_Columba Caribbea._
_Columba Caribbea_, +Linn.+—Temm. Pig. pl. 10.
_Columba lamprauchen_, +Wagl.+
[85] “Length 16 inches, expanse 24, tail 5³⁄₄, tarsus 1, middle
toe 1³⁄₁₀. Irides brilliant orange; orbits carmine; beak black;
feet coral-red. Crown, sides of head, and fore-neck, obscure
reddish-purple; throat white. Back of neck splendid purplish green;
back, rump, thighs, and parts beneath the wings, pale blue. Basal
half of tail pale blue, gradually merging into a blackish-blue
bar, nearly an inch broad, which crosses the feathers; thence
to the tip, greyish-blue. Wing quills blackish brown, the first
five edged with white; coverts towards the back, and the pinion
[winglet?], dull olive; the rest of a very dull blue. Breast and
belly dull reddish-brown. Weight 10oz. 2dr”—(Robinson, MSS., ii.
114, abridged.)
Of all our Doves, none is so exclusively arboreal as this. The
Bald-pate, the Blue Pigeon, and the Ring-tail are essentially
tree-doves, but I have seen the first feeding on the ground, and the
second is often seen running; but all who are acquainted with this
bird’s haunts and habits concur in affirming that he is never seen
to put his feet upon the earth. Though it is probable that he must
occasionally procure gravel, to aid in the comminution of his hard
food, and that, when the resources of the wild-pines are exhausted in
the long droughts, he must descend to drink at the mountain ponds, or
gully springs, it seems that he cautiously selects his occasion, when
unwitnessed by human eyes. And yet it is said not to be a shy bird,
nor, at certain times, difficult to obtain by those who have made
themselves acquainted with its habits. It inhabits the most recluse
and dense mountain forests, where few are able to follow it, but the
negro fowlers. The penetration of steep mountain-woods, abounding in
prickly bushes, and tangled, beyond all description, by twining and
pendent lianes, many of which are formidably spinous, where there is
nothing like a pathway, and the ground is strewn with enormous masses
of honey-combed limestone, over whose sharp points the hunter must
often climb at the risk of his neck,—or with a loose rubble that slips
from beneath the feet, and causes continual falls, is an enterprise
that demands no small degree of courage, temper, and perseverance.
The naked feet of the negroes catch hold of the rocky projections,
almost like the hind hands of the monkey, and they can proceed with
rapid and noiseless step; while the shoes of the white man, in his
slow and painful progress, betray, by the displacing of stones, and
the crackling of twigs, his approach to the wary bird, while yet far
away. The musquitoes also, that, thirsting for blood, and swarming in
such situations, dance around his face with their maddening hum, and
soon inflame head, hand, and foot with their pungent stings, make a
tyro long to be out again, almost before he has lost sight of the open
sky of the clearing. But it is the presence of these most annoying
insects, which affords an opportunity of obtaining the highly prized
Ring-tail. This bird appears to suffer more from their stings than
others; or else its superior sagacity has taught it a resource of which
others are ignorant, or unwilling to avail themselves. It is aware that
these little insect-pests cannot abide smoke, and wherever the blue
clouds curl gracefully through the tall trees from the woodman’s fire,
the Ring-tail is said to resort thither, if within the neighbourhood,
and solace itself with a temporary suspension of insect assaults.
But, alas! it is only to expose itself to a more fatal peril, for the
negro sportsmen have marked the habit, and fail not to take advantage
of it. Whenever they have noticed the birds feeding on the berries of
any particular tree, they take an early opportunity of kindling a fire
beneath it, near which they conceal themselves, so as to watch the
tree. The birds begin to arrive, and are shot down by the fowler one
after another; the repeated flashes and reports, and the falls of their
companions, driving the survivors away for a few moments only from the
attractive spot, to which they again and again return till the gunner’s
ambition is satisfied. They are frequently brought to Kingston,
Savanna-le-Mar, and the other towns, and are eagerly purchased for the
table; though, as the distance which they are carried usually prevents
their arrival on the day they are killed, they are almost invariably
deplumed and drawn, and the inside strongly peppered before they are
sent to market. Hence specimens for the naturalist, are to be obtained
only by a special expedition. Of the three superlative delicacies of
which the natives of Jamaica boast, the Ringtail holds the undisputed
pre-eminence. The others are the Fresh-water Mullet, and the Black
Land-crab. Dr. Chamberlaine (Comp. to Jam. Alm. 1840) mentions this
bird as “the most luscious dainty of his class, or of any other. I am
acquainted,” he further observes, “with no bird that the sportsman
pursues, that can be compared to the Ring-tail Pigeon, for the
richness, the delicacy, and the tenderness of his flesh. He is, during
the months of September, October, and November, a mass of luscious fat,
and his plump and well-enveloped flesh acquires for him a superiority
over that of all his tribe.” It is a common thing, at the period of
their high condition, for birds shot from a tall tree to burst asunder
with the fall.
The Ring-tail is stated invariably to perch near the middle of a tree,
usually in the fork of the principal limbs; where, when seated, it will
remain quietly looking down at the fowler, perhaps within a few yards
of his head. The centre of those trees which are clothed with a dense
tangled mass of withes or creepers, is preferred; and it is asserted
that on no occasion is this bird to be seen perched on an exterior twig
or branch. The Blue Pigeon sometimes manifests the same predilection;
but with him it is only when the gusty “norths,” rocking the flexible
branches, would make his seat on them uncomfortable if not insecure.
The Ring-tail will sometimes leave his solitudes, and come down to eat
the berries of missletoe, growing on sour-sop and other trees. A friend
has seen four thus engaged on a tree in the house-yard. It eats the
seed of the yam also in the provision ground.
When the vernal rains have copiously descended, the “negro-yam” sends
out plentifully its young and tender shoots: the tips of these, with
the unopened leaves and buds, are particularly agreeable to this
exquisite bird, and it may often be shot at that season in the grounds
of the mountain slopes. It is, however, then in poor condition.
By an Act of the Colonial Legislature, 10 Ann. xvi. 3, wild pigeons
were forbidden to be killed in the parishes of St. Catherine or St.
John’s, or on any island or kay, in the months of May, June, and July,
under a penalty of forty shillings, or slaves to have thirty-nine
lashes. Since the abolition of slavery, this, as well as many other
laws, of similarly oppressive character, has been repealed.
Robinson found in one, the hard perforated seeds of the small
palmetto-thatch. He mentions also, that in the autumn they owe their
fatness to feeding on the fruit of the trumpet-tree, wild-raspberries,
and wild star-apples. “It is remarkable,” he observes, “that the thighs
[tibiæ?] are twice the length of the legs [tarsi?].”
The unwonted absence of the seasonal rains in the spring of 1846,
rendered my efforts to obtain specimens of this fine bird fruitless,
though I sent experienced persons many times to their usual haunts.
I am therefore compelled to give a description from Dr. Robinson’s
MSS. The preceding accounts, also, are the results, not of personal
observation, but of careful and minute and repeated inquiries. Mr. Hill
writes me that it has been abundant on the Highgate mountains since my
departure.
Temminck asserts that the Ring-tail seems to be spread over the
whole Antilles and _Bahamas_, but is not aware that it exists on the
continent. Mauge found it at Porto Rico, where it is said to associate
in flocks of many hundreds. (!)