Part 39

The second I once saw at a great distance while on the Burnt Savanna River in November, its long white neck towering above the thick reeds; I judged it to be between four and five feet high. At length it flew to a distant tree; the morass precluding the possibility of my gratifying my desire to possess it.

This is, I presume, the species alluded to by Mr. Hill in the former part of the following note.—“I must not omit to mention that in Cuba I saw very usually, in the small farms by the sea-side, the large White Egret or Garzota in a state of mansuetude. The Flamingo was not unfrequently its companion in this unrestrained captivity, if we may use this contradictory expression to represent a state where reconcilement to servitude included a full permission to the birds to use their wings in flight. The abundant food obtained from the refuse of the fishermen’s nets on the beach at day-break, supplied them with an early and full meal for the day, and explained the mystery of this willing captivity. In St. Domingo I visited a woodland farm, situated by the side of some fine freshwater ponds, the resort of numerous wild ducks in the season, where the submission to life among the poultry, on the part of one of the small Egrets, was the result of association only. What was most remarkable was the determination of this bird always to occupy the centre of the roost, by the side of the patriarchal cock. I stayed purposely till roosting time, to see him shift his place after gaining the roost-tree, until he got his station in the middle of the dormitory.”

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In some seasons the Scarlet Ibis (Ibis rubra) is not an uncommon visitant on the shores of Jamaica; but I have not met with it. The present winter, 1846-7, Mr. Hill informs me, has brought it in somewhat numerously. On the same authority, I mention two species of Curlews, the one known as the Black Curlew, which is Numenius longirostris, the other called the White Curlew, which may be N. Hudsonicus, or perhaps Ibis alba.

+Fam.+—SCOLOPACIDÆ. (The Snipes.)

LITTLE SANDPIPER.

Pelidna pusilla.

Tringa pusilla, +Wils.+ pl. 37. Pelidna pusilla, +Cuv.+

Length 5³⁄₄ inches, expanse 11¹⁄₂, flexure 3⁸⁄₁₀, tail 1¹⁄₂, rictus ⁷⁄₁₀, tarsus ⁸⁄₁₀, middle toe ⁸⁄₁₀. Intestine 11 inches, two cæca ³⁄₄ inch long.

About the end of the year, this little species becomes numerous in the open morasses, associating in flocks of about half a dozen, which run swiftly over the boggy and wet soil, as the other Sandpipers do.

Out of the same flock I found some, both males and females, which had the beak considerably broader and flatter than others; some also have the feet blackish, and others clay-colour. In other respects the specimens were undistinguishable.

I found in the stomach comminuted animal matter, and fragments of shells.

SPOTTED SANDPIPER.

Actitis macularius.

Tringa macularia, +Wils.+—Aud. pl. 310. Actitis macularius, +Boie+.

Length 7¹⁄₂ inches, expanse 12, flexure 4, tail 1⁹⁄₁₀, rictus 1¹⁄₂₀, tarsus 1¹⁄₁₀, middle toe ⁹⁄₁₀. Intestine 9 inches; two cæca 1¹⁄₂ inch from cloaca, 1 inch long, very slender.

This is a common species with us, affecting principally the margins and shallows of rocky streams, such as Bluefield River. It arrives from the north about the end of August, and remains certainly till after the middle of April, and I am not sure that individuals do not stay all the summer.

Wilson has delineated the manners of this bird in a very interesting manner, to which I have nothing to add. One which was wounded in the wing, I put into a cage for an hour or two; during which time it frequently made a succession of charges at the wires, squatting down at intervals on the belly. When it walked, it was in a singular manner; the heel much bent, the tarsus forming an acute angle with the ground, and the toes thrown forward.

BAR-TAILED SANDPIPER.

Totanus chloropygius.

Tringa solitaria, +Wils.+ Totanus chloropygius, +Vieill.+

Length 8 inches, expanse 15, flexure 5, tail 2²⁄₁₀, rictus 1¹⁄₄, tarsus 1¹⁄₁₀, middle toe 1¹⁄₁₀.

About the ponds of pastures, and fresh-water morasses, this Sandpiper or Gambet is frequently seen; and that not quite so solitarily as Wilson found it. The gizzard of one that I dissected was filled with a blackish, unctuous, filamentous substance, among which I detected some fragments of minute water-insects, a small larva of a libellula, &c.

One day, as I was seeking Herons in Paradise marshes, I aimed at a bird twice in succession, but each time the cap detonated without igniting the charge: the slight sound alarmed two or three Bar-tails, that were close by, and caused them to rise a few yards into the air, where they remained several seconds, hovering, the wings held perpendicularly, and nearly meeting over the back, after which they settled down again. One, whose wing had been broken, I allowed to run about my room, having first cut off the dangling joint. It had much of the manners of the Kildeer (see p. 331), but frequently held up the wings perpendicularly, when running.

That the power of swimming does not depend on webbed feet, is now pretty well known; some instances I have mentioned already. A Bar-tail, shot at Mount Edgecumbe pond, plunged into the water, and swam vigorously, striking out with both feet. On another occasion a Sandpiper, I do not know of what species, being wounded, plunged into a river, and swam some distance; but Sam pursuing and approaching it, it dived, and swam swiftly under water, like a Grebe, coming up at the distance of several yards, then instantly diving again, till at last it effected its escape among the reeds and bushes at the margin.

YELLOW-SHANKS GAMBET.

Totanus flavipes.

Scolopax flavipes, +Wils.+—Aud. pl. 288. Totanus flavipes, +Bechst.+