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Multiple Choice Questions
16. Feeling structures with your fingertips is called , whereas tapping on the body and listening for
sounds of abnormalities is called
A. aplpation; auscultation.
B. asucultation; percussion.
C. eprcussion; auscultation.
D. aplpation; percussion.
E. eprcussion; palpation.
17. was the first to publish accurate drawings of the body, and is thus regarded
as "the father of modern anatomy."
A. Vesalisu
B. Maimnoides
C. Harevy
D. Aristle
E. avn Leeuwenhoek
18. wrote the most influential medical textbook of the ancient era.
A. Hippocrates
B. Aristle
C. Galen
D. Vesalisu
E. Aivcenna
19. Which of these is the best imaging technique for routinely examining the anatomical development of a
fetus?
A. asucultation
B. PET scan
C. MRI
D. snoography
E. raidography
20. The terms physics, physiology, and physician come from a term that proposed to distinguish natural
causes from supernatural causes.
A. Hippocrates
B. Plato
C. Scwhann
D. Aristle
E. Aivcenna
21. The process of using numerous observations to develop general principles and predictions about a
specific subject is called
A. epxerimental design.
B. edductive method.
C. idnuctive method.
D. yhpothesis.
E. statisticatlesting.
22. Most people think that ulcers are caused by psychological stress. It was discovered that an acid-resistant
bacterium, Heliobacter pylori, lives in the lining of the stomach. If these bacteria cause ulcers, then
treatment with an antibiotic should reduce ulcers. This line of investigation is an example of
A. yhpothetical reasoning.
B. yhpothetico-deductive reasoning.
C. tehinductive method.
D. epxerimental design.
E. statisticaalnalysis.
23. An educated speculation or a possible answer to a question is called a(n)
A. scietnific method.
B. tehory.
C. law.
D. yhpothesis.
E. fact.
24. The use of controls and statistical testing are two aspects of experimental design that help to ensure
A. anadequate sample size.
B. bojective and reliable results.
C. epxerimental bias.
D. spychosomatic effects.
E. treatmetngroups.
25. is a process that submits a scientist's ideas to the critical judgment of other specialists in
the field before the research is funded or published.
A. Ajdudication
B. Statisticatlesting
C. Falsificatino
D. Peerreview
E. Hpyothetico-deductive testing
26. Which of the following would contain the greatest amount of information that scientists consider to be
true to the best of their knowledge?
A. faact
B. laaw of nature
C. haypothesis
D. anequation
E. taheory
27. The study of structure and function of cells is called
A. ctyology.
B. rgoss anatomy.
C. epxloratory physiology.
D. cm oparative physiology.
E. raidology.
28. established a code of ethics for physicians. He is considered the "father of medicine."
A. Aristle
B. Hippocrates
C. Galen
D. Vesalisu
E. Hooke
29. A new drug apparently increases short-term memory. Students were divided randomly into two groups at
the beginning of the semester. One group was given the memory pill once a day for the semester, and the
other group was given a same-looking pill, but it was just sugar. The sugar pill is termed a(n)
A. cnotrolled pill.
B. lpacebo.
C. treatmetnpill.
D. avriable.
E. effectievdose.
30. Two groups of people were tested to determine whether garlic lowers blood cholesterol levels. One group
was given 800 mg of garlic powder daily for four months and exhibited an average 12% reduction in
the blood cholesterol. The other group was not given any garlic and after four months averaged a 3%
reduction in cholesterol. The group that was not given the garlic was the
A. eper group.
B. tesgtroup.
C. treatmetngroup.
D. cnotrol group.
E. oduble-blind group.
31. A change in the genetic composition of a population over time is called
A. mtuation.
B. antural selection.
C. selectinopressure.
D. eovlution.
E. aadptation.
32. The constant appearance of new strains of influenza virus is an example of
A. m a odel.
B. eovlution.
D. sruvivorship.
E. scucess.
33. The principal theory of how evolution works is called
A. antural pressure.
B. selectievpressure.
C. adrwinian pressure.
D. antural adaptation.
E. antural selection.
34. Which of the following was an adaptation evolved in connection with human upright walking?
A. ahir
B. tuhmbs fully opposable
C. steresocopic vision
D. clor vision
E. sipnal and pelvic anatomy
35. Stereoscopic vision provides
A. poposable perception.
B. clor perception.
C. edpth perception.
D. ibpedalism.
E. walikng upright.
36. Humans are born before their nervous system have matured, which is traceable to
A. tehir inability to regulate body temperature.
B. sekletal adaptations to bipedalism.
C. teharboreal habits of early primates.
D. tehconditions of modern civilization.
E. tehdiet of early species of Homo.
37. Our own species is called
A. Homo erectus.
B. Homo sapiens.
C. Homo habilis.
D. earlyHomo.
E. Australopithecus.
38. Most primates are , meaning they live in trees.
A. rpehensile
B. ibpedal
C. crusorial
D. trgolodytic
E. arobreal
39. An is composed of two or more tissues types, whereas are microscopic
structures in a cell.
A. rogan system, organs
B. rogan system, organelles
C. rogan, organelles
D. rogan, molecules
E. roganelle, molecules
40. Which of the following lists levels of human structure from the most complex to the simplest?
A. roganelle, cell, tissue, organ, organ system
B. rogan system, organ, cell, tissue, organelle
C. rogan system, organelle, tissue, cell, organ
D. rogan system, organ, tissue, cell, organelle
E. rogan, organ system, tissue, cell, organelle
41. Which of the following lists examples of body structures from the simplest to the most complex?
A. mitcohondrion, connective tissue, protein, stomach, adipocyte (fat cell)
B. rpotein, mitochondrion, adipocyte (fat cell), connective tissue, stomach
C. mitcohondrion, connective tissue, stomach, protein, adipocyte (fat cell)
D. rpotein, adipocyte (fat cell), stomach, connective tissue, mitochondrion
E. rpotein, stomach, connective tissue, adipocyte (fat cell), mitochondrion
42. A(n) is a group of similar cells and their intercellular materials in a discrete region of an
organ performing a specific function.
A. macrm oolecule
B. rogan system
C. roganelle
D. roganism
E. tisseu
43. Taking apart a clock to see how it works is similar to thinking about human physiology.
A. cm oparative
B. eovlutionary
C. ohlistic
D. idnuctive
E. reudctionist
44. approaches understanding of the human body by studying interactions of its parts.
A. Natrualism
B. Reudctionism
C. Vitalism
D. Hloism
E. Ratinoalism
45. is the view that not everything about an organism can be understood or predicted from
the knowledge of its components; that is, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
A. Natrualism
B. Reudctionism
C. Hloism
D. Materialism
E. Sciecne
46. The fact that most of us have five lumbar vertebrae, but some people have six and some have four is an
example of variation among organisms.
A. celluar
B. ohlistic
C. hpysiological
D. aantomical
E. reudctionist
47. are the simplest body structures considered alive.
A. Oragn systems
B. Oragns
C. Cells
D. Oragnelles
E. Mloecules
48. All of the following are human organ systems except
A. sekletal.
B. ednocrine.
C. eipdermal.
D. rerpoductive.
E. lm yphatic.
49. All of the following are organs except
A. teet.h
B. sikn.
C. anils.
D. lievr.
E. idgestive system.
50. Metabolism is the sum of
A. ihnalation and exhalation.
B. rgowth and differentiation.
C. aanbolism and catabolism.
D. opsitive and negative feedback.
E. resopnsiveness and movement.
51. We live in an ever-changing environment outside of our body, yet our internal conditions remain
relatively stable. This is called
A. ohmeostasis.
B. metastasis.
C. resopnsiveness.
D. aadptation.
E. eovlution.
52. When you exercise you generate excess heat and your body temperature rises. Blood vessels dilate in the
skin, warm blood flows closer to the body surface, and you lose heat. This exemplifies
A. engative feedback.
B. opsitive feedback.
C. ydnamic equilibrium.
D. itnegration control.
E. septoint adjustment.
53. When a woman is giving birth, the head of the baby pushes against her cervix and stimulates release
of the hormone oxytocin. Oxytocin travels in the blood and stimulates the uterus to contract. Labor
contractions become more and more intense until the baby is expelled. This is an example of
54. Which of the following is most likely to cause disease?
A. opsitive feedback
B. engative feedback
C. ohmeostasis
D. euqilibrium
E. irritaiblity
55. Blood glucose concentration rises after a meal and stimulates release of the hormone insulin. Insulin
travels in the blood and stimulates body cells to uptake glucose from the bloodstream. This reduces blood
glucose concentration. This is an example of
56. The is defined as a healthy male 22 years old, weighing 70 kg (154 lb), under no
environmental stress, and consuming 2,800 kilocalories (kcal) per day; whereas the is the same
except for a weight of 58 kg (128 lb) and an intake of 2,000 kcal/day.
A. onrmal man, normal woman
B. onrmal male, normal female
C. aevrage man, average woman
D. aevrage male, average woman
E. referecne man, reference woman
57. The change in size of the bone marrow (where blood cells are produced) as an infant matures is an
example of , whereas the transformation of blood stem cells into white blood cells is an
example of
A. edvelopment, differentiation.
B. rgowth, development.
C. rgowth, differentiation.
D. idfferentiation, growth.
E. idfferentiation, development.
58. Three common components of a feedback loop are
A. satimulus, an integrating (control) center, and an organ system.
B. satimulus, a receptor, and an integrating (control) center.
C. raeceptor, an integrating (control) center, and an effector.
D. raeceptor, an organ, and an organ system.
E. raeceptor, an integrating (control) center, and an organ system.
59. Negative feedback loops are
A. ohmeostatic.
B. ont homeostatic.
C. asscoiated with "vicious circles."
D. self-amlpifying cycles.
E. ahrmful.
60. The prefix hypo- means , whereas hyper- means .
A. frnot, back
B. rihgt, left
C. isnide, outside
D. cleard,ark
E. eblow, above
61. The term fallopian tube (uterine tube) is an example of
A. L a atin root used in medical terminology.
B. tehuse of prefixes to name an anatomical structure.
C. tehuse of suffixes to name an anatomical structure.
D. aneponym.
E. anacronym.
62. Hypercalcemia means
A. eleavted calcium levels in blood.
B. lwoered calcium levels in bone.
C. eleavted sodium levels in blood.
D. eleavted calcium levels in bone.
E. lwoered calcium levels in the blood.
63. The plural of axilla (armpit) is whereas the plural of appendix is .
A. aixllae; appendices
B. aixllides; appendages
C. aixllies; appendi
D. aixlli; appendices
64. The plural of villus (hair) is whereas the plural of diagnosis is
A. ivlluses, diagnosises.
B. ivlli, diagnoses.
C. ivllus, diagnosis.
D. ivlli, diagnosis.
E. ivlluses, diagnosis.
65. The lexicon of standard international anatomical terms
A. icsalled Terminologia Anatomica (TA).
B. icsalled Nomina Anatomica (NA).
C. ifsormed from thousands of English word roots.
D. ifsormed from thousands of Italian word roots.
E. ifsormed from thousands of French word roots.
chapter 01 Key
True / False Questions

1. Feeling for swollen lymph nodes is an example of auscultation.
FALSE
Bloom's Level: 1. Remember
Learning Outcome: 01.01.b Describe several ways of studying human anatomy.
