect history. It is one of a group of Sparrows, of which other species inhabit North America, characterized in some measure like the present, by the length and large size of their bills, and their partiality for the vicinity of salt water. Two species, the Sea-side Finch, and the Sharp-tailed Finch (Ammodromus maritimus and caudacutus), are of frequent occurrence on the shores of the Atlantic, almost throughout the extent of the coast of the temperate regions of North America,—and in New Jersey may be met with in the summer season in considerable numbers, wherever there are salt marshes, or that description of vegetation peculiar to the shores of the ocean, or within reach of its tides. In those localities, frequently of difficult access, these birds rear their young in comparative safety, subsisting on seeds and insects, and seldom attracting attention. They may occasionally be seen, too, on the bare sands of the beach, searching for small marine animals thrown up by the waves.

The present bird is a representative of this group on the shores of the Pacific, and from the notice by its discoverer, which we shall give directly, it appears to be very similar in its habits. It was first observed by Dr. Heermann, near San Diego, California, during his first visit to that country, and has since that time been again noticed only by him. Specimens in excellent plumage and preservation, from his collections, are in the National Museum, Washington city, and in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.

This bird was first described in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy, VI. p. 184 (Oct., 1852). For our present article, Dr. Heermann has kindly permitted us to make the following extract from his Journals, kept during his former and recent visits to California:—

“In 1851, I procured this bird on the shores of the Bay of San Diego, where, in company with other species, it appeared to be engaged in searching for grass-seeds. During the late Pacific Railroad survey by the party under command of Lieut. Williamson, I again saw it in considerable numbers at Santa Barbara and San Pedro. At the latter places, as at San Diego, it frequents the low, sandy beach, and the heavy sedge-grass which abounds on the shores, feeding on marine insects and seeds thrown up by the tides on the former, and in the latter, finding quick and easy concealment when alarmed or pursued. It appears to be a quiet, unsuspicious bird, and I heard it utter only a short, sharp chirp during the limited time that I had to observe it.”

At present, nothing further is known of this species. The figure in our plate is that of an adult male, and is of the size of life.

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.