The BANANA QUIT, or BLACK AND YELLOW CREEPER (_Certhiola flaveola_), is
blackish brown on the upper parts of the body, and of a beautiful bright
yellow on the under side and rump; a line that passes above the eyes, the
anterior borders of the primary quills, the tips of the tail, and its two
outer feathers are white; the throat is ash-grey, the eye greyish brown,
the back is black, and the foot brown. The female is blackish olive on the
back, and pale yellow on the under side; in other respects her plumage
resembles that of her mate. The length of this species is three inches and
five-sixths; the wing measures two inches and one-sixth, and the tail one
inch.
[Illustration: THE BANANA QUIT (_Certhiola flaveola_).]
"Scarcely larger than the average size of Humming Birds," writes Mr.
Gosse, "this little Creeper is often seen in company with them, probing
the same flowers, and for the same purpose, but in a very different
manner. Instead of hovering in front of each blossom, a task to which
his short wings would be utterly incompetent, the Quit alights on the
tree, and proceeds in most business-like manner to peep into the flowers,
hopping actively from twig to twig, and throwing his body into all
positions, often clinging by his feet with his head downwards, the better
to reach the blossoms with his curved beak and pencilled tongue; the
minute insects which are concealed in the flowers are always the objects
of his search. Unsuspectingly familiar, these birds resort much to the
blossoming shrubs of enclosed gardens. The soft, sibilant note of the
Quit is often uttered while the bird peeps about for food. The nest is
frequently built in those low trees and bushes from whose twigs depend
the paper nests of the brown wasps, and in close contiguity with them. On
the 4th of May, as I was riding to Savannah-le-Mar, I observed a Banana
Quit with a bit of silk cotton in her beak, and, on searching, found a
nest just commenced in a sage bush (_Lautana camara_). The structure,
though incomplete, was evidently about to be a dome, and so far was
entirely constructed of silk-cotton. A nest now before me is in the form
of a globe, with a small opening in the side. The walls are very thick,
composed of dry grass, intermixed irregularly with the down of Asclepias.
This nest I found between the twigs of a branch of Bauhinia that projected
over the high road, near Content, in St. Elizabeth's. The two eggs were
greenish white, thickly but indefinitely dashed with red at the broad end."
[Illustration: THE ABU-RISCH (_Hedydipna metallica_).]