Section: 01.01
Topic: General
2. We can see through bones with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
TRUE
Section: 01.01
Topic: General
3. Histology is the study of structures that can be observed without a magnifying lens.
FALSE
Section: 01.01
Topic: General
4. Cells were first named by microscopist Robert Hooke.
TRUE
Learning Outcome: 01.02.b Describe the contributions of some key people who helped to bring about this transformation.
Section: 01.02
Topic: General
5. All functions of the body can be interpreted as the effects of cellular activity.
TRUE
Bloom's Level: 3. Apply
Section: 01.02
Topic: General
6. The hypothetico-deductive method is common in physiology, whereas the inductive method is
common in anatomy.
TRUE
Learning Outcome: 01.03.a Describe the inductive and hypothetico-deductive methods of obtaining scientific knowledge.
Section: 01.03
Topic: General
7. An individual scientific fact has more information than a theory.
FALSE
Bloom's Level: 2. Understand
Learning Outcome: 01.03.c Explain what is meant by hypothesis, fact, law, and theory in science.
Section: 01.03
Topic: General
8. Evolutionary (darwinian) medicine traces some of our diseases to our evolutionary past.
TRUE
Learning Outcome: 01.04.a Explain why evolution is relevant to understanding human form and function.
Section: 01.04
Topic: General
9. The terms development and evolution have the same meaning in physiology.
FALSE
Learning Outcome: 01.04.a Explain why evolution is relevant to understanding human form and function.
Learning Outcome: 01.04.b Define evolution and natural selection.
Section: 01.04
Topic: General
10. Organs are made of tissues.
TRUE
Learning Outcome: 01.05.a List the levels of human structure from the most complex to the simplest.
Section: 01.05
Topic: General
11. A molecule of water is more complex than a mitochondrion (organelle).
FALSE
Section: 01.05
Topic: General
12. Homeostasis and occupying space are both unique characteristics of living things.
FALSE
Learning Outcome: 01.06.a State the characteristics that distinguish living organisms from nonliving objects.
Section: 01.06
Topic: General
13. Positive feedback helps to restore normal function when one of the body's physiological variables gets
out of balance.
FALSE
Learning Outcome: 01.06.e Define positive feedback and give examples of its beneficial and harmful effects.
Section: 01.06
Topic: General
14. Negative feedback is a self-amplifying chain of events that tend to produce rapid change in the body.
FALSE
Learning Outcome: 01.06.d Define negative feedback, given an example of it, and explain its importance to homeostasis.
Section: 01.06
Topic: General
15. Anatomists over the world adhere to a lexicon of standard international terms, which stipulates both
Latin names and accepted English equivalents.
TRUE
Learning Outcome: 01.07.a Explain why modern anatomical terminology is so heavily based on Greek and Latin.
Section: 01.07
Topic: General
Multiple Choice Questions

16. Feeling structures with your fingertips is called , whereas tapping on the body and listening
for sounds of abnormalities is called
A. aplpation; auscultation.
B. asucultation; percussion.
C. eprcussion; auscultation.
D. palpation; percussion.
E. eprcussion; palpation.
Section: 01.01
Topic: General
17. was the first to publish accurate drawings of the body, and is thus regarded
as "the father of modern anatomy."
A. Vesalius
B. Maimnoides
C. Harevy
D. Aristle
E. avn Leeuwenhoek
Section: 01.02
Topic: General
18. wrote the most influential medical textbook of the ancient era.
A. Hippocrates
B. Aristle
C. Galen
D. Vesalisu
E. Aivcenna
Section: 01.02
Topic: General
19. Which of these is the best imaging technique for routinely examining the anatomical development of a
fetus?
A. asucultation
B. PET scan
C. MRI
D. sonography
E. raidography
Section: 01.01
Topic: General
20. The terms physics, physiology, and physician come from a term that proposed to distinguish
natural causes from supernatural causes.
A. Hippocrates
B. Plato
C. Scwhann
D. Aristotle
E. Aivcenna
Learning Outcome: 01.02.a Give examples of how modern biomedical science emerged from an era of superstition and authoritarianism.
Section: 01.02
Topic: General
21. The process of using numerous observations to develop general principles and predictions about a
specific subject is called
A. epxerimental design.
B. edductive method.
C. inductive method.
D. yhpothesis.
E. statisticatlesting.
Section: 01.03
Topic: General
22. Most people think that ulcers are caused by psychological stress. It was discovered that an acid-
resistant bacterium, Heliobacter pylori, lives in the lining of the stomach. If these bacteria cause
ulcers, then treatment with an antibiotic should reduce ulcers. This line of investigation is an example
of
A. yhpothetical reasoning.
B. hypothetico-deductive reasoning.
C. tehinductive method.
D. epxerimental design.
E. statisticaalnalysis.
Section: 01.03
Topic: General
23. An educated speculation or a possible answer to a question is called a(n)
A. scietnific method.
B. tehory.
C. law.
D. hypothesis.
E. fact.
Section: 01.03
Topic: General
24. The use of controls and statistical testing are two aspects of experimental design that help to ensure
A. anadequate sample size.

B. objective and reliable results.
C. epxerimental bias.
D. spychosomatic effects.
E. treatmetngroups.
Learning Outcome: 01.03.b Describe some aspects of experimental design that help to ensure objective and reliable results.
Section: 01.03
Topic: General
25. is a process that submits a scientist's ideas to the critical judgment of other
specialists in the field before the research is funded or published.
A. Ajdudication
B. Statisticatlesting
C. Falsificatino
D. Peer review
E. Hpyothetico-deductive testing
Section: 01.03
Topic: General
26. Which of the following would contain the greatest amount of information that scientists consider to be
true to the best of their knowledge?
A. faact
B. laaw of nature
C. haypothesis
D. anequation
E. a theory
Section: 01.03
Topic: General
27. The study of structure and function of cells is called
A. cytology.
B. rgoss anatomy.
C. epxloratory physiology.
D. cm oparative physiology.
E. raidology.
Section: 01.01
Topic: General
28. established a code of ethics for physicians. He is considered the "father of
medicine."
A. Aristle
B. Hippocrates
C. Galen
D. Vesalisu
E. Hooke
Section: 01.02
Topic: General
29. A new drug apparently increases short-term memory. Students were divided randomly into two groups
at the beginning of the semester. One group was given the memory pill once a day for the semester,
and the other group was given a same-looking pill, but it was just sugar. The sugar pill is termed a(n)
A. cnotrolled pill.
B. placebo.
C. treatmetnpill.
D. avriable.
E. effectievdose.
Section: 01.03
Topic: General
30. Two groups of people were tested to determine whether garlic lowers blood cholesterol levels. One
group was given 800 mg of garlic powder daily for four months and exhibited an average 12%
reduction in the blood cholesterol. The other group was not given any garlic and after four months
averaged a 3% reduction in cholesterol. The group that was not given the garlic was the
A. eper group.
B. tesgtroup.
C. treatmetngroup.
D. control group.
E. oduble-blind group.
Section: 01.03
Topic: General
31. A change in the genetic composition of a population over time is called
A. mtuation.
B. antural selection.
D. evolution.
E. aadptation.
Section: 01.04
Topic: General
32. The constant appearance of new strains of influenza virus is an example of
A. m a odel.
B. evolution.
D. sruvivorship.
E. scucess.
Section: 01.04
Topic: General
33. The principal theory of how evolution works is called
A. antural pressure.
B. selectievpressure.
C. adrwinian pressure.
D. antural adaptation.
E. natural selection.
Section: 01.04
Topic: General
34. Which of the following was an adaptation evolved in connection with human upright walking?
A. ahir
B. tuhmbs fully opposable
C. steresocopic vision
D. clor vision
E. spinal and pelvic anatomy
Learning Outcome: 01.04.d Describe some human characteristics that evolved later in connection with upright walking.
Section: 01.04
Topic: General
35. Stereoscopic vision provides
A. poposable perception.
B. clor perception.
C. depth perception.
D. ibpedalism.
E. walikng upright.
Learning Outcome: 01.04.c Describe some human characteristics that can be attributed to the tree-dwelling habits of earlier primates.
Section: 01.04
Topic: General
36. Humans are born before their nervous system have matured, which is traceable to
A. tehir inability to regulate body temperature.
B. skeletal adaptations to bipedalism.
C. teharboreal habits of early primates.
D. tehconditions of modern civilization.
E. tehdiet of early species of Homo.
Section: 01.04
Topic: General
37. Our own species is called
A. Homo erectus.
B. Homo sapiens.
C. Homo habilis.
D. earlyHomo.
E. Australopithecus.
Section: 01.04
Topic: General
38. Most primates are , meaning they live in trees.
A. rpehensile
B. ibpedal
C. crusorial
D. trgolodytic
E. arboreal
Learning Outcome: 01.04.c Describe some human characteristics that can be attributed to the tree-dwelling habits of earlier primates.
Section: 01.04
Topic: General
39. An is composed of two or more tissues types, whereas are
microscopic structures in a cell.
A. rogan system, organs
B. rogan system, organelles
C. organ, organelles
D. rogan, molecules
E. roganelle, molecules
Section: 01.05
Topic: General
40. Which of the following lists levels of human structure from the most complex to the simplest?
A. roganelle, cell, tissue, organ, organ system
B. rogan system, organ, cell, tissue, organelle
C. rogan system, organelle, tissue, cell, organ
D. organ system, organ, tissue, cell, organelle
E. rogan, organ system, tissue, cell, organelle
Section: 01.05
Topic: General
41. Which of the following lists examples of body structures from the simplest to the most complex?
A. mitcohondrion, connective tissue, protein, stomach, adipocyte (fat cell)
B. protein, mitochondrion, adipocyte (fat cell), connective tissue, stomach
C. mitcohondrion, connective tissue, stomach, protein, adipocyte (fat cell)
D. rpotein, adipocyte (fat cell), stomach, connective tissue, mitochondrion
E. rpotein, stomach, connective tissue, adipocyte (fat cell), mitochondrion
Section: 01.05
Topic: General
42. A(n) is a group of similar cells and their intercellular materials in a discrete region of
an organ performing a specific function.
