LITTELL'S LIVING AGE.-No. 173.-4 SEPTEMBER, 1847.

From the Westminster Review.

The Birds of Jamaica. By PHILIP HENRY GOSSE;
assisted by RICHARD HILL, Esq., of Spanish
Town. London: John Van Voorst, Paternoster
Row, 1847.

IN a former number of this Review we ventured

to express our gratification that the repulsive aspect long presented by Natural History, in consequence of its time-honored array of hard names and crabbed systems," is gradually but surely yielding to the conviction that scientific truths need not necessarily be concealed behind the mystic veil of so-called scientific language. For a long series of years, those who wished to learn something more of the habits and properties of natural objects than their own opportunities for observation could supply without the trouble of wading through the dry technicalities which met them at the very outset of their inquiries, were fain to content themselves with what they could glean from compilations, too often got up," for sale, by parties who knew nothing or next to nothing of the subjects they were writing on; but, fortunately, a better state of affairs has lately been developed; and we now see men of science, whose attainments do honor to themselves

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and to their country, cheerfully imparting their knowledge, and imparting it too in such a manner as to attract rather than to repel the less favored votaries of science-those who, with every wish to acquire information, have neither the opportunity nor the leisure to prosecute their inquiries beyond the acquisition of a general knowledge of a given subject, but who, nevertheless, desire that the information they are able to obtain should be accurate, so far as it goes. To this end, the beautiful series

of works on the Natural History of the British Isles, published by Mr. Van Voorst, has conduced in an eminent degree. Written by men who are thoroughly acquainted with their subject, and illustrated in the first style of pictorial embellishment, these works, by the popular manner in which the different branches of Natural History are treated, and by the accuracy and beauty of their illustrations, have perhaps done more to awaken and extend a love for natural history pursuits than any others which have ever issued from the press; and we would fain hope that the volume, relating to another part of the world, the title of which we have given above, is only the forereunner of others of a similar nature, which we are sure the reading public will fully

and faithfully describes their appearances as affected
by the changing seasons of a northern clime; in his
"Birds of Jamaica" he confines himself to a single
phase of animal life, but that a lovely one.
served during a residence in one of our tropica.
possessions.

The number of birds described in the work before

us is 128, including 21 species apparently new to science. In his descriptions of these birds, Mr. Gosse has judiciously kept in view the wishes of two distinct classes of readers, to both of whom must the present work prove most acceptable. The one class delights only in such dry details as the number and disposition of the teeth of a quadruped; the number of rays supporting the fins of a fish; the length of the bill or of the tarsi of a bird; or the disposition of colors on the gorgeous wing of a butterfly for these, anecdotes serving to elucidate the habits and mode of life of the members of the animal kingdom, possess, comparatively, but few attractions. The other class, again, decry such mere structural details, and content themselves with

studying the habits of animals; and we scarcely need say that the latter class is by far the most numerous. For the use of the first-named class of

readers, Mr. Gosse has given ample details of the structure and admeasurement of parts, in the form of foot-notes; while, for the second and more comprehensive class, the text presents a series of striking and life-like sketches of the habits of the birds

described in his volume.

Naturalists, like authors, are an irritable race; and a most amusing book might be written on the subject of their quarrels. These quarrels are not at all times confined within the bounds of courtesy: the inquiry whether a fossil jaw-bone belonged to a monkey, an opossum, or a lizard; the opinion as to the antennæ of an insect being organs of hearing or of feeling; and the questions of the priority of discovery or the specific identity or distinctness of a plant; have occasionally elicited as many discreditable ited by the disputants upon a doubtful quantity in manifestations of angry feeling as were ever exhibHomer, or the intent and meaning of the few remaining mutilated letters of some old-world inscription, which, like Mr. Pickwick's memorable discovery at Cobham, have, more than once, set together by the ears the whole world of letters. A lengthened controversy of this kind was carried on some years back with regard to the sense by which the vulture is enabled to distinguish its prey, while Those who have already made acquaintance with soaring at a great height in the air; one party conthe author of the "Canadian Naturalist," will re- other as pertinaciously affirming that smell alone tending that this was effected solely by sight, the joice at again meeting him, and that upon new ground. His "Birds of Jamaica" is a most de- was the faculty brought into action. The following lightful book, which no admirer of White, Wilson, quotation, from information furnished to Mr. Gosse Bonaparte, or Waterton, can possibly do without; by his friend, Mr. Hill, a resident in Jamaica, shows that both the contending parties were in the wrong, since, in its charming bird-biographies, it is a wor-since it is evident that the object of their contenthy associate of the imperishable works of those eminent naturalists. Like them, Mr. Gosse has tion makes use of both nose and eyes when seekstudied nature; he has made himself familiar with her varied moods; and while, in his "Canadian Naturalist,"

appreciate as they deserve.

ing 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

it was.

