GRA:SSQUIT. 471 



Oil April 29 I touiid no less tli:ni ten ni'sts on Lea f Key, which I inivc uu'iitioiR'd as 

 lying oil' the soutli shoiv of Aii(h-os ; all of these were placed in hushes, sometimes not 

 over, a yard from the ground. 8:)me of the eggs were fresh, others i'.i an ad\-anced state 

 of ineuliation, and on this key at thi-i time I ])rocured young birds fully Hedged and fidlv 

 grown. I also found nests if this species late in April along the south shore of Andros, 

 and on other small keys near Leaf Key. All of these nests were compactly constructed 

 and closely resembled the nests of the Bahama Honey Creeix'r. I find fi'om mv note- 

 book that, rather singularly, I did not hear a bird of this species utter a single note, not 

 even a chirp, among these remote islands. 



Upon returning to Nassau late in May, I found nests with fresh eggs, at the same 

 time full}' grown young of the species were connnon. These notes were made in 1884. 



F'rom November loth until January 15th I shot nestlings in the first plumage at 

 Nassau and on Andros. I found them common on Inagna in February, 1888, and on 

 Ilighburn Kevin Ajiril 1893, when they were singing i)ut apparently not breeding. 



The Grassquit is not a. shy species, and w'ill, if undisturbed, become quite familiar. 

 One was accustomed to enter my house at Mathewstown. Inagua, every day and hop 

 abcmt the floor in search of criuubs. On the Bahamas, although quite asocial species, 

 occuring in scattered com])anies among the foliage, I never have seen them gather in 

 tlocks in the open fields and by the roadsideis, as do two allied species in Jamaica and on 

 Cayman Brae. 



Although there are now but a few houses at Miami, Florida, or vicinity, _\et this 

 fsection has been settled many years. The inhabitants who formerly occupied this spot 

 have left many evidences of their presence in the shape of ruinous walls, old wells, etc. 

 Tradition points to this place as being the haiuit of pirates, and Ave were informed upon 

 reliable authority that one of those infamous men lived here until ((uite recently. Indeed, 

 there are individu ils now living who have seen him. He was a Spaniai'd named 

 Yusippie, and was the leader of a band of blood-stained villains who li\cd upon the banks 

 of the Miami, while the river formed a fine harlior in which to moor their vessels, that 

 they might not be seen from the oj)en ocean. 



Among the traces which these Spaniards have left liehind them are e\idenccs of 

 cultivation of the soil. The ground has been cleared for some distance back of the old 

 fort, but is now mainly grown u]) to bushes and trees ; theiv are, however, frequent 

 glades in the midst of these thickets which are entirely void of shrubs, being only covered 

 with grass and low herbage. These spaces vary from a. few yards to sevei'ul rods in 

 diameter, and are closely surrounded by foliage. The trees and bushes are so thickly 

 covered with vines and creeping plants that tlieir forms are entirely concealed and they 

 resemble rolling clouds of living green rising in huge billows one above the other. This 

 deciduous mass is thickly starred with the large white flowers of the Ipomoea bona-nox 

 and the purple tilossoms of the wild Colvolvulus, while the orange and yellow Lantana 

 fills the air with a peculiar fragrance. As can rea(lil\- be imagined these dense thickets 

 were filled with birds, and therefore we frequently visited the lo\cly spots for the purpose 

 of taking the various kinds found there. 