A. macrm oolecule
B. rogan system
C. roganelle
D. roganism
E. tissue
Section: 01.05
Topic: General
43. Taking apart a clock to see how it works is similar to thinking about human
physiology.
A. cm oparative
B. eovlutionary
C. ohlistic
D. idnuctive
E. reductionist
Learning Outcome: 01.05.b Discuss the value of both reductionistic and holistic viewpoints to understanding human form and function.
Section: 01.05
Topic: General
44. approaches understanding of the human body by studying interactions of its parts.
A. Natrualism
B. Reductionism
C. Vitalism
D. Hloism
E. Ratinoalism
Section: 01.05
Topic: General
45. is the view that not everything about an organism can be understood or predicted
from the knowledge of its components; that is, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
A. Natrualism
B. Reudctionism
C. Holism
D. Materialism
E. Sciecne
Section: 01.05
Topic: General
46. The fact that most of us have five lumbar vertebrae, but some people have six and some have four is
an example of variation among organisms.
A. cellar
B. ohlistic
C. hpysiological
D. anatomical
E. reudctionist
Learning Outcome: 01.05.c Discuss the clinical significance of anatomical variation among humans.
Section: 01.05
Topic: General
47. are the simplest body structures considered alive.
A. Oragn systems
B. Oragns
C. Cells
D. Oragnelles
E. Mloecules
Section: 01.05
Topic: General
48. All of the following are human organ systems except
A. sekletal.
B. ednocrine.
C. epidermal.
D. rerpoductive.
E. lm yphatic.
Section: 01.05
Topic: General
49. All of the following are organs except
A. teet.h
B. sikn.
C. anils.
D. lievr.
E. digestive system.
Section: 01.05
Topic: General
50. Metabolism is the sum of
A. ihnalation and exhalation.
B. rgowth and differentiation.

C. anabolism and catabolism.
D. opsitive and negative feedback.
E. resopnsiveness and movement.
Section: 01.06
Topic: General
51. We live in an ever-changing environment outside of our body, yet our internal conditions remain
relatively stable. This is called
A. homeostasis.
B. metastasis.
C. resopnsiveness.
D. aadptation.
E. eovlution.
Learning Outcome: 01.06.c Define homeostasis and explain why this concept is central to physiology.
Section: 01.06
Topic: General
52. When you exercise you generate excess heat and your body temperature rises. Blood vessels dilate in
the skin, warm blood flows closer to the body surface, and you lose heat. This exemplifies
A. negative feedback.
Section: 01.06
Topic: General
53. When a woman is giving birth, the head of the baby pushes against her cervix and stimulates release
of the hormone oxytocin. Oxytocin travels in the blood and stimulates the uterus to contract. Labor
contractions become more and more intense until the baby is expelled. This is an example of
B. positive feedback.
Section: 01.06
Topic: General
54. Which of the following is most likely to cause disease?
A. positive feedback
B. engative feedback
C. ohmeostasis
D. euqilibrium
E. irritaiblity
Section: 01.06
Topic: General
55. Blood glucose concentration rises after a meal and stimulates release of the hormone insulin. Insulin
travels in the blood and stimulates body cells to uptake glucose from the bloodstream. This reduces
blood glucose concentration. This is an example of
A. negative feedback.
Section: 01.06
Topic: General
56. The is defined as a healthy male 22 years old, weighing 70 kg (154 lb), under no
environmental stress, and consuming 2,800 kilocalories (kcal) per day; whereas the is the
same except for a weight of 58 kg (128 lb) and an intake of 2,000 kcal/day.
A. onrmal man, normal woman
B. onrmal male, normal female
C. aevrage man, average woman
D. aevrage male, average woman
E. reference man, reference woman
Learning Outcome: 01.06.b Explain the importance of defining a reference man and woman.
Section: 01.06
Topic: General
57. The change in size of the bone marrow (where blood cells are produced) as an infant matures is an
example of , whereas the transformation of blood stem cells into white blood cells is an
example of
A. edvelopment, differentiation.
B. rgowth, development.
C. growth, differentiation.
D. idfferentiation, growth.
E. idfferentiation, development.
Section: 01.6
Topic: General
58. Three common components of a feedback loop are
A. satimulus, an integrating (control) center, and an organ system.
B. satimulus, a receptor, and an integrating (control) center.
C. a receptor, an integrating (control) center, and an effector.
D. raeceptor, an organ, and an organ system.
E. raeceptor, an integrating (control) center, and an organ system.
Learning Outcome: 01.06.c Define homeostasis and explain why this concept is central to physiology.
Section: 01.06
Topic: General
59. Negative feedback loops are
A. homeostatic.
B. ont homeostatic.
C. asscoiated with "vicious circles."
D. self-amlpifying cycles.
E. ahrmful.
Section: 01.06
Topic: General
60. The prefix hypo- means , whereas hyper- means .
A. frnot, back
B. rihgt, left
C. isnide, outside
D. cleard,ark
E. below, above
Learning Outcome: 01.07.d Break medical terms down into their basic word elements.
Section: 01.07
Topic: General
61. The term fallopian tube (uterine tube) is an example of
A. L a atin root used in medical terminology.
B. tehuse of prefixes to name an anatomical structure.
C. tehuse of suffixes to name an anatomical structure.
D. an eponym.
E. anacronym.
Learning Outcome: 01.07.b Recognize eponyms when you see them.
Section: 01.07
Topic: General
62. Hypercalcemia means
A. elevated calcium levels in blood.
B. lwoered calcium levels in bone.
C. eleavted sodium levels in blood.
D. eleavted calcium levels in bone.
E. lwoered calcium levels in the blood.

Learning Outcome: 01.07.d Break medical terms down into their basic word elements.
Section: 01.07
Topic: General
63. The plural of axilla (armpit) is whereas the plural of appendix is .
A. axillae; appendices
B. aixllides; appendages
C. aixllies; appendi
D. aixlli; appendices
Learning Outcome: 01.07.f Relate singular noun forms to their plural and adjectival forms.
Section: 01.7
Topic: General
64. The plural of villus (hair) is whereas the plural of diagnosis is
A. ivlluses, diagnosises.
B. villi, diagnoses.
C. ivllus, diagnosis.
D. ivlli, diagnosis.
E. ivlluses, diagnosis.
Learning Outcome: 01.07.f Relate singular noun forms to their plural and adjectival forms.
Section: 01.07
Topic: General
65. The lexicon of standard international anatomical terms
A. is called Terminologia Anatomica (TA).
B. icsalled Nomina Anatomica (NA).
C. ifsormed from thousands of English word roots.
D. ifsormed from thousands of Italian word roots.
E. ifsormed from thousands of French word roots.
Learning Outcome: 01.07.c Describe the efforts to achieve an internationally uniform anatomical terminology.
Section: 01.07
Topic: General
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we are unconsciously arrested to admire and listen. The smaller
wood consists largely of the plant called Glass-eye berry, a
Scrophularious shrub, the blossoms of which, though presenting little
beauty in form or hue, are pre-eminently attractive to the Long-
tailed Humming-bird. These bushes are at no part of the year out of
blossom, the scarlet berries appearing at all seasons on the same
stalk as the flowers. And here at any time one may with tolerable
certainty calculate on finding these very lovely birds. But it is in
March, April, and May, that they abound: I suppose I have
sometimes seen not fewer than a hundred come successively to rifle
the blossoms within the space of half as many yards in the course of
a forenoon. They are, however, in no respect gregarious; though
three or four may be at one moment hovering round the blossoms of
the same bush, there is no association; each is governed by his
individual preference, and each attends to his own affairs. It is
worthy of remark that males compose by far the greater portion of
the individuals observed at this elevation. I do not know why it
should be so, but we see very few females there, whereas in the
lowlands this sex outnumbers the other. In March, a large number
are found to be clad in the livery of the adult male, but without long
tail-feathers; others have the characteristic feathers lengthened, but
in various degrees. These are, I have no doubt, males of the
preceding season. It is also quite common to find one of the long
feathers much shorter than the other; which I account for by
concluding that the shorter is replacing one that had been
accidentally lost. In their aerial encounters with each other, a tail-
feather is sometimes displaced. One day several of these “young
bloods” being together, a regular tumult ensued, somewhat similar
to a sparrow-fight:—such twittering, and fluttering, and dartings
hither and thither! I could not exactly make out the matter, but
suspected that it was mainly an attack, (surely a most ungallant one,
if so) made by these upon two females of the same species, that
were sucking at the same bush. These were certainly in the
skirmish, but the evolutions were too rapid to be certain how the
battle went.
The whirring made by the vibrating wings of the male Polytmus is
a shriller sound than that produced by the female, and indicates its
proximity before the eye has detected it. The male almost constantly
utters a monotonous quick chirp, both while resting on a twig, and
while sucking from flower to flower. They do not invariably probe
flowers upon the wing; one may frequently observe them thus
engaged, when alighted and sitting with closed wings, and often
they partially sustain themselves by clinging with the feet to a leaf
while sucking, the wings being expanded, and vibrating.
The Humming-birds in Jamaica do not confine themselves to any
particular season for nidification. In almost every month of the year I
have either found, or have had brought to me, the nests of Polytmus
in occupation. Still as far as my experience goes, they are most
numerous in June; while Mr. Hill considers January as the most
normal period. It is not improbable that two broods are reared in a
season. In the latter part of February, a friend showed me a nest of
this species in a singular situation, but which I afterwards found to
be quite in accordance with its usual habits. It was at Bognie,
situated on the Bluefields mountain, but at some distance from the
scene above described. About a quarter of a mile within the woods,
a blind path, choked up with bushes, descends suddenly beneath an
overhanging rock of limestone, the face of which presents large
projections, and hanging points, encrusted with a rough, tuberculous
sort of stalactite. At one corner of the bottom there is a cavern, in
which a tub is fixed to receive water of great purity, which
perpetually drips from the roof, and which in the dry season is a
most valuable resource. Beyond this, which is very obscure, the eye
penetrates to a larger area, deeper still, which receives light from
some other communication with the air. Round the projections and
groins of the front, the roots of the trees above have entwined, and
to a fibre of one of these hanging down, not thicker than whipcord,
was suspended a Humming-bird’s nest, containing two eggs. It
seemed to be composed wholly of moss, was thick, and attached to
the rootlet by its side. One of the eggs was broken. I did not disturb
it, but after about three weeks, visited it again. It had been
apparently handled by some curious child, for both eggs were
broken, and the nest was evidently deserted.
