190 



THE OOLOGIST 



macillary stripe; upper parts olive- 

 green, (larlver on wings and tail; 

 throat dirty white; breast and sides 

 tinged with dirty yellow, whitening on 

 the belly and under tail coverts. 



The Isle of Pines Tanager although 

 far from being rare is not often seen 

 because of its staying mostly in the 

 woods and jungles. The male, accord- 

 ing to my observations, is less numer- 

 ous than the female; two or three 

 males in a flock of twelve to fifteen. 

 The males are quite wary, but the fe- 

 males are a great deal more confiding. 

 They are often found in a native tree 

 which has a round black seed about 

 the size of a B. B. shot and a soft 

 yellow, sweet tasting fleshy end where 

 it is attached, upon which they feed 

 largely. These birds are unusually 

 quiet and if it were not for the bright 

 coloring of the males they would be 

 very easily overlooked. 



The Yello-faced Grassquit, (Tiaris 

 olivacea) 1. 3.7 in; w. 2 in. Male, up- 

 per parts olive-green, darker on crown. 

 Throat, lore and stripe over eye, yel- 

 low ordered by black; a black patch 

 on lower throat; under parts sooty. 

 Female, duller and the black is lack- 

 ing. 



The Yellow-faced Grassquit is our 

 most abundant member of the Finch 

 family and may be found almost 

 everywhere, but is most common in 

 open country. In the orange groves 

 and pine apple fields it may be seen 

 in flocks from six to twenty in num- 

 ber, feeding on the seeds of the diff- 

 erent grasses, and especially of a 

 species of joint grass which is ex- 

 tremely hard to eradicate. It is some- 

 times known as "Tobacco bird" be- 

 cause it is fond of tobacco seed; but 

 the harm done is greatly overbalanced 

 by the good it accomplishes in eating 

 the seeds of obnoxious weeds. I 

 have also seen it eat grasshoppers 

 and rickets which happened in its way 

 while feeding. 



I wish to add the following to my 

 list of Isle of Pines birds: 



"Chillina" Warbler, Terestris fer- 



mandinae 

 Ricord's Hummer, Riccordiaricordii 

 Yellow-faced Grassquit, Tiaris 



olivacea 

 Cuban Pigmy Owl, Glaucidium sijii 

 Isle of Pines Tanager, Spindalis 



Pretrei 

 Blackbird, Holoquiscalus gundlachi 

 Lizard Cuckoo, Saurothera merlini 



decolor 

 Cuban Tody, Todus multicolor 



W. I. Tree Duck, Dendrocygna arborea 

 Blackbird, Ptfloxia atroviolacea 

 Isle of Pines Trogon, Priotchis tini- 



nurus vercvs 

 Greater Yellow legs, Totanus mela- 



nolencus 



These make my list to date contain- 

 ing So s])ecies. 



A. C. REED. 



THE CAROLINA RAIL. 



(Porzana Carolina.) 



After looking over all my passed re- 

 cords and notes on the subject, I con- 

 sider tlie Carolina rail an uncommon 

 but regular summer resident in this 

 locality, Stamford, Conn. It is on ac- 

 count of its seclusive habits and quiet 

 nature that it has been overlooked by 

 most people and considered so much 

 rarer than it really is. 



Five ard one half miles from my 

 home, situated between two wooded 

 rises near the little town of Talmadge 

 Hill, Conn., lies a certain small grass 

 covered. Alder dotted swamp in which 

 one or two pairs of these little rails 

 regularly construct their nests and 

 rear their young, so far, 1 am happy 

 to say, unmolested. 



As a rule the nest building starts 

 during the first week in May and lasts 

 until the end of June. In some cases 

 however the nest must be started con- 

 siderably earlier as 1 have one record 

 of a set which reads. May 12, 1897. 

 Eleven eggs, incubation far advanced. 

 May 30 is my latest date for fresh 

 eggs. The completement seems to be 



