NATURAL SCIENCES OP PHILADELPHIA. 297 



the Port Royal Hills, but I have not seen it ; possibly Dendroica pkaretra 

 or Mniotilta varia. 



FRINGILLIDjE. 



71. Piioxipara Maechii, Baird.* (Spermophila bicolor, Gosse.) The 'black 

 faced' is the most common of the Grass Finches. They are social, and, like the 

 Certhiola, are found nesting at all seasons in low trees and bushes, and in the 

 same situation. I have never met with the nests of the other three species of 

 Grass Finches, except during the Spring and Summer months. The nests are 

 domed, generally composed of grass and fibre, and lined with the same mate- 

 rials, sometimes with horse hair. Near homesteads, shreds and scraps of 

 cloth and lumps of cotton, feathers, and trash, are added to the exterior. The 

 eggs are usually 3, sometimes 4, rarely 5 or 6, and vary in dimensions and 

 coloring as much as those of the Certhiola ; some are rather larger and others 

 sometimes elongated to a tapering point at one end. 



72. Phonipaea adoxa. (Spermophila, of Gosse.) I have never met with 

 the nest of this species near a domicil. In the country they build higher, 

 and the nest, a dome, is smaller than that of the last species, and always 

 made of grass and fibre ; never with the other materials found on the nests of 

 the black face. They are lined with fibre or horse hair ; the eggs do not vary 

 in size and color so much as those of the last species, and are rather larger ; 

 the markings are of burnt ochre, confluent about the large end, and they mea- 

 sure often | by 9-16ths of an inch. 



70. Puonipaea olivacea. (Spermophila of Gosse.) The yellow-faced grass 

 Finch, constructs a domed nest of grass and fibre, always with a soft lining of 

 down at the bottom. The eggs, 3 or 4 in number, are more uniform than those of 

 the two preceding species. They are usually oval or oblong-oval, pointed at 

 one end, and are white, splashed with grey-brown or light umber mixed with 

 pale slaty, sometimes reddish-brown spots, confluent round the larger end 

 or middle. They measure | by 9-16ths of an inch. 



69. Loxigilla anoxantha, Sclater. (Spermophila of Gosse.)-- -The yellow- 

 back is the largest of the birds known here as grass Finches, or Quits. The 

 nest is a dome, and is composed of grass fibre and down, intermixed and 

 interwoven. The opening is oblong nearly the entire depth, leaving a very 

 shallow bottom, in which 3 or 4 eggs are deposited. All the eggs I have found 

 identified with this species are oval, pointed at one end or oblong oval, white, 

 splashed with reddish-brown spots, (sometimes very pale,) confluent in a circle 

 or a ring round the large end ; sometimes round the small end or middle. 

 The markings are sometimes a dull brown. This Finch has a curious fancy 

 for continually, during incubation, adding materials to the exterior of the 

 nest. I have found fresh grass thus added after the young have been hatched. 



73. Loxigilla violacka. (Pyrrhula violacea, Gosse.) The Cotton-tree Spar- 

 row, though a mountain bird, often breeds in the lowlands. It generally 

 selects, though it does not confine itself to, a decayed hollow in a tree ; the 

 crutch of two or more upright branches, or a clump of Tillandsia or Cuscuta, or 

 some trailing plant equally answers its purpose. The nest is coarsely made 

 of grass, trash, twigs, stems of trailing plants and leaves, with a small cup 

 of fibre and grass, closely interwoven, and contains 4 eggs. These are oval, 



* This is the Spermophila bicolor, of Gosse, but not the true Fringilla bicolor of Linnaeus 

 which is the Bahaman species, differing in the much greater extent of black beneath. It may be 

 the Tiaris omissa of Jardine described from Tobago ; but this author expressly states that his 

 bird is distinct from the Jamaican. If, as I think most probable, the Jamaican species is thus 

 without a name, to no one could it with more propriety be dedicated than to Mr. March, who has 

 done so much towards extending our knowledge of the natural history of his island. S. F. 

 Baird. 



1863.] 