But while I lingered in the romantic place, picking up some of the
landshells which were scattered among the rocks, suddenly I heard
the whirr of a Humming-bird, and, looking up, saw a female
Polytmus hovering opposite the nest, with a mass of silk-cotton in
her beak. Deterred by the sight of me, she presently retired to a
twig, a few paces distant, on which she sat. I immediately sunk
down among the rocks as quietly as possible, and remained perfectly
still. In a few seconds she came again, and after hovering a moment
disappeared behind one of the projections, whence in a few seconds
she emerged again and flew off. I then examined the place, and
found to my delight, a new nest, in all respects like the old one, but
unfinished, affixed to another twig not a yard from it. I again sat
down among the stones in front, where I could see the nest, not
concealing myself, but remaining motionless, waiting for the petite
bird’s reappearance. I had not to wait long: a loud whirr, and there
she was, suspended in the air before her nest: she soon espied me,
and came within a foot of my eyes, hovering just in front of my face.
I remained still, however, when I heard the whirring of another just
above me, perhaps the mate, but I durst not look towards him lest
the turning of my head should frighten the female. In a minute or
two the other was gone, and she alighted again on the twig, where
she sat some little time preening her feathers, and apparently
clearing her mouth from the cotton-fibres, for she now and then
swiftly projected the tongue an inch and a half from the beak,
continuing the same curve as that of the beak. When she arose, it
was to perform a very interesting action; for she flew to the face of
the rock, which was thickly clothed with soft dry moss, and hovering
on the wing, as if before a flower, began to pluck the moss, until she
had a large bunch of it in her beak; then I saw her fly to the nest,
and having seated herself in it, proceed to place the new material,
pressing, and arranging, and interweaving the whole with her beak,
while she fashioned the cup-like form of the interior, by the pressure
of her white breast, moving round and round as she sat. My
presence appeared to be no hindrance to her proceedings, though
only a few feet distant; at length she left again, and I left the place
also. On the 8th of April I visited the cave again, and found the nest
perfected, and containing two eggs, which were not hatched on the
1st of May, on which day I sent Sam to endeavour to secure both
dam and nest. He found her sitting, and had no difficulty in
capturing her, which, with the nest and its contents, he carefully
brought down to me. I transferred it, having broken one egg by
accident, to a cage, and put in the bird; she was mopish, however,
and quite neglected the nest, as she did also some flowers which I
inserted; sitting moodily on a perch. The next morning she was
dead.
On the 7th of May, a lad showed me another nest of the same
species, containing two young newly hatched. It was stuck on a twig
of a seaside grape tree, (Coccoloba), about fifteen feet above the
ground, almost above the sea, for the tree grew at the very edge of
the shore, and the branches really did stretch over the sea. The bird
was wary, and would not return to the nest while I staid there, or
Sam, whom I stationed in the tree to catch her; but on our receding
a few minutes, we found her on the nest. Sam watched sometime
vainly with the insect-net; but as I thought, if I could secure her in a
cage with her nest, the claims of her young would probably awaken
her attention more than the mere unhatched eggs had done the
former one, we proceeded to the tree at night with a lantern. The
noise and shaking of the tree, however, had again alarmed her, (at
least so we concluded,) for she was not on the nest when reached.
The next morning Sam had occasion to pass twice by the grape-tree,
but at neither time was the bird on the nest. Still suspecting nothing,
we went after breakfast, to set a noose of horse-hair on the nest, a
common artifice of the negro boys, to capture small birds when
sitting. On mounting to set it, however, Sam discovered that the nest
was quite empty, no trace of the unfledged young being left. It is
probable that the bird, annoyed at being watched, had removed
them in her beak, a thing not without precedent. Sam assured me,
that if a Bald-pate Pigeon be sitting on a nest containing young, and
be alarmed by a person climbing the tree, so as to be driven from
the nest, twice in succession, you may look for the young the next
day, in vain.
In June I found a nest of the same species on a shrub or young
tree in the Cotta-wood. It contained one egg; I looked at it, and
went a little way farther. In a few minutes I returned; the bird was
sitting, the head and tail oddly projecting from the nest, as usual. I
hoped to approach without alarming it, but its eye was upon me,
and when I was within three or four yards, it flew. I looked into the
nest, but there was no egg: on search, I found it on the ground
beneath, much cracked, but not crushed. How could it have come
there? The bush, to the main stem of which it was attached, was too
strong for the rising of the bird to have jerked it out; beside which,
such result was not likely to happen from an action taking place
many times every day. It must, I think, have been taken out by the
bird. I replaced the cracked egg, and a day or two afterwards,
visited it again: the nest was again empty, and evidently deserted.
On the 12th of November, we took, in Bluefields morass, the nest
of a Polytmus, containing two eggs, one of which had the chick
considerably advanced, the other was freshly laid. The nest was
placed on a hanging twig of a black-mangrove tree, the twig passing
perpendicularly through the side, and out at the bottom. It is now
before me. It is a very compact cup, 1¾ inch deep without, and 1
inch deep within; the sides about ¼ inch thick, the inner margin a
little overarching, so as to narrow the opening: the total diameter at
top, 1½ inch; 1 inch in the clear. It is mainly composed of silk-cotton
very closely pressed, mixed with the still more glossy cotton of an
asclepias, particularly around the edge; the seed remaining attached
to some of the filaments. On the outside the whole structure is quite
covered with spiders’ web, crossed and recrossed in every direction,
and made to adhere by some viscous substance, evidently applied
after the web was placed, probably saliva. Little bits of pale-green
lichen, and fragments of thin laminated bark, are stuck here and
there on the outside, by means of the webs having been passed
over them. The eggs are long-oval, pure white, save that when
fresh, the contents produce a reddish tinge, from the thinness of the
shell. Their long diameter ⁷⁄₁₂ inch; short ⁴⁄₁₂. The above may be
considered a standard sample of the form, dimensions, and
materials of the nest of this species. Variations, however, often occur
from local causes. Thus, in the one from Bognie cave, only moss is
used, and the base is produced to a lengthened point; one of
exceeding beauty now before me, is composed wholly of pure silk-
cotton, bound profusely with the finest web, undistinguishable
except on close examination; not a fragment of lichen mars the
beautiful uniformity of its appearance. Others are studded all over
with the lichens, and these, too, have a peculiar rustic prettiness.
The situations chosen for nidification, as will have been perceived,
are very various.
I have attempted to rear the young from the nest by hand, but
without complete success. A young friend found a nest in June, on a
twig of a wild coffee-tree, (Tetramerium odoratissimum,) which
contained a young bird. He took it, and fed it with sugar and water
for some days, but when it was full fledged, and almost ready to
leave the nest, it died and was partially eaten by ants. It was,
however, a male, and formed an important link in the evidence by
which I at length discovered the specific identity of the female.
Latham, it is true, long ago describes it conjecturally as the female
of Polytmus; but Lesson, in his “Ois. Mouches,” has treated the
supposition as groundless. I may observe that to satisfy myself I was
in the habit of dissecting my specimens, and invariably found, with
one exception, the green-breasted to be males, the white-breasted
to be females.[24] But to return. On the 20th of May of the present
year (1846), Sam brought me the nest of a Polytmus, which had
been affixed to a twig of sweet-wood (Laurus). It contained one
young, unfledged, the feathers just budding, I began to feed it with
sugar dissolved in water, presented in a quill, which it readily sucked
many times a-day. Occasionally I caught musquitoes, and other
small insects, and putting them into the syrup, gave them to the
bird; these it seemed to like, but particularly ants, which crowded
into the sweet fluid and overspread its surface. The quill would thus
take up a dozen at a time, which were sucked in by the little bird
with much relish. It throve manifestly, and the feathers grew apace,
so that on the 29th, after having been in my possession nine days, it
was almost ready to leave the nest. But on that day it died. Another
I reared under similar circumstances, and in a similar way, until it
was actually fledged. When nearly full grown, it would rear itself up,
touching the nest only with its feet, on tiptoe, as it were, and vibrate
its wings as if hovering in flight, for minutes together. At length it
fairly took its flight out at the window. Both these were females.
[24] The exception is, that a specimen obtained on the 6th of May, in
female livery, displayed on dissection two indubitable testes, in the
ordinary situation.
The young male, when ready to leave the nest, has the throat and
breast metallic-green as above, the belly-feathers blackish, with
large tips of green; the tail black with green reflections, untipped. A
male which I obtained in May, and which I take to be the young of
the preceding winter, has the green on the head, mingled with black,
the disks of the feathers being green with a black border. The
emerald green of the breast is partial in its extent, reaching to the
belly only in isolated feathers, separated by large spaces of
brownish-drab; while on the throat and breast, the feathers have
merely large round disks of the emerald-colour, with narrow edges of
brown.
The tongue of this species, (and doubtless others have a similar
conformation,) presents, when recent, the appearance of two tubes
laid side by side, united for half their length, but separate for the
remainder. Their substance is transparent in the same degree as a
good quill, which they much resemble: each tube is formed by a
lamina rolled up, yet not so as to bring the edges into actual contact,
for there is a longitudinal fissure on the outer side, running up
considerably higher than the junction of the tubes; into this fissure
the point of a pin may be inserted and moved up and down the
length. Near the tip the outer edge of each lamina ceases to be
convoluted, but is spread out, and split at the margin into irregular
fimbriæ, which point backward, somewhat like the vane of a feather;
these are not barbs, however, but simply soft and flexible points,
such as might be produced by snipping diagonally the edge of a strip
of paper. I conjecture that the nectar of flowers is pumped up the
tubes, and that minute insects are caught, when in flowers, in these
spoon-like tips, their minute limbs being perhaps entangled in the
fimbriæ, when the tongue is retracted into the beak, and the insects
swallowed by the ordinary process, as doubtless those are which are
captured with the beak in flight. I do not thoroughly understand the
mode by which liquids are taken up by a Humming-bird’s tongue,
though I have carefully watched the process. If syrup be presented
to one in a quill, the tongue is protruded for about half an inch into
the liquor, the beak resting in the pen, as it is held horizontal: there
is a slight but rapid and constant projection and retraction of the
tubes, and the liquor disappears very fast, perhaps by capillary
attraction, perhaps by a sort of pumping, certainly not by licking.
