_Night-heron or Qua-bird._—+Wils.+
_Nycticorax Americanus._
_Ardea nycticorax_, +Linn.+—Aud. pl. 236.
? _Ardea violacea_ (_immature_), Ibid.
_Nycticorax Americanus_, +Steph.+
[104] Length 24 inches, expanse 41¹⁄₂, flexure 12, tail 4³⁄₄,
rictus 3⁵⁄₈, tarsus 4¹⁄₄, middle toe 2³⁄₄. A male, immature;
occipital plumes 3¹⁄₂ inches long. I have not seen the adult.
Though a common inhabitant of the deep and fetid morasses, where the
sombre mangrove crosses its tangled roots in inextricable confusion,
this fine bird is much oftener heard than seen. The superstitious
negro, whose heart is in his throat if he is compelled to stir beyond
his threshold by night, is often startled by the loud and hoarse _quok_
of this bird, suddenly emitted from the dark solitudes on either side
of the road, or from the branches of a tree above his head, where the
bird is roosting for the night. Occasionally, when out before day,
seeking some birds which are to be shot only at dawn, I have myself
heard the same loud cry repeated with deliberation, while the sudden
flapping of large wings told that the bird, not less startled, was
seeking a station less liable to interruption, farther within the
morass. In floating down such broad streams as Burnt Savanna, or Black
River, where they are margined by tall overhanging mangrove-woods,
we often see this bird, seated on some high branch, which commands a
wide prospect; but no sooner is the canoe espied, than he spreads his
immense wings, and sails heavily off with the customary vociferation.
Vigilant and suspicious, it is not an easy thing to shoot the Quok,
unless the sportsman see it first, and conceal himself before he is
discovered, or cautiously creep towards the secluded retreat where he
hears the voice. But this is almost a forlorn hope; for the senses of
the bird are very acute, and he takes alarm from the slight sounds made
by the most circumspect footsteps, and escapes in time. Any unusual
noise will provoke the utterance of the unmusical voice; a shout, or
the report of a distant gun, will be answered from several parts of the
morass; and not only by this species, but in various tones by other
Herons and Bitterns.
It is a noble bird; its commanding height, erect attitude, stout
built frame, fiery eye, powerful beak, hanging crest, and handsome
plumage, give it an imposing aspect. Crabs and other Crustacea
form its principal diet; evidently swallowed entire, though often
of considerable size. The flesh is dark; the fat, which is usually
abundant, is of a deep yellow tinge. Notwithstanding the powerful voice
of this bird, the trachea is weak, and destitute of convolution or
enlargement, save at the divarication of the bronchi.
A specimen was shot in April, in the spotted plumage, which is supposed
to indicate youth. It fell into the water, wounded, where it began
to swim, the head erect, and the body no more immersed than that of
a duck; it struck out with both feet, and made rapid way towards the
roots of a mangrove near, on reaching which it jumped out of water, and
ran up, but was then secured. In this state it is sometimes called the
Guinea-hen Quok, from the white spots on the grey ground; and I am not
sure that it is not distinct. One that was shot in May in this plumage,
a female, had eggs in the ovary as large as pepper-corns.
* * * * *
Mr. Hill mentions to me as indigenous _Ardeadæ_, besides such as have
come into my hands,—the Great Heron (_Ardea Herodias_), the Great White
Heron (_Egretta leuce?_), the American Bittern (_Botaurus minor_), and
the Roseate Spoon-bill (_Platalea ajaja_).
The first of these was not an unfamiliar visitant in the vicinity of
Bluefields, being often seen by myself and others at early dawn on the
sea-shore, and at the edges of the mangrove swamps. Once or twice we
have known a particular tree on which the bird roosted, and Sam has
repeatedly watched both before break of day and after dusk, but could
never succeed in obtaining a shot at the bird, so excessive was its
vigilance.
The second I once saw at a great distance while on the Burnt Savanna
River in November, its long white neck towering above the thick reeds;
I judged it to be between four and five feet high. At length it flew to
a distant tree; the morass precluding the possibility of my gratifying
my desire to possess it.
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._)