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 trowsers, was found very near 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.

ingredients of herbs and roots, and put his meat in | the major observed some carrion vultures hovering 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 potherbs had putrefied. The stench becoming very perceptible in the neighborhood, 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 carcass, but failed to find exactly where This led the neighbors 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 neighbors 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,

"A person in the neighborhood 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."-p. 2.

The minute details relating to structure, previously spoken of, form an essential portion of natural science; but such details only afford a means to enable the naturalist to attain a higher end, and they can never compensate for the absence of what may be termed the private history of an animal, derived from a personal acquaintance with its habits, and such an intimate knowledge of its manners of life as can only be gained by a residence in the scenes frequented by the objects of our study. The importance of observation, in correcting erroneous inferences drawn from mere structural peculiarities, is well illustrated by an extract, which shows that even the great Cuvier was sometimes at fault, when trusting too implicitly to theoretical considerations.

"The statement of Cuvier, that the proportions of the Nyctibius completely disqualify it from rising from a level surface,' I saw disproved; for notwithstanding the shortness of the tarsi, (and it is, indeed, extreme,) my bird repeatedly alighted on, and rose from, the floor, without effort. When resting on the floor, the wings were usually spread; when perching, they about reached the tip of the tail. If I may judge of the habits of the Potoo from what little I have observed of it when at liberty, and from the manners of my captive specimen, I presume that, notwithstanding the powerful wings, it flies but little; but that, sitting on some post of observation, it watches there till some crepuscular beetle wings by, on which it sallies out, and having captured it with its cavernous and viscid mouth, returns immediately to its station. Mr. Swainson appears to consider that the stiff bristles, with which many Caprimulgida are armed, have a manifest relation to the size and power of their prey, beetles and large moths, while these appendages are not needed in the swallows, their prey consisting of little soft insects.'-(Class. Birds.) But here is a species whose prey is the hardest and most rigid beetles, of large size, and often set with formidable horns, which has no true rictal bristles at all!”—p. 45.

The next illustration is very interesting, confirmatory as it is of a conjecture, the result of observation, hazarded by one who modestly styled himself a mere "out-door naturalist."

"White's conjecture of the purpose to which the serrated toe of the Nightjar is applied, namely, the

Mr. Gosse gives a pleasing account of the manner of nidification of a beautiful little swallow, described as a new species under the name of Palmswift, (Tackornis phoenicobia,) which builds its nest in the large sheath enveloping the organs of fructification in the cocoa-nut palm.

ened. All the nests were evidently old ones, for the Bombax had not yet perfected its cotton; and hence I infer that these birds continue from year to year to occupy the same nests, until they are thrown off by the growth of the tree. The entrance to the nests, which were sub-globular, was near the bottom "-p. 60.

