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.”
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.[105]
Pelidna pusilla.
| Tringa pusilla, | Wils. pl. 37. |
| Pelidna pusilla, | Cuv. |
[105] Length 5¾ inches, expanse 11½, flexure 3⁸⁄₁₀, tail 1½, rictus ⁷⁄₁₀, tarsus ⁸⁄₁₀, middle toe ⁸⁄₁₀. Intestine 11 inches, two cæca ¾ 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.