356 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



" This is the first island in which I saw this bird, unless the black- 

 bird of Grenada and the Grenadines be the same. It is abundant in 

 the Jardin des Plantes and very numerous at Morne Eonge. Its notes 

 are entirely different from the 'Bequia sweet' of the Grenadines; but 

 that may be owing to the difference in season. The sav^annas of this 

 high region contain many in parties of from 3 to 5. 



"At Trois Islets they were in abundance and there I got many, show- 

 ing the different changes in plumage from young to adidt. There they 

 built their nests in a tall silk-cotton tree. They love the fronds of the 

 palm as a retreat, doubtless feeding upon the berries that hang beneath 

 the overarching boat-shaiied spathes in large bunches. Their cry is not 

 hke those of the Grenadines, nor Mke that of the north, the Q. versi- 

 color — but has notes in it reminding me of both. Gregarious." 



I have followed iNIr. Sclater in referring this bird to Mr. Swainson's 

 species; he says (P. Z. S. for 1874, p. 175): "In order to avoid giving it 

 a fresh name I call it Q. inflexirostris, Sw., though the bill certainly does 

 not quite agree with Swainson's figure (An. in Menag. j). 300)." The 

 specimens before me differ from Swainson's figure of the bill spoken of 

 above in being apparently shorter and stouter. Swainson says, 1. c: 

 "Size and colour precisely like Q. lugiibris; but the great difference m 

 their bills induces me to consider them quite distinct. In this the bill 

 is longer and much more slender," &c. 



A comparison with Q. lugubris shows the present bird to closely re- 

 semble it in coloration : it is, however, somewhat larger, the bill longer 

 and more curved, but proportionately not more slender. 



Mr. Cassin in his Study of the Icteridcc (Proc. of Acad. Nat. Sci. of 

 Phila. 18GG, p. 407) refers a specimen in the Museum of the Academy to 

 Q. inflexirostris, Sw.; he says: "One specimen only in the Acad. Mus. 

 seems to be this species, but which is, unfortunately, without label 

 stating locality. The bill is exactly the length and otherwise very 

 nearly as given by Mr. Swainson as cited above, though somewhat 

 thicker. It is the oidy si)ecimen that I have ever seen in which the com- 

 missure is an uninterrupted curve or arc of a circle, — not straight nor 

 sinuated as in all other species Ivuown to me (except Q. nigcr of St. 

 Domingo) and described in this memoir." 



The dimensions given by Mr. Cassin are about the same as those of 

 specimens from Martinique, but the bills ditier; he gives, "chord of up- 

 per mandible about one and four fifth inches." In the present bird it 

 measures but one and a quarter inches. 



A specimen of Q. niger from St. Domingo, presented by Prof. Gabb, is 

 of about the same size, and differs in coloration only in ha\ing the breast 

 and abdomen without lustre — the bills though are very different, that 

 of Q. nigcr is wider at the base, longer, straighter, and narrower at the 

 end ; the commissure is nearly straight, and the ridge of the upper man- 

 dible is perce])tibly flattened. The locality of Mr. Swainson's type is 

 unknown, and i>ossibly it may not be the Antillian species referred to 