better holding of the prey which it takes with its foot while flying, would have been more than rendered highly probable by an inspection of the foot of the Nyctibius. The inner front toe and the back toe are spread out by the great extension of the enveloping flesh of the phalanges, to such a breadth as to give the foot the character and form of a hand; while the movement of these prehensile organs is so Two months later, the same birds were observed adjusted that the back toe and the three front toes, in another locality, where, perhaps from the absence pressed flat against one another, can enclose any of the cocoa-nut palm, they were constructing their thing as effectually as the palms of the hands. The nests on a quite different plan, illustrating the facil[claw of the] middle toe, which is serrated in the ity with which the habits of animals are occasionCaprimulgus, is simply dilated in the Nyctibius, a ally modified so as to adapt them to the varied peculiarity also of the swallows. Whatever defi- circumstances in which they may be placed. ciency of prehension this may give it, when com- "Near the middle of May, my servant Sam, being pared to the power of the serrated nail of the Cap-engaged at Culloden, in Westmoreland parish, cutrimulgus, is amply compensated for in the Nyctibius ting the fronds of the palmetto (Chamaerops) for by the palin-like character of the foot, by the extra- thatching, found these little birds nestling in abunordinary expansion of the toes, and by the quantity dance, and procured for me many nests of the of membrane connecting them together. All this present season. Their recent construction, and would be a mere waste of power if it did not perform perhaps the diversity of their situation—for instead some function like that which White assigned to the of the hollow of a spathe these were attached to foot of the Nightjar."-p. 48. the plaited surface of the fronds-gave them a different appearance from the former specimens. Many of these I have now in my possession. They have a singularly hairy appearance, being composed almost exclusively of the flax-like cotton of the Bombax, and when separated, are not unlike a doll's wig. They are in the form of those watch"I observed several small swallows flying above fobs which are hung at beds' heads, the backs being some cocoa-nut palms; they uttered, as they flew, firmly glued by saliva to the under surface of the a continued twittering warble, shrill but sweet, fronds, the impressions of the plaits of which are which attracted my attention. I commenced a conspicuous on the nests when separated. The careful search with my eye of the under surface thickness is slight in the upper part, but in the of the fronds and spadices of one, and at length lower it is much increased, the depth of the cup discerned some masses of cotton projecting from descending very little below the opening. The some of the spathes, which I concluded to be their cotton is cemented firmly together as in the case of nests. This conjecture proved correct; for pres- the others, but externally it is allowed to hang in ently I discovered a bird clinging to one of these filamentous locks, having a woolly, but not altomasses, which I shot, and found to be this white-gether a ragged, appearance. A few feathers are rumped swift. On my lad's attempt to climb the intermixed, but only singly, and not in any part tree, eight or ten birds flew in succession from vari- specially. One specimen is double, two nests havous parts, where they had been concealed before. ing been constructed so close side by side, that The tree, however, was too smooth to be climbed, there is but a partition wall between them. Many and as we watched beneath for the birds to return, nests had eggs, but in throwing down the fronds one and another came, but charily, and entered their all were broken but one, which I now have. It is respective nests. Although several other cocoa-pure white, unspotted, large at one end, measuring nuts were close by, I could not discern that any one of them was tenanted but this, and this so numerously, whence I inferred the social disposition of the bird. At some distance we found another tree, at the foot of which lay the dried fronds, spadices, and spathes, which had been, in the course of growth, thrown off, and in these were many nests. They were formed chiefly in the hollow spathes, and were placed in a series of three or four in a spathe, one above another, and agglutinated together "One captured with a net in April, on being but with a kind of gallery along the side communi- turned into a room, began immediately to catch flies cating with each. The material seemed only feath- and other minute insects that flitted about, particuers and silk-cotton (the down of the Bombax ;) the larly little destructive Tineadæ that infested my former very largely used, the most downy placed dried birds. At this employment he continued within, the cotton principally without; the whole incessantly, and most successfully, all that evening, felted closely, and cemented together by some slimy and all the next day from earliest dawn till dusk. fluid, now dry, probably the saliva. With this they He would sit on the edge of the tables, on the were glued to the spathe, and that so strongly, that lines, on shelves, or on the floor, ever glancing in tearing one out it brought away the integument about, now and then flitting up into the air, when of the spathe. The walls of the nest, though for the snap of his beak announced a capture, and he the most part only about a quarter of an inch thick, returned to some station to eat it. He would peep were felted so strongly as to be tenacious almost as into the lowest and darkest corners, even under the cloth. Some were placed within those spathes that tables, for the little globose, long-legged spiders, yet contained the spadices; and in this case the va- which he would drag from their webs and swallow. rious footstalks of the fruit were enclosed in a large He sought these also about the ceiling and walls, mass of the materials, the walls being greatly thick-and found very many. I have said that he contin

thirteen twentieths of an inch by nine twentieths. The average dimensions of the nests were about 5 inches high, and 3 1-2 wide."-p. 62.

A very common bird in Jamaica, the Green Tody, (Todus viridis,) has received the name of Robin red-breast, from his crimson velvet gorget; he is a general favorite. This bird is easily domesticated, and the manners of one, kept for a short time by the author, are thus described :

whirr, and there she was, suspended in the air before her nest: she soon espied me, and came within a foot of my eyes, hovering just in front of my face. I remained still, however, when I heard the whirring of another just above me, perhaps the male, but I durst not look towards him lest the turning of my head should frighten the female. In a minute or two the other was gone, and she alighted again on the twig, where she sat some little time preening her feathers, and apparently clearing her mouth from the cotton fibres, for she now and then swiftly projected the tongue an inch and a half from the beak, continuing the same curve as that of the beak. When she arose it was to perform a very interesting action; for she flew to the face of the rock, which was thickly clothed with soft dry moss, and hovering on the wing, as if before a flower, began to pluck the moss, until she had a large bunch of it in her beak; then I saw her fly to the nest, and having seated herself in it, proceed to place the new material, pressing, and arranging, and

