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31

The Birds of Jamaica by P. H. Gosse. 1847

p. 22 Guinea - corn & maize fd. in stomach of owl, believed from having eat up young Pigeon.

p. 98 Trochilus polytinus The beak "is not straight, but perceptibly curved, particularly in the female; the curvature, it is true, varies in individuals, but I possess several females whose beaks are more curved than that of the T. Mango."

p.120 says there is much difference in the tempers of individuals, moody sulky, timid or confiding. "I have noticed this in other birds; Doves, for instance, which manifest individuality of character, perhaps as much as man, if we were competent to appreciate it.

p 148 The greater number of the Warblers are mainly winter visitant to Jamaica: (but this is case with only few or none of the swallows. p. 70)

p 272 Centurus radiolatus (one of the Wood Peckers) casts several kinds of fruit, & sometime extracts of pulp of orange & does damage of Sugar Cane by chiselling a hole & sucking the juice. - Ch. 8

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p. 293 Ring-tail Pigeon has fd. that smoke drive away gnats & frequents trees near any fire in wood & so get shot.

p 318 The Geotrygon sylvatica Gosse (an abnormal Pigeon) is said to lay on ground in angle of tree & scratches ground for the young which follow the mother like chickens.

p. 325 Guinea Fowl feral in Jamaica for last 150 years. Length 21 1/4 inch expanse 31 1/2 flexure 10 1/2. tail 5 1/2 rictus 1 1/2 tarsus 3 1/2 middle toe 2 4/10. Inside hazel feet black. Very bad flyers (so they are in Abyssinia) wild Bird egg 1 7/10 x 1 4/10 & weighs (Robinson M.S) 6 dr. 1 sc. 2 gr.

p 328 Ortyx Virginiana naturalised & abundant for last 100 years.

p 329 Mr Hill says Turkey was fd in Greater Antilles by the Spaniards on their discovery, naturalised by Indians & that the European domestic breed descends from these birds.

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(3) Gosse Birds of Jamaica

p. 388. Himantopus nigricollis "out of 16 or 18 birds carefully examined, I saw only one with a very decidedly marked recurved character the length also of the legs of no two birds was precisely the same nearly 1/2 inch of difference was found between the tibia & tarsus of the longest & shortest observations.

Mr Hill M.S., fully borne out by Mr Gosses observations. This case of variability in abnormal characters.

p. 414 Pelecanus fuscus tamed knew the Sundays on which Fishermen did not fish & "was a tranquil observer of the rest, & with it the fast of the Sabbath day."