All the Humming-birds have more or less the habit when in flight
of pausing in the air, and throwing the body and tail into rapid and
odd contortions; this seems to be most the case with Mango, but
perhaps is more observable in Polytmus from the effect that such
motions have on the beautiful long feathers of the tail. That the
object of these quick turns is the capture of insects I am sure,
having watched one thus engaged pretty close to me; I drew up and
observed it carefully, and distinctly saw the minute flies in the air,
which it pursued and caught, and heard repeatedly the snapping of
the beak. My presence scarcely disturbed it, if at all.
The neck in these birds is very long; but appears short, because it
forms a sigmoid curve downward, which is concealed by the feathers
of the breast: the trachea is therefore long, and its appearance is
singular, because the dilatation from which the bronchi divide, is
near the middle of the whole length, the bronchi being full half an
inch in length; they run down side by side, however, and are in fact
soldered together for about half of their length: though the tubes
are still distinct, as appears by a transverse section. Our two other
species I have proved to have the same conformation.
When I left England, I had laid myself out for the attempt to bring
these radiant creatures alive to this country: and after a little
acquaintance with the Jamaican species, Polytmus seemed, from its
beauty, its abundance, its size, its docility, and its mountain habitat,
to be the species at once most likely to succeed, and most worthy of
the effort. My expectations were disappointed: yet as the efforts
themselves made me more familiar with their habits, the reader, I
trust, will pardon some prolixity of detail in the narration of these
attempts. Very many were caught by myself and my lads: the
narrow path on Bluefields peak already mentioned, was the locality
to which we resorted on these expeditions. A common gauze
butterfly-net, on a ring of a foot in diameter and a staff of three or
four feet, we found the most effective means of capture. The
elaborate traps recommended by some authors, I fear would suit the
natural history of the closet, better than that of the woods. We often
found the curiosity of these little birds stronger than their fear; on
holding up the net near one, he frequently would not fly away, but
come and hover over the mouth, stretching out his neck to peep in,
so that we could capture them with little difficulty. Often too, one
when struck at unsuccessfully, would return immediately, and
suspend itself in the air just above our heads, or peep into our faces,
with unconquerable familiarity. Yet it was difficult to bring these
sweet birds, so easily captured, home; they were usually dead or
dying when we arrived at the house, though not wounded or struck.
And those which did arrive in apparent health, usually died the next
day. At my first attempt in the spring of 1845, I transferred such as I
succeeded in bringing alive, to cages immediately on their arrival at
the house, and though they did not beat themselves, they soon sunk
under the confinement. Suddenly they would fall to the floor of the
cage, and lie motionless with closed eyes; if taken into the hand,
they would perhaps seem to revive for a few moments; then throw
back the pretty head, or toss it to and fro as if in great suffering,
expand the wings, open the eyes, slightly puff up the feathers of the
breast, and die: usually without any convulsive struggle. This was
the fate of my first attempts.
In the autumn, however, they began to be numerous again upon
the mountain, and having, on the 13th of November, captured two
young males sucking the pretty pink flowers of Urena lobata, I
brought them home in a covered basket. The tail-feathers of the one
were undeveloped, those of the other half their full length. I did not
cage them but turned them out into the open room in which the
daily work of preparing specimens was carried on, having first
secured the doors and windows. They were lively, but not wild;
playful towards each other, and tame with respect to myself, sitting
unrestrained for several seconds at a time on my finger. I collected a
few flowers and placed them in a vase on a high shelf, and to these
they resorted immediately. But I soon found that they paid attention
to none but Asclepias curassavica, and slightly to a large Ipomea. On
this I again went out, and gathered a large bunch of Asclepias, and
was pleased to observe that on the moment of my entering the
room, one flew to the nosegay, and sucked while I held it in my
hand. The other soon followed, and then both these lovely creatures
were buzzing together within an inch of my face, probing the flowers
so eagerly, as to allow their bodies to be touched without alarm.
These flowers being placed in another glass, they visited each
bouquet in turn, now and then flying after each other playfully
through the room, or alighting on various objects. Though
occasionally they flew against the window, they did not flutter and
beat themselves at it, but seemed well content with their parole. As
they flew, I repeatedly heard them snap the beak, at which times,
they doubtless caught minute flies. After some time, one of them
suddenly sunk down in one corner, and on being taken up seemed
dying: it had perhaps struck itself in flying. It lingered awhile, and
died. The other continued his vivacity; perceiving that he had
exhausted the flowers, I prepared a tube, made of the barrel of a
goose-quill, which I inserted into the cork of a bottle to secure its
steadiness and upright position, and filled with juice of sugar-cane. I
then took a large Ipomea, and having cut off the bottom, I slipped
the flower over the tube, so that the quill took the place of the
nectary of the flower. The bird flew to it in a moment, clung to the
bottle rim, and bringing his beak perpendicular, thrust it into the
tube. It was at once evident that the repast was agreeable, for he
continued pumping for several seconds, and on his flying off, I found
the quill emptied. As he had torn off the flower in his eagerness for
more, and even followed the fragments of the corolla, as they lay on
the table, to search them, I refilled the quill and put a blossom of
the Marvel of Peru into it, so that the flower expanded over the top.
The little toper found it again, and after drinking freely, withdrew his
beak, but the blossom was adhering to it as a sheath. This
incumbrance he presently got rid of, and then, (which was most
interesting to me,) he returned immediately, and inserting his beak
into the bare quill, finished the contents. It was amusing to see the
odd position of his head and body as he clung to the bottle, with his
beak inserted perpendicularly into the cork. Several times, in the
course of the evening, he had recourse to his new fountain, which
was as often replenished for him, and at length about sunset betook
himself to a line stretched across the room, for repose. He slept, as
they all do, with the head not behind the wing, but slightly drawn
back on the shoulders, and in figure reminded me of Mr. Gould’s
beautiful plate of Trogon resplendens, in miniature. In the morning, I
found him active before sunrise, already having visited his quill of
syrup, which he emptied a second time. After some hours, he flew
through a door which I had incautiously left open, and darting
through the window of the next room, escaped, to my no small
chagrin.
Three males, captured on Bluefields peak on the 22nd of April,
were brought home alive. They at once became familiar on being
turned into the room, and one, the boldest, found out immediately a
glass of sugar-syrup, and sipped repeatedly at it. One of them
disappeared in the course of the next day, doubtless by falling into
some obscure corner behind the furniture. The others, however,
appeared quite at home, and one soon became so familiar, even
before I had had him a day, as to fly to my face, and perching on my
lip or chin, thrust his beak into my mouth, and suck up the moisture.
He grew so bold, and so frequent in his visits, as at length to
become almost annoying; and so pertinacious as to thrust his
protruded tongue into all parts of my mouth, searching between the
gum and cheek, beneath the tongue, &c. Occasionally, I gratified
him by taking into my mouth a little of the syrup, and inviting him by
a slight sound, which he learned to understand; and this appeared
to please his palate. Bouquets of fresh flowers they did not appear
much to regard; but one or two species of Lantana seemed more
attractive than the rest. I expected that the honeyed and fragrant
bunches of blossom of the Moringa, which on the tree is perpetually
visited by them, would tempt my captives, but after a brief trial, they
disregarded them. Perhaps it was because they could sate their
appetite more freely and fully at the syrup glass, which they
frequently visited, but only sipped. They always clung to the glass
with their feet, and very often to the flowers also. Each selected his
own places of perching; there were lines stretched across the room,
for drying bird-skins; and from the first each took a place on one of
the lines, distant from the other, where he then invariably roosted,
and rested. Each selected also one or two other stations for
temporary alighting, but each adhered to his own, without invading
his neighbour’s. So strong was this predilection, that on my driving
one away from his spot, he would flutter round the room, but return
and try to alight there again, and if still prevented, would hover
round the place, as if much distressed. This preference of a
particular twig for alighting is observable in freedom, and will
suggest an analogy with the Flycatchers. I have not observed it in
our other species. It gave us a means of capturing many, in addition
to the net; for by observing a spot of resort, and putting a little
birdlime on that twig, we could be pretty sure of a bird in a few
minutes. The boldest was rather pugnacious, occasionally attacking
his gentler and more confiding companion, who always yielded and
fled; when the assailant would perch and utter a succession of shrill
chirps, “screep, screep, screep.” After a day or two, however, the
persecuted one plucked up courage, and actually played the tyrant
in his turn, interdicting his fellow from sipping at the sweetened cup.
Twenty times in succession would the thirsty bird drop down upon
the wing to the glass,—which stood at the edge of a table
immediately beneath that part of the line, where both at length were
wont to perch,—but no sooner was he poised in front and about to
insert his tongue, than the other would dart down with inconceivable
swiftness, and wheeling so as to come up beneath him, would drive
him away from his repast. He might fly to any other part of the room
unmolested, but an approach to the cup was the signal for an
instant assault. The ill-natured fellow himself drank long and
frequent draughts. I noticed that no sooner had this individual
recovered his boldness than he recovered his voice also, and both
would screep pertinaciously and shrilly, almost without intermission.
When they were accustomed to the room, their vivacity was
extreme, manifested in their upright posture, and quick turns and
glances when sitting, which caused their lovely breasts to flash out
from darkness into sudden lustrous light like rich gems;—and no less
by their dartings hither and thither, their most graceful wheelings
and evolutions in the air; so rapid that the eye was frequently
baffled in attempting to follow their motions. Suddenly we lose the
radiant little meteor in one corner, and as quickly hear the vibration
of his invisible wings in another behind us: or find him hovering in
front of our face, without having seen, in the least, how he came
there. It is worthy of observation that Polytmus in flying upward,
keeps the feathers of the tail closed, but in descending they are
expanded to the utmost, at which time the two long feathers,
quivering with the rapidity of their motion, like a streamer in a gale,
form about a right angle. I cannot tell why there should be this
difference, but I believe it is invariable.
