158 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 paRT i 



Voice. — The song is a simple, buzzing tik-zeeee, or tik-tik-zeeee. 

 It is uttered a little more deliberately than that of any of the Antillean 

 races, and with more emphasis on the introductory notes. The 

 call-note is a weak tst. 



Distribution 



Range. — The Bahama black-faced grassquit is resident in the 

 Bahamas from Grand Bahama and Abaco southeast to Great Inagua 

 and the Caicos Islands (unrecorded from Turks Islands), and on cays 

 off northern Las Villa Province, Cuba (Cayo Tio Pepe, Cayo Punta 

 de Piedras) ; vagrant to southern Florida (Sombrero Key, Everglades 

 National Park, Miami, West Palm Beach). 



Egg dates. — Puerto Rico and Vieques (Tiaris hicolor omissa): 28 

 records, 8 in February, 10 during late May, June, and July, 1 in 

 October, 7 in November (earliest on the 18th), and 2 in December. 



SPIZA AMERICANA (Gmelin) 



Dickcissel 



PLATE 11 



Contributed by Alfred O. Gross 



Habits 



The dickcissel is one of the commonest of the birds to be seen in 

 the open meadows and pastures of our Middle Western States. 

 Anyone traveling along the highways of that section of the comitry 

 is certain to notice the male, who constantly and lustily announces 

 his presence by his earnest and incessant calls from the top of a fence 

 post or weed stalk. The clear accented notes of the monotonous song 

 at once suggest the bird's common name. Often in the same fields 

 one also sees the meadowlark, and because both species have yellow 

 breasts with conspicuous black patches and other similarities, the 

 smaller dickcissel is locally kno^vn as "the little meadowlark." The 

 name "black-throated bunting" which appears frequently in the 

 writings of the older ornithologists is seldom heard today. The 

 dickcissel not only contributes its beauty and cheerful song to its 

 environment, but also consumes scores of destructive insects as well 

 as hundreds of seeds of noxious weeds. It thus ranks high among the 

 economically important prairie birds. 



The nesting range of the dickcissel is limited chiefly to the region 

 of the Middle West between the Alleghenies and the Rocky Moun- 

 tains and from Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota 

 south to Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. It is abundant 



