18 PEOCEEDINGS or THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 79 



COEREBA SHARPEI (Cory) 



Cayman honey creeper 



Certhiola sharpei Coky, Auk, 18S6, p. 497. (Grand Cayman Island, West 

 Indies.) 



Two males were collected on Grand Cayman Island, April 16, 1929. 



A very common species. It was seen everywhere from the town 

 of Georgetown to the wilder section of the island. A pair was 

 building a nest in a tree which stood by the building occupied as a 

 post office. 



COEREBA OBLITA Griscom 



St. Andrews honey creeper 



Coereba oMita Griscom, Amer. Mus. Nov., No. 7, April 30, 1923, p. 7. (St. 

 Andrews Island, Caribbean Sea.) 



On St. Andrews Island on April 27, H. H. Cleaves secured a nest 

 of a honey creeper placed 2 feet from the ground in a low shrub. 

 This nest is the ball-shaped structure usual among these birds, with 

 the entrance through a hole in one side. It is made of coarse grasses, 

 dried stems of creepers, fragments of leaves, and dried seed heads of 

 plants mixed with many shreds of cotton, and lined with finer mate- 

 rials. The three eggs (of which one was broken) are white, spotted 

 with warm sepia, mars brown, and russet. One egg has a heavy 

 wreath of markings about the large end, a second has irregular 

 blotches over the shell, which merge to cover the large end uniformly. 

 These two measure 19.0 by 13.0 and 19.6 by 12.9 mm. A common 

 bird, but no specimen was collected. 



COEREBA TRICOLOR (Ridgway) 

 Old Providence honey creeper 



Certhiola tricolor Ridgway, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 7, July 29, 1884, p. 178. 

 (Old Providence Island, Caribbean Sea.) 



An adult male and a juvenile female were taken on Old Provi- 

 dence Island, April 23, 1929. The adult male has the following 

 measurements : Wing, 67.9 ; tail, 47.5 ; culmen from base, 15.5 ; tarsus, 

 20.5 mm. 



On Old Providence and elsewhere in the Caribbean Islands visited 

 the honey creepers seemed to be attracted by the collector and showed 

 considerable interest in his movements. When specimens were to be 

 obtained, care had to be taken to allow them to get far enough away 

 to insure good material. A pair was building a nest in a tall slender 

 sapling near a water hole. 