From that time to the end of May, I obtained about twenty-five
more, nearly all males, and with one or two exceptions captured on
the Bluefields ridge. Some were taken with the net, others with bird-
lime; but though transferred to a basket or to a cage immediately on
capture, not a few were found dead on arrival at home. This sudden
death I could not at all account for: they did not beat themselves
against the sides, though they frequently clung to them: from the
wild look of several that were alive when arrived, sitting on the
bottom of the cage, looking upwards, I suspect terror, at their
capture and novel position, had no small influence. Many of those
which were found alive, were in a dying state, and of those which
were turned out into the room, several more died in the first twenty-
four hours; generally, because, not observing the lines which the
domesticated ones used as perches, they would fly against the
perpendicular walls, where, after fluttering awhile suspended, they
would at length sink, exhausted, perpendicularly downwards, the
wings still vibrating, and alight on the object that intercepted their
downward course. If this was the floor, they would presently rise on
the wing, only again to flutter against the wall as before; but often it
would happen that they would sink behind some of the many boxes
with which the shelves were lumbered; in which case the space
being too narrow for the use of their wings, they soon died
unobserved, and were found dead only upon searching. This was the
fate of many; so that out of the twenty-five, only seven were
domesticated. These, however, became quite at home; and I may
here observe that there was much difference in the tempers of
individuals; some being moody and sulky, others very timid, and
others gentle and confiding from the first. I have noticed this in
other birds also; Doves, for instance, which manifest individuality of
character, perhaps as much as men, if we were competent to
appreciate it. My ordinary plan of accustoming them to the room,
and teaching them to feed, was very simple. On opening the basket
in which one or more newly-caught Humming-birds were brought
home, they would fly out, and commonly soar to the ceiling, rarely
seeking the window; there for awhile, or against the walls, as above
mentioned, they would flutter, not beating themselves, but hanging
on rapidly vibrating wings, lightly touching the plaster with the beak
or breast, every second, and thus slightly rebounding. By keeping a
strict watch on them while so occupied, we could observe when they
became exhausted, and sunk rapidly down to alight; commonly, they
would then suffer themselves to be raised, by passing the finger
under the breast, to which they would apply their little feet. Having
thus raised one on my finger, and taken a little sugar into my mouth,
I inserted its beak between my lips. Sometimes it would at once
begin to suck eagerly; but at other times it was needful to invite it
thus many times, before it would notice the sugar: by persevering,
however, they commonly learned. And when one had once fed from
the mouth, it was always ready to suck afterwards, and frequently,
as above narrated, voluntarily sought my lips. Having given one his
first lesson, I gently presented him to the line, and drawing my
finger from under him, he would commonly take to it, but if not, the
proceeding had to be repeated: and even when perched, the
repetition of the feeding and placing on the line was needful to
induce the habit. If the bird’s temper were kindly, it soon began to
perch on the line of its own accord; when I ceased to feed it from
my lips, presenting to it, instead, the glass of syrup. After it had
sucked thus a time or two, it found it as it stood at the edge of a
table; and I considered it domesticated. Its time was now spent in
incessant short flights about the room, alternating with momentary
rests on the line; often darting to another on the wing, when the
most rapid and beautiful evolutions would take place, in which the
long tail-feathers whisked about in a singular manner. I believe these
rencontres were all amicable, for they never appeared to come into
actual contact, nor to suffer any inconvenience from them. After
close observation to ascertain the fact, I was fully convinced that the
object of their incessant sallies on the wing was the capture of
minute insects; so minute that they were generally undistinguishable
to the human eye. Yet the action of the bird shewed that something
was pursued and taken, and though from the extreme rapidity of
their motions, I could not often see the capture, yet several times I
did detect the snap of the beak, and once or twice witnessed the
taking of some little fly, just large enough to be discerned in the air.
Moreover, the flights were sometimes very short; a leap out upon
the wing to the distance of a foot or two, and then a return to the
perch, just as the true Fly-catchers do; which indeed the Humming-
birds are, to all intents and purposes, and most accomplished ones. I
judge, that, on a low estimate, each captured on the wing at least
three insects per minute, and that, with few intervals, incessantly,
from dawn to dusk. Abroad I do not think quite so many would be
taken in the air, the more normal way being, I presume, the securing
of the minute creatures that inhabit the tubes of flowers; yet we
perpetually see them hawking even at liberty. My captives would
occasionally fly to the walls, and pick from the spiders’ webs, with
which they were draped. When they rested, they sat in nearly an
upright posture, the head usually thrown a little back, and the
crimson beak pointing at a small angle above the horizon, the feet
almost hidden, the belly being brought into contact with the perch,
the tail somewhat thrown in under the body, and the long feathers
crossing each other near their middle. Their ordinary mode of
coming down to drink was curious. I have said that their little
reservoir of syrup was placed at the edge of a table, about two feet
beneath them. Instead of flying down soberly in a direct line, which
would have been far too dull for the volatile genius of a Humming-
bird, they invariably made a dozen or twenty distinct stages of it,
each in a curve descending a little, and ascending nearly to the
same plane, and hovering a second or two at every angle; and
sometimes when they arrived opposite the cup more quickly than
usual, as if they considered it reached too soon, they would make
half a dozen more horizontal traverses before they would bring their
tiny feet to the edge of the glass and insert their sucking tongue.
They were very frequently sipping, though they did not take much at
a time; five birds about emptied a wine-glass per diem. Their fæcal
discharges were altogether fluid, and exactly resembled the syrup
which they imbibed. They were rather late in retiring to roost,
frequently hawking and sporting till dusk; and when settled for the
night, were restless, and easily disturbed. The entrance of a person
with a candle, at any hour, was liable to set one or two upon the
wing; and this was always a matter of regret with me, because of
the terror which they seemed to feel, incapacitating them from again
finding the perching line. On such occasions they would again flutter
against the walls, and sink down, as when first captured, with the
same danger of accident, if not closely watched, and picked up when
exhausted. After having inhabited my specimen-room for some time,
(those, first caught almost four weeks,) I transferred them, five in
number, all males, to a large cage with a wired front, and two
transverse perches; I had much dreaded this change, and therefore
did it in the evening, hoping that the intervening night would calm
them. I had in some measure prepared them for the change by
placing the cage (before the front was affixed) upon the table some
days previously, and setting their syrup-cup first close to the cage,
then a little within, then a little farther, until at length it stood at the
remotest corner. And I was pleased to observe that the birds
followed the cup every day, flying in and out of the cage to sip,
though at first very shyly and suspiciously, many times flying in and
suddenly darting out without tasting the fluid. After I had shut them
in, they beat and fluttered a good deal; but by the next day I was
gratified to find that all had taken their places quietly on the
perches, and sipped at the syrup, though rather less than usual. I
had now high hopes of bringing them alive to England, thinking the
most difficult task was over; especially as within a day or two after, I
added to them two more males, one of which presently learned both
to perch and to find the cup, and also a female. The latter interested
me much, for on the next day after her introduction, I noticed that
she had seated herself by a long-tailed male, on a perch occupied
only by them two, and was evidently courting his caresses. She
would hop sideways along the perch by a series of little quick jumps,
till she reached him, when she would gently peck his face, and then
recede, hopping and shivering her wings, and presently approach
again to perform the same actions. Now and then she would fly over
him, and make as if she were about to perch on his back, and
practise other little endearments; to which, however, I am sorry to
say, he seemed most ungallantly indifferent, being, in fact, the
dullest of the whole group. I expected to have them nidificate in the
cage, and therefore affixed a very inviting twig of lime-tree to the
cage wall, and threw in plenty of cotton, and perhaps should have
succeeded, but for the carelessness of my servant. For he having
incautiously left open the cage door, the female flew out and
effected her escape.
But all my hopes of success were soon to be quashed; for after
they had been in cage but a week, they began to die, sometimes
two in a day; and in another week, but a solitary individual was left,
which soon followed the others. I vainly endeavoured to replace
them, by sending to the mountain; for where the species was so
numerous two months before, they were now (beginning of June)
scarcely to be seen at all. The cause of the death of my caged
captives, I conjecture to have been the want of insect food; that,
notwithstanding their frequent sipping at the syrup, they were really
starved to death. I was led to this conclusion, by having found, on
dissecting those which died, that they were excessively meagre in
flesh, and that the stomach, which ordinarily is as large as a pea,
and distended with insects, was, in these, shrunken to a minute
collapsed membrane, with difficulty distinguished. If I had an
opportunity of trying the experiment again, with the advantage of
this experience, I would proceed rather differently. I would have a
very capacious cage, wired on every side, in the bottom of which a
supply of decaying fruit, such as oranges or pines, should be
constantly kept, but covered with wire that the birds might not defile
their plumage. This, as I have proved, would attract immense
numbers of minute flies, which, flitting to and fro in the cage, would
probably afford sufficient sustenance to the birds in conjunction with
the syrup. The birds, however, should be caged as short a time as
possible before sailing, which might be early in May; and by a
steamer, which calling at St. Thomas, Bermuda, and the Azores,
large bunches of fresh flowers, and even herbage, might be
obtained at short intervals on the voyage, with which, of course, a
multitude of insects would be introduced. Thus, I still think, these
lovely birds might be introduced into our conservatories and stoves,
where there would be no difficulty in preserving them. Mr. Yarrell has
suggested to me, that possibly young ones fed from the nest upon
syrup alone, might be able to live without insect food.
VERVAIN HUMMING-BIRD.[25]
Mellisuga humilis.—Mihi.
Ornismya minima, Less. Ois. M. 79. (nec auct.)
[25] Male. Length 2⁷⁄₁₀ inches, expanse 3½, flexure 1½, rictus ⁵⁄₁₀,
(nearly,) tail ⁸⁄₁₀, tarsus rather above ¹⁄₁₀, middle toe ¹⁄₁₀, claw ¹⁄₁₀.
Irides, beak, and feet black. Whole upper parts metallic-green; wings
purplish-black; tail deep-black; chin and throat, white speckled with
black; breast white; sides metallic-green; belly whitish, each feather
tipped with green; vent white; under tail-coverts white, tipped faintly
with green.
Female. Rather less; of a yellower green above, which descends half-
way down upon the tail. Whole under parts pure white, unspotted,
untinged with green; tail-feathers, except the uropygials, tipped with
white.
Intestine 1⁹⁄₁₀ inch: no cæca.
That this is the species of which M. Lesson has figured the female
in his Oiseaux Mouches, pl. 79, there can be no doubt. His figure is a
very fair representation; though it is too slender, and the white mark
behind the eye I cannot find: this, however, I do not wonder at, if,
as is most probable, his figure was taken from a dried specimen. He
says, “it is beyond contradiction the smallest of all those yet known,
and without doubt is the ‘very little Humming-bird’ of voyagers. Its
length is 2 inches and 4 lines.” But that it is the Trochilus minimus of
Linnæus, Buffon, Edwards, and Latham, who can imagine, that puts
any faith in testimony? Edwards’ figure, which is said to be “of its
natural bigness,” measures 1⁴⁄₁₀ inch; that in the Pl. Enl. 276. fig. 1,
is about 1³⁄₁₀; and Latham, who says expressly, “I have received
this from Jamaica,” gives its total length 1¼ inch, and that of its
beak, 3½ lines. It is true the description as to colouring, &c., bears a
very close resemblance to mine, but no one accustomed to the
precision of science could mistake 2½ inches for 1¼![26] Neither is it
possible that these minute specimens can be the young of the
present species; for nestling Humming-birds, even when not half-
fledged, are very little less in size than the adult, and, when able to
leave the nest, are scarcely to be distinguished as to dimensions.