ued at this employment all day without intermission, | bird's reappearance. I had not to wait long: a loud and, though I took no account, I judged that, on an average, he made a capture per minute. We may thus form some idea of the immense number of insects destroyed by these and similar birds; bearing in mind that this was in a room, where the human eye scarcely recognized a dozen insects altogether; and that in the free air insects would doubtless be much more numerous. Water in a basin was in the room, but I did not see him drink, though occasionally he perched on the brim; and when I inserted his beak into the water, he would not drink. Though so actively engaged in his own occupation, he cared nothing for the presence of man; he sometimes alighted voluntarily on our heads, shoulders, or fingers; and when sitting would permit me at any time to put my hand over him and take him up; though when in the hand he would struggle to get out. He seemed likely to thrive, but incautiously settling in front of a dovecage, a surly baldpate poked his head through the wires, and with his beak aimed a cruel blow at the pretty green head of the unoffending and unsus-interweaving the whole with her beak, while she pecting Tody. He appeared not to mind it at first, fashioned the cup-like form of the interior by the but did not again fly, and about an hour afterward, pressure of her white breast, moving round and on my taking him into my hand, and throwing him round as she sat. My presence appeared to be no up, he could only dutter to the ground, and on lay-hindrance to her proceedings, though only a few ing him on the table, he stretched out his little feet distant; at length she left again, and I left the feet, shivered, and died.”—p. 74. place also. On the 8th of April I visited the cave again, and found the nest perfected, and containing two eggs, which were not hatched on the 1st of May, on which day I sent Sam to endeavor to secure both dam and nest. He found her sitting, and had no difficulty in capturing her, and, with the nest and its contents, be carefully brought down to me. I transferred it, having broken one egg by accident, to a cage, and put in the bird; she was mopish, however, and quite neglected the nest, as she did also some flowers which I inserted; sitting moodily on a perch. The next morning she was dead."p. 103.

Nothing can be more spirited than the author's accounts of the lovely humming-birds, known to the majority of English naturalists only from descriptions and figures, or at most from the preserved specimens met with in cabinets, or, as ornaments, carefully guarded from dust under glasses. Such figures and specimens, however well executed or well prepared, cannot possibly afford more than a very faint idea of the ever-changing beauty and splendor of these winged gems, which Mr. Gosse introduces to us in all their living loveliness, painting, as vividly as words can paint, their domestic habits, their wars-for, lovely as they are, these tiny fellows are much more pugnacious than even our own jealous and quarrelsome Robin red-breast -their mode of building, and, unfortunately for all his attempts at domestication, what may be termed their death-bed scenes also. For so impatient of confinement are the humming-birds, that none of those which he captured and kept under the most favorable circumstances, survived longer than a few days.

The following extract relates to "the gem of Jamaican ornithology," the long-tailed hummingbird, (Trochilus Polytmus)

The author was particularly anxious to bring alive to England some of these "radiant creatures; and though his earliest endeavors to keep them alive for any length of time, even if they survived their capture, proved entirely fruitless, yet his attempts were valuable, as giving him a fuller insight into the manners of the humming-birds than, perhaps, he would otherwise have obtained. The following account, though long, is exceedingly interesting.

"At my first attempt, in the spring of 1845, I transferred such as I succeeded in bringing alive, to cages immediately on their arrival at the house, and though they did not beat themselves, they soon sunk under the confinement. Suddenly they would fall to the floor of the cage, and lie motionless with closed eyes; if taken into the hand, they would perhaps seem to revive for a few moments; then throw back the pretty head, or toss it to and fro, as if in great suffering, expand the wings, open the eyes, slightly puff up the feathers of the breast, and die, usually without any convulsive struggle. This was the fate of my first attempts.

While I lingered in the romantic place, picking up some of the land shells which were scattered among the rocks, suddenly I heard the whirr of a humming-bird, and, looking up, saw a female Polytmus hovering opposite the nest, with a mass of silk cotton in her beak. Deterred by the sight of me, she presently retired to a twig, a few paces distant, on which she sat. I immediately sunk down among the, rocks as quietly as possible, and remained perfectly still. In a few seconds she "In the autumn, however, they began to be came again, and after hovering a moment, disap-numerous again upon the mountain, and having, on peared behind one of the projections, whence in a few seconds she emerged again, and flew off. I then examined the place, and found to my delight a new nest, in all respects like the old one, but unfinished, affixed to another twig not a yard from it. I again sat down among the stones in front, where I could see the nest, not concealing myself, but remaining motionless, waiting for the petite

the 13th of November, captured two young males. sucking the pretty pink flowers of Urena lobata, I brought them home in a covered basket. The tail feathers of the one were undeveloped, those of the other half their full length. I did not cage them, but turned them out into the open room, in which the daily work of preparing specimens was carried on, having first secured the doors and windows