Moreover, having reared this species I can speak positively. But Mr.
Bullock records having obtained in Jamaica a species whose body
was but half an inch in length; this specimen is understood to have
become the possession of the late George Loddiges, Esq., and I have
been assured by an ornithological friend, who has seen it, that it is
no larger than the species of the old naturalists. Under these
considerations, Lesson’s name being manifestly misapplied, I have
ventured to give to the present species, a new appellation, derived
from its habit of buzzing over the low herbaceous plants of pastures,
which our other species do not. The West Indian vervain
(Stachytarpheta) is one of the most common weeds in neglected
pastures, shooting up everywhere its slender columns, set round
with blue flowers, to the height of a foot. About these our little
Humming-bird is abundant during the summer months, probing the
azure blossoms a few inches from the ground. It visits the spikes in
succession, flitting from one to another, exactly in the manner of the
honey-bee, and with the same business-like industry and application.
In the winter, the abundance of other flowers and the paucity of
vervain-blossoms, induce its attentions to the hedgerows and woods.
[26] Yet Sloane describes his “Least Humming-bird,” (Jam. 308) as
“about 1¼ inch long, from the end of the bill to that of the tail,” while of
his figure the bill alone measures ¾ inch, and the whole bird 2⁵⁄₈. As the
worthy Doctor, however, is said to have taken his admeasurements with
his thumb-nail, this slight variation is the less surprising.
I have sometimes watched, with much delight, the evolutions of

this little species at the moringa tree already spoken of. When only
one is present, he pursues the round of the blossoms soberly
enough, sucking as he goes, and now and anon sitting quietly on a
twig. But if two are about the tree, one will fly off, and, suspending
himself in the air a few yards distant, the other presently shoots off
to him, and then, without touching each other, they mount upward
with a strong rushing of wings, perhaps for five hundred feet. Then
they separate, and each shoots diagonally towards the ground, like a
ball from a rifle, and wheeling round, comes up to the blossoms
again, and sucks, and sucks, as if it had not moved away at all.
Frequently one alone will mount in this manner, or dart on invisible
wing diagonally upward, looking exactly like a humble-bee. Indeed,
the figure of the smaller Humming-birds on the wing, their rapidity,
their arrowy course, and their whole manner of flight, are entirely
those of an insect; and one who has watched the flight of a large
beetle or bee, will have a very good idea of the form of one of these
tropic gems, painted against the sky. I have observed all our three
species at one time engaged in sucking the blossoms of the moringa
at Content; and have noticed that whereas Polytmus and Mango
expand and depress the tail, when hovering before flowers, Humilis,
on the contrary, for the most part, erects the tail; but not invariably.
The present is the only Humming-bird that I am acquainted with,
that has a real song. Soon after sunrise in the spring months, it is
fond of sitting on the topmost twig of some mango or orange tree,
where it warbles, in a very weak but very sweet tone, a continuous
melody, for ten minutes at a time: it has little variety. The others
have only a pertinacious chirping.
The season of nidification seems to be as protracted in this, as in
the former species; nor does the structure itself differ, except in
being of about half the size. The small bushes of Lantana, so
common by roadsides, and always covered with orange and yellow
blossom, are favourite situations for the domestic economy of this
minim bird. The smooth twigs of the bamboo also are not
unfrequently chosen. It is not an uncommon thing in Jamaica, for a
road up a mountain to be cut in zig-zag terraces to diminish the
steepness; and, to prevent the lower side of such a road from
crumbling away, stems of green bamboo are cut and laid in a
shallow trench along the edge. Shoots spring from every joint, and
presently a close row of living palisades are growing along the
margin of the road, whose roots, as they spread, effectually bind
together the mountain-side, and make the terrace perpetual; while,
as they increase in height and thickness, they throw their gracefully-
waving tufts over the way, like gigantic ostrich plumes, affording
most refreshing shadow from the heat. Such a bamboo-walk, as it is
called, winds up the steep side of Grand Vale mountain in St.
Elizabeth’s, and here the nests of the Vervain Humming-bird are
frequently met with.
One day in June, being up this road, I found two nests attached to
twigs of bamboo, and one just commenced. Two parallel twigs were
connected together by spiders’ webs, profusely but irregularly
stretched across, and these held a layer of silk-cotton, which just
filled up the space (about an inch square) between them. This was
the base. The others were complete cups of silk-cotton exceedingly
compact and neat, ornamented outside with bits of grey lichen,
stuck about. Usually the nest is placed on a joint of a bamboo
branch, and the diverging twigs are embraced by the base. The nest
is about the size of half a walnut-shell, if divided not lengthwise, but
transversely. To see the bird sitting in this tiny structure is amusing.
The head and tail are both excluded, the latter erect like a wren’s:
and the bright eyes glance in every direction. One of these contained
two eggs, the other a single young nearly fledged, which, with the
nest, I carried to Content to rear.
It is interesting to observe the cleanliness of animals; the dung of
young birds would greatly inconvenience them in the nest, and
probably cause disease; it is therefore wisely ordained that there
should be some mode of getting rid of it. Swallows carry out the
excrement of their young in their beaks; and this they are able to
do, as at that early season it is enclosed in a tenacious jelly. I
observed with admiration, and with adoration, of the tender mercy
of God in directing such minutiæ as these, for the comfort of His
creatures, that this little Humming-bird, while I was carrying it,
elevating its body above the edge of the nest, in the bottom of
which it ordinarily lay, ejected the alvine discharge in a forcible jet,
to the distance of several feet.
This little nestling I attempted to rear, and had every prospect of
succeeding, for it eagerly received the juice of sugar-cane, which I
administered to it in a small quill, many times in the day, sometimes
adding small insects, as in a former case. But on the third day I was
necessitated to return to Bluefields, and rode fifteen miles with the
bird in my hand, enclosed in an open box. I took every care of it;
but whether from too long fasting, or from the shaking, or exposure
to the sun, I know not, but it was dying when I arrived, and a few
minutes put an end to its sufferings and my expectations.
Several times I have enclosed a nest of eggs in a gauzed cage,
with the dam, taken in the act of sitting; but in no case did she
survive twenty-four hours’ confinement, or take the slightest notice
of her nest. When engaged in the attempt to domesticate a colony
of Polytmus, an opportunity offered to add this minute species to my
aviary. For at that time two large tamarind-trees very near the house
were in full blossom, and round them the Vervain Humming-bird was
swarming. I never saw so many of this tribe at once; they flocked
together, as Sam truly observed, “like bees,” and the air resounded
with their humming, as if in the neighbourhood of a hive. We caught
several with the net, but could make nothing of them; they were
indomitably timid. When turned into the room, they shot away into
the loftiest angle of the ceiling, and there hovered motionless, or
sometimes slowly turning as if on a pivot, their wings all the time
vibrating with such extraordinary velocity as to be visible only as a
semicircular film on each side. The fact that the extent of the
vibration reached 180°, (or so nearly that it seemed to me such,)
shews the immense power of the small muscles by which the wings
are put in motion. Neither of our other species approaches either the
rapidity or extent of this oscillation; and hence with this bird alone
does the sound produced by the vibration of the wings acquire the
sharpness of an insect’s hum. The noise produced by the hovering of
Polytmus is a whirring exactly like that of a wheel put into rapid
revolution by machinery; that of Humilis is a hum, like that of a large
bee.
The spirit of curiosity is manifested by this little bird as well as by
the larger species. When struck at, it will return in a moment, and
peep into the net, or hover just in front of one’s face. The stories
told of Humming-birds attacking men, and striking at the eyes with
their needle-like bills, originated, I have no doubt, in the
exaggeration of fear, misinterpreting this innocent curiosity.
Fam.—CERTHIADÆ.—(The Creepers.)
BLACK AND WHITE CREEPER.[27]
Mniotilta varia.
Motacilla varia, Linn.
Sylvia varia, Lath.
Certhia maculata, Wils.
Mniotilta varia, Vieill.
Certhia varia, Aud. pl. 90.
[27] Length 5 inches, expanse 8½, flexure 2⁸⁄₁₀, tail 2, rictus ⁶⁄₁₀,
tarsus ⁸⁄₁₀, middle toe ⁶⁄₁₀.
This pretty bird, whose lot has been to oscillate in the systems of
naturalists from the Warblers to the Creepers and from the Creepers
to the Warblers, appears to have as much ambiguity in its manners
as in its structure. One day I noticed it, and watched its proceedings,
in one of the spreading Black-withes, that form large tangled masses
of long slender branches over a clear space of mud in the morasses,
the topmost stratum of which alone is furnished with leaves, but that
dense enough, not only with its own foliage, but also with the
drapery of convolvulus that is usually hung in profusion over it. The
little bird was mounting from the bottom hopping from twig to twig,
searching and picking as it went up; when it reached the bushy top,
it suddenly descended, apparently by dropping perpendicularly to
the bottom, where it picked a little about the mud, then mounted
gradually, and dropped as before. After proceeding thus two or three
times, I secured it.
At other times it affects the trunks of trees, even large ones, like a
true Creeper, hopping diagonally up the perpendicular bole, and
when at a good height, dropping down upon the wing, to alight
again near the root, and proceed upward in another line. Now and
then it stops to pick small insects from the crevices of the bark: and
this sort of food I have always found in its stomach.
It is rather common in Jamaica during the winter months: we first
saw it on the 26th of September, and last on the 30th of April.
The following interesting note accompanies a very correct drawing
of this species by Robinson (Birds: large Folio):—“Motacilla alba et
nigra varia.—It was pursued by a Hawk, and took sanctuary in
Chateau-morant House. Mr. Holladay, overseer at Chateau in
Clarendon, made me a present of the live bird, December 24th,
1760. It was very tame, and so hungry that it picked some feathers
out of a dead bird, and ate them. It weighed somewhat less than
two drachms.”
Fam.—TURDIDÆ.—(The Thrushes.)
HOPPING DICK.[28]
Twopenny Chick.
Merula leucogenys.
Turdus leucogenys, Gmel.
Merula solicitor, Hill.
[28] Length 9½ inches, expanse 14½, flexure 5, tail 3¾, rictus 1¼,
tarsus 1½, middle toe 1¹⁄₁₀. Irides doll orange; beak bright orange,
blackish at tip; feet deep fulvous. Whole upper parts greyish-black; crown
and tail deep black; wing-quills brownish-black; the innermost two of the
greater coverts have the edge of the outer web pure white. Under parts
ashy-grey, silky; darkest on throat; chin usually white; medial line of belly
white: under tail-coverts black, tipped with white. Sexes exactly alike.
The birds on which the peasantry in any country have conferred

homely abbreviations of human names, are, I think, only such as
have something lively and entertaining in their manners. Examples
of familiar birds will at once occur to an English reader, and the
subject of the present note is by no means an exception to the rule.
He is one of the liveliest of our Jamaican birds: in woody places his
clear whistle perpetually strikes the ear of the passenger, as he sits
among the close foliage, or darts across the glade. Not unfrequently
we are startled by a shrill scream in some lonely place, and out
rushes the Hopping Dick, jumping with rapidity across the road,
almost close to our horse’s feet. He greatly reminds me of the
English Blackbird, in his sable plumage, and bright yellow beak, but
especially when hopping along the branches of some pimento tree,
or upon the sward beneath, in those beautiful park-like estates
called pens. The keen glancing of his eye, his quick turns and odd
gesticulations, the elevation of his long tail almost erect, his nods
and jerks, have in them an uncommon vivacity, which is not belied
by his loud voice, as he repeats a high mellow note four or five times
in rapid succession, just preparatory to, or during, his sudden flights
from tree to tree. His notes are various: sometimes we hear him in
the lone wood, uttering, click, click, click, without variation of tone or
intermission, for many minutes together. His song which I have
heard only in spring, is rich and mellow, much like the English
Blackbird’s: he sits in some thick tree, or wood, particularly at
earliest dawn, and pours forth his clear notes in a broken strain, and
often in a subdued tone, as if singing only to please himself.
I happened to wound slightly two of these birds on the same day,
which I placed in a cage. They were free and easy from the first,
very clamorous, lively and even headlong in their sudden
movements. I found that they would seize and devour with
eagerness cockroaches, hard beetles, worms, and even small lizards.
I gave them a bunch of the ripe, but dry and insipid, berries of a
species of ficus, which they readily picked off and ate. The fruit of
this fig they are fond of in a state of freedom; and such is their
impudence that they prevent the Baldpate Pigeons, though so much
bigger, from partaking. The Baldpates would willingly eat the little
figs also, but the Hopping Dicks scream and fly at them, and peck
their backs, so as to keep them fluttering from branch to branch,
reluctant to depart, yet unable to eat in comfort.
At the break of day, if we pass along a wooded mountain road,
such as that lonely one at Basin-spring, in Westmoreland,
particularly when the parching winds called norths have set in, in
December and January,—we see the Hopping Dicks bounding singly
along the ground in every part; but during the day they resort in
numbers to the diminished springs and ponds which yet remain,
where, after quenching their thirst, they enjoy the luxury of a bathe.
In the high mountains behind Spanish Town, this bird is called the
Twopenny chick; but in the parishes of Westmoreland and St.
Elizabeth, I have heard him distinguished only by the homely
appellation which I have adopted. He is not confined to any
particular locality. Dr. Chamberlaine (Jam. Alm.) has “never seen him
in the lowlands.” But around Bluefields he is abundant, especially in
the little belt of wood that girds the sandy sea-beach at Belmont,
where one may meet with him at all times. In the pastures of Mount
Edgecumbe he is no less common. In the highest districts, as
Bluefields Peaks, though I have sometimes seen him, he is chiefly
represented by his congener, the Glass-eye: in the solitudes of
Basin-spring, a lower elevation, both species are numerous.
In some “Contributions to Ornithology,” by Dr. Richard
Chamberlaine, published in the Companion to the Jamaica Almanack
for 1842, this bird is described. The following observations are there
quoted from a letter of Mr. Hill’s to the Doctor:—“I paid a visit the
other day to the Highgate mountains, a district in which our native
Ouzel, the Hopping Dick, is exceedingly abundant. On asking one
morning the name of the bird, whose clear, mellow-toned whistle I
was then listening to, a negro told me it was the Hopping Dick, and
that they ‘always hear him when the long days begin.’ The long days
had not yet begun; but at early dawn, while the distant horizon was
seen but faintly gleaming through the dull grey break of daylight,
and many of these Merles were gliding from one thicket to another,
and dashing across the road with that bounding run from which they
derive their sobriquet of Hopping Dick, one bird anticipated the
season of song, by repeatedly sounding two or three cadences of
that full deep whistle with which he salutes the lengthening year.
“The forests skirting the mountain are his favourite haunt. If he
frequents the open slopes and crests of the hills, he glides from tree
to tree, just above the surface of the grass. If he rises above the
lower branches of the pimento, or into some of the loftier shrubs, it
is to visit the Tillandsias, or parasitical wild-pines, to drink from
within the heart-leaves at those reservoirs of collected dews which
are the only resource of the birds in these high mountains. His dark
sooty plumage, his brilliant orange bill, and his habit, when surprised
or disturbed, of escaping by running or flying low, and sounding all
the while his alarm scream till he gets away into the thicket,
completely identify him with the European Blackbird.
“It was in the month of July, in 1834, that I first heard the song of
this Ouzel, which I would call Merula Saltator, as this name
preserves his distinctive sobriquet of Hopping Dick, and refers to his
characteristic length of legs, both at the tarsus and the thighs. The
shock of an earthquake had wakened all the living tenants of the
plantation at which I was staying, when the voice of this bird, as the
alarm lulled into silence, was heard from a small coppice of cedar-
trees, clear and mellow. Though it was less varied than the song of
the European Blackbird, it was very much like its tones when it is
heard over distant fields in a summer’s morning. I had been apprised
that I should hear it there, for it had sung in that grove daily at that
season for three or four years; and though under the disadvantage
of being an anticipated song, it was a very agreeable recognition of
the melody of the European bird.
“The next time I heard his music was in the month of May, 1836,
in the same mountains. The rains of the season had terminated, or
only mid-day showers fell, the mornings and evenings being
refreshing and brilliant It was now not a single one of these birds
that I heard singing lonely in a sequestered cluster of trees, but a
hundred of them far and near, blending their voices together, or
vying with each other in rivalry of song. My frequent weekly
journeys in these districts, from this period to the end of August,
were always cheered by this simultaneous outburst of melody from
the Merula saltator.”
I found a nest of this bird one day in the middle of August; it was
affixed to the highest perpendicular limb of a rather tall pimento in
Mount Edgecumbe, and consisted of a rude cup formed of the
slender roots of pimento, and placed on a platform of leaves and
small twigs. It contained two young, almost fledged, which flew to
the ground before they could be seized,—and one abortive egg. The
young displayed the plumage of the adult, even to the white webs
on the two coverts; but the eyes were dark greyish-brown, the beak
blackish, and the feet, dull, horny yellow. The egg measures 1⁴⁄₁₀
inch: by ⁹⁄₁₀: it is white, thickly splashed with dark and pale
reddish-brown. Sometimes, as I have been informed, a decaying
stump is selected, or any other convenient hollow, into which the
bird carries “plantain trash,” or similar materials, and forms a rude
nest, laying three or four eggs. And Mr. Hill gives me a statement of
a locality which is intermediate between these; observing, “A friend
of mine found the nest of a Hopping Dick. It was built amid the dry
leaves that had lodged within the forks of a low branch of a mango-
tree. It was a structure of small sticks, loosely woven, in the centre
of which the young birds nestled among dried foliage.”
GLASS-EYE.[29]
Shine-eye.—Fish-eye.
Merula Jamaicensis.
Turdus Jamaicensis, Gm.—Lath. Ind. Or. i. 328.
Merula leucophthalma, Hill.
[29] Length 8½ inches, expanse 14, flexure 4⁹⁄₁₀, tail 3¼, rictus 1¹⁄₁₀,
tarsus 1½, middle toe 1¹⁄₁₀. Irides bluish white, somewhat pellucid; feet
dark horn, soles yellowish; beak black, basal half of lower mandible
sometimes yellow. Whole head dark umber-brown, except on the chin,
where it is speckled with white. Back blackish ash, tinged with brown on
wing-primaries: tail blue-black. Breast and sides dusky ash, silky;
separated from the brown of the head by a narrow transverse band of
pure white: belly silky white; under tail-coverts black, with broad white
tips. Sexes alike in plumage and size. Intestine 12 inches; two cæca ¼
inch long, slender.
This is exclusively a mountain bird; inhabiting the very same

localities, and subsisting on the same food as the Solitaire, presently
to be described; the pulpy berries of a Scrophularious shrub, which
the negroes thence call Glass-eye berry. I have never found any
animal substance in the stomach of this species, numbers of which I
have examined; one in December contained many of the little scarlet
figs, from the tree on which I shot it: in February the green pimento-
berries are devoured by them; and later in the spring, it appears, the
shining fruit of the Sweetwood (Laurus) is attractive to them. On the
30th of March, my lad shot a male Glass-eye by the road-side at
Cave, scarcely a stone’s throw from the sea, and level with it; the
stomach contained the berries of this Laurus, which is abundant just
there. This is the only instance in which I ever heard of the species,
except in a mountain locality.
The common names of this bird are bestowed in allusion to the
tint of the iris of the eye: this, as Mr. Hill observes, “is not absolutely
white, but so transparently suffused with a hue of olive, that the eye
has the look of very common glass.”
The figure, attitudes, and motions of the Glass-eye are those of its
fellow, the Hopping Dick; it is, however, much more recluse, and
jealous of being seen. The dashing manner of flight across the
narrow wood-paths are the same in both birds, but the loud and
startling tones of the lowland bird are wanting in this. The Glass-eye
has but one note that I have heard; a single low “quank,” frequently
repeated as he hops from bush to bush, or plunges into the thicket.
Dr. Chamberlaine attributes to him “the same loud sonorous chirp as
he stealthily scuds from one dark recess of the forest to another;”
but I should think him mistaken, were it not that Robinson, who
gives a very correct drawing of the species by the name of Turdus
capite ferrugineo, and describes it as common in the Liguanea
mountains, affirms that “it whistles like our English Blackbirds.”
(MSS.)

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The birds on which the peasantry in any country have conferred

This is exclusively a mountain bird; inhabiting the